Lectrotab Trim Tab Install - 275SD

[Judge]

Made decent progress tonight. After cutting the notches in both tabs for the lights, I got all of the holes drilled and countersunk. Then I ran a screw in each hole. The I vacuumed out the holes and wiped down the hull with alcohol.

I'm going to put 3/4" screws in the three holes out by the chines. I can feel something like insulation when I poke a rod in the holes. It is part of the hull that is enclosed and can't be seen from the inspection ports. The rest of the holes are wide open so I will use the recommended1 1/4" screws on those holes.

Tomorrow morning I'll break out the 5200... squirt some in the holes and cover the back of the mounting plate and mount the tabs. Then tomorrow evening I will get an extra set of hands and line up the actuators and get them mounted under the swim platform.

With any luck I can have the actuators mounted tomorrow night and then pull the wiring to the helm and cut the hole for the Controller on Friday and have everything wrapped up.

 

[Judge]

I got the tabs mounted yesterday. I was back and forth on using 3M 5200 vs 4200. There are a lot of tab manufacturers out there and and a lot of different recommendations of the type of sealant and applying it. Bennett Trim Tabs recommends just dipping the screws in 5200 and not applying it to the back of the mounting plates.

I have both 5200 and 4200 so I decided to go with 5200 on the tab mounts and 4200 on the actuator mounts. I have the Lectrotab heavy duty stainless tabs so I figure the chance of needing to remove them are slim. However, you could have an actuator fail and need to be replaced so the 4200 makes more sense.

The regular cure 5200 is pretty runny. I placed the 5200 around the screw holes on the back of the tabs and a little in a few other places vs covering the mounting plate completely.... just in case one ever has to be removed. Then I squirted 5200 into the holes. Then after each screw got started, I squirted some 5200 on the threads of the screw and then tightened them. Hopefully that keeps it water tight.

I almost wished I used the 4200 that I have on the mounts. It would probably have worked just as well for this application. The fast cure 4200 black is much thicker and "sticks" to things better. I could only get the 5200 regular cure in black and it is much thinner. I wanted to use black sealant since my transom is block and figured it would look cleaner than using the white versions. In any case, I'm sure the 5200 will be fine.

The Lectrotab documentation recommends adjusting the trailing edge of the tab so it is 1/2" above the bottom of the hull for all of their tabs. However, several other manufacturers say that a 9" chord tab should be 1/2" above the bottom of the hull and a 12" chord tab be 5/8" above the bottom at the trailing edge of the tab. I know a few people on here recommend going much higher than 1/2" since the Yamahas don't require much tab input. I opted to split the difference for the 10" chord tabs that I bought.

I took a 2 x 4 and put a screw in the end of it so the head was about 7/8" above the end of the board. I then stacked up some blocks of wood and used a scissor jack to hold the 2x4 against the bottom of the hull and I adjusted it so the screw head was at the very end of the tab on the chine side. This approach allowed me to get the exact same angle for both tabs.

I then held the actuator up against the bottom of the swim platform and pilot holes. The swim platform is thicker than the transom..... closer to an inch thick. When I temporarily mounted the actuators to check everything the tab dropped 1/8 - 1/4" when I removed the 2 x 4... which is what I expected based on some of my test runs of placing the actuators to get tab height measurements...... so that gave me a final height of about 3/4" which is right around where I wanted to be.

When I look at the back of the boat the tab hinges are above the bottom of the hull and the end of the tab have an upwards angle. They are symmetrical on both sides and lok like every installation video I have watched online so I am pretty happy being able to get the 10 x 14's installed after cutting out some of the mount to go around the underwater lights.

I was able to run both cables through the swim platform and over to the starboard inspection port. This morning I am going to run them up to the helm. I bought the short actuators with the 28' cable option. I am hoping they will make it to the helm. The starboard actuator shouldn't be an issue but the port one may be close since about 5' of cable gets used up getting over to the starboard side. I have some wiring and terminals to extend the length if I need to but hopefully I won't need it.

I have a perfect spot taped up on the dash and marked to cut out the hole for the Auto Controller. It is in a perfect location for the controller and almost like the dash was designed for it.

Once I get everything wired up, I am going to temporarily mount the actuators and do a test to make sure everything works ok before applying the 4200 to the actuator mounts, I already did a power on test of the actuators to make sure they worked properly before running the wiring up to the helm.

With any luck, I will have things finished up today and post some more pictures.

 

[Judge]

Just about wrapped up with the Lectrotab install. I still have to put 4200 on the actuator mounts and cables but I wanted to bolt everything up and raise and lower the tabs to make sure everything is moving smoothly before I sealed up the mounts.

I'll head back out to the shop after lunch and seal up the actuator mounts to finish the install.... and then clean up the mess!

I won't get the boat in the water for about 10 - 12 days so that will give the 5200 more than the 7 days to completely cure so hopefully there won't be any leaks. A little unnerving drilling 24 holes in a new boat!

Here is a video of the tabs auto-retracting........

 

[WiskyDan]

Looks great - well done!!

 

[Judge]

I finally got a chance to get the 275SD out on its maiden voyage.... only took 14 months thanks to Hurricane Ian!!!!

I am happy to report the Lectrotab installation appears to be a success.

As best I can tell there are no water leaks. I had minimal water in the bilge while out about 4 1/2 hours today. Based on all my other boats over the years... I would call it normal or better than I have typically seen.

But Yamaha is a bit nutty with their current bilge pump setup. They are supposed to run every 2 minutes when the key is on. I can report they sure do. When I opened the engine compartments I could hear it running and there was no water to speak of in the bilge.

Anyway... it was a good day to be out on the Gulf in southwest Florida. Light winds and less than 1ft seas. I got it up to a cruising speed of about 32MPH and manually adjusted the attitude to where I felt it was best with 4 people and a full load of fuel and gear. I then saved those setting and set it to the Auto Mode. The Auto Controller did adjust automatically when needed and disconnected when off plane as expected.

I have to say the overall ride of the 275SD was better than I expected. Granted the sea was fairly calm but there was some chop once in awhile or crossing other boat wakes and the 275 just cut right through it without bouncing and slamming. I have a friend with a 25' Nauticstar Open Bow with a 250HP Yamaha and my wife said right away she could not believe how much smoother our boat was riding on the same waters.

The tabs also worked great keeping the boat on plane at low speeds. As we were approach the Sanibel Causeway, I switched to manual mode on the tabs and started to reduce speed. I dropped the tabs down to 3 LED's and at 15MPH the boat stayed on plane with the bow very low. Without the tabs the bow would have been much higher in the air at that speed.

I managed to hit 48MPH with four people, a full load a fuel and gear. Overall I'm very pleased with the boat and the boat and Lectrotab!

I'll probably have 10 hour on it by the end of the day Saturday so I will be stopping at the dealer tomorrow to get on the schedule for the 10 hour service.