255 FSH Zipwake Project

[Kelleyja]

Had a couple people ask about this so I’m documenting my trim tab (interceptors) project.


Problem I’m trying to solve:

Rough Water Handling: I boat primarily in Tampa Bay and 30-40 miles out in the Gulf. When traveling at speed in rough water, the boat runs bow high, and lands on the flatter aft part of the stern, with a bang.

Porpoising: On calm days, when I’m solo and have no weight in the bow. The hull bounces up and down which is more of an annoyance than anything else.

Listing and Roll: The helm is on the port side and so is the larger livewell. That combined with my fat ass caused a sight list to port and the issue of the hull wanting to pull to one side.

The 255 FSH has limited space on the transom for traditional trim tabs. Lectrotab has a good option. For me I wanted something with auto control and fast response to deal with the roll issue so I decided on the Zipwake 300s

All the Zipwake kits come with an automatic gyro controller that measures pitch, roll and speed. The interceptors read these measurements then dynamically work to cancel out the roll and pitch. The amount of correction is configurable, and has NMEA connectivity which is a nice to have. The control panel lets me keep the bow down in rough seas and use the sharper angle of the bow to plow through the waves rather than launch over them


The Zipwake kit comes with all wiring and hardware, which was nice, no unplanned trips to the hardware store. This includes some excellent drilling templates, with tabbing that helps with perfect placement (shown in pic below)


Only thing you need here is some drill bits and a hole saw. The actual mounting of the interceptors is very straightforward, I spent most of the time measuring.

 

[Kelleyja]

Unfortunately, I had to relocate the underwater lights. Currently they’re relocated to my kitchen counter, but I do plan on reinstalling them at some point. The good thing is that they’re not bonded to the hull with that god awful 5200. Remove the 3 screws and give it a whack with a mallet, they will come loose.

The ½ inch holes need to be patched, use thickened epoxy, patch putty etc.

The Zipwake interceptors need a flat surface to operate properly, so sand the patch down flush with the transom surface. You’ll end up with something like this.


Used the drill template to drill the 6 mounting holes at this point too

 

[Kelleyja]

The interceptors come in 2 parts, there's a backing plate that bolts to the transom. Then the front cover of the interceptor which has the blade that comes down into the water flow is bolted to the backing place. There's a small servo motor in there that operates the whole thing. In the picture below we have the backing plate attached, I used the supplied lag screws to attach the backing plate however there is an option to through bolt them. The transom is pretty thick in this area so I think the lags will be fine. Everything gets sealed up with polyurethane marine sealant.



One thing that is not shown here is that you need a 1/2 inch hole for the servo motor wire to run through. You can locate this hole above or behind the interceptors. I drilled the hole behind the backing plate and fed the wire though. The front part, bolts right to the backing plate with the included screws. The gearing mechanism shown in the first picture is what drives the blade down into the water flow. You can see the blade extended in the below picture.



Rinse and repeat on the other side.

 

[dauski]

Have you had the boat out in the Gulf with the Zipwake's yet? If so, I am curious how they worked? I have been running my boat in the bay and the gulf and have been looking at options for trim tabs.

 

[Dixemon]

looking forward to your results. Seems like a nice compact option vs the traditional tab setup. Although in some of their videos, their claim to fame was the reduced cost compared to traditional tabs? I'm not sure I see that cost savings. There is a lot of automation going on with that unit though, that will be cool to see how well it handles in and out of various scenarios.

 

[2kwik4u]

Man, I've always thought there were a neat alternative to trim tabs. I'll be following along to see how they work out!

Especially on a 255FSH

 

[brianyamaha255fsh]

My 255 FSH is driving me crazy without trim tabs. Have you had the boat out with the zipwake installed?

 

[Kelleyja]

My 255 FSH is driving me crazy without trim tabs. Have you had the boat out with the zipwake installed?

Yes, here are my impressions:

Porpoising / Banging in the chop 5/5 - Deploying the tabs lifts the stern of the boat and allows the steeper angle of the bow to cut through chop rather than banging on the flatter aft portion of the hull.

Listing/Roll 3/5 - The tabs do a great job of correcting roll induced by crossing wake, they respond quickly and level everything out. At cruising speed they will cancel out a list caused by loading, or passengers moving around. I was hoping to use them to control roll while trolling, but at low speed they are slow to react and can induce steering wondering. Obviously, they don't do anything when the boat isn't moving.

Auto Controller 4/5 - This takes some tuning to get dialed in. Essentially you can tune the tab deployment at every speed. At first I wanted to maximize deployment lower speeds which works but induces the jet boat wondering, so I had to dial that back a bit. Also if you go too aggressive on the settings you can induce an oscillation where the tabs actually contribute the the boat rolling back and forth. Controller doesn't seem to have and PID control to dampen this. Once you get it dialed in, you forget that it's there. I barely touch the controller now except when the seas get heavy, then there's an easy roller knob to increase the trim.

 

[Kelleyja]

I placed the controller on the helm between throttles and the steering so it's easy to access while underway. It doesn't have an easy flush mount and I didn't want to clutter the smooth look of the dash. Obviously I had to relocate the no-wake and blower but those can go in place of the Aux switches on the dash

 

[Kelleyja]

looking forward to your results. Seems like a nice compact option vs the traditional tab setup. Although in some of their videos, their claim to fame was the reduced cost compared to traditional tabs? I'm not sure I see that cost savings. There is a lot of automation going on with that unit though, that will be cool to see how well it handles in and out of various scenarios.

I don't think there's any reduced cost here. I'm into this project for maybe $2700, including all shop supplies and the panel I made for the dash. The benefit is that the install was exceedingly easy. No custom bracketry or mounts, all hardware included.

 

[brianyamaha255fsh]

Yes, here are my impressions:

Porpoising / Banging in the chop 5/5 - Deploying the tabs lifts the stern of the boat and allows the steeper angle of the bow to cut through chop rather than banging on the flatter aft portion of the hull.

Listing/Roll 3/5 - The tabs do a great job of correcting roll induced by crossing wake, they respond quickly and level everything out. At cruising speed they will cancel out a list caused by loading, or passengers moving around. I was hoping to use them to control roll while trolling, but at low speed they are slow to react and can induce steering wondering. Obviously, they don't do anything when the boat isn't moving.

Auto Controller 4/5 - This takes some tuning to get dialed in. Essentially you can tune the tab deployment at every speed. At first I wanted to maximize deployment lower speeds which works but induces the jet boat wondering, so I had to dial that back a bit. Also if you go too aggressive on the settings you can induce an oscillation where the tabs actually contribute the the boat rolling back and forth. Controller doesn't seem to have and PID control to dampen this. Once you get it dialed in, you forget that it's there. I barely touch the controller now except when the seas get heavy, then there's an easy roller knob to increase the trim.

Thank you so much for the reply. If you have time it would be great to talk on the phone. Just curious how tough it was to install and reach to the back. Let me know. Really appreciate the info. Brian 248.343.6058

 

[Kelleyja]

Thank you so much for the reply. If you have time it would be great to talk on the phone. Just curious how tough it was to install and reach to the back. Let me know. Really appreciate the info. Brian 248.343.6058

You need to remove the clean out port cover to reach the back of the transom. The cover usually isn't sealed very well so it's a good idea to reseal anyway, so the blow-by from the pumps doesn't end up in the bilge. Once the cover is off, it's easy to reach. For the zipwake there's just one plastic nut for the cable gland that needs to be installed from inside the hull. All other hardware goes on the outside. I'll send you my number if you'd like to chat about it

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

You need to remove the clean out port cover to reach the back of the transom. The cover usually isn't sealed very well so it's a good idea to reseal anyway, so the blow-by from the pumps doesn't end up in the bilge. Once the cover is off, it's easy to reach. For the zipwake there's just one plastic nut for the cable gland that needs to be installed from inside the hull. All other hardware goes on the outside. I'll send you my number if you'd like to chat about it

Great write up on the zipwake project!

Small segue…. I’m sure everyone will be interested in your auto pilot project…

 

[Panhandler2024]

I don't think there's any reduced cost here. I'm into this project for maybe $2700, including all shop supplies and the panel I made for the dash. The benefit is that the install was exceedingly easy. No custom bracketry or mounts, all hardware included.

You wouldnt happen to have any video of the ZIPWAKE in action do you? Curious how it compares to the SEAKEEPER RIDE reviews.

 

[Kelleyja]

I do. I think the seakeeper’s paddles are supposed to keep the boat from rolling at rest. The zipwakes do nothing unless you’re moving. Do you want to see the zipwakes underway? Countering roll?

The Zipwakes perform more like traditional trim tabs. A really responsive automated trim tab

 

[Panhandler2024]

I've seen some video of traditional outboard vessels with the ZIPWAKE system on YOUTUBE but, no one other than you has documented automated systems like this on video for a jetboat. It would be great input to show vessel attitude with the system on & off. SEAKEEPER RIDE is basically the same thing in the regards that its a tab that adds lift to the transom but incredibly fast & intuitive as they utilize a GYRO sensor for pitch & roll angles. ZIPWAKE is less than half the price and I'm really curious how it works on the FSH255. Also after reading into the installation process on the ZIPWAKE do you think you could have went with the next longer tab? I believe it was about 18''. Anyhow! Thanks for taking the effort to share the process!

I also noticed that you had intention of trying to install a AUTOPILOT. I also looked into this and quickly realized that it will be challenging as these boats utilize rack & pinion steering systems and would be tough to incorporate with the current options available. I would be interested to share some feedback on paving the way on this project!

 

[Kelleyja]

Sure thing. The zipwakes do an excellent job of keeping the bow down in chop but also flatten out the attitude in calm water. On calm water I gain 2-3 mph with the zipwakes on vs off.

Hopefully you can tell from the video…not touching the throttles, you can see the speed going up and down as I adjust the zipwakes

March 1, 2024

youtube.com

 

[Kelleyja]

The NAC-3 with a linear actuator to drive the rack worked ok. I ended up putting on a trolling motor which does the AP for me

 

[Panhandler2024]

Did you gain any top end speed? 2-3mph is pretty substantial if that is the case!

 

[Panhandler2024]

The NAC-3 with a linear actuator to drive the rack worked ok. I ended up putting on a trolling motor which does the AP for me

So you have already done the AUTOPILOT Upgrade?