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Trim Tabs and Wake surfing

gthh

Jetboaters Captain
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Buffalo, NY
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Yamaha
Year
2007
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AR
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23
I was at a boat show and saw these and did not think much about the utility of these tabs but I just bought a Liquid Force Fish wake surf board and I think I need these! But hey they look like the trim tabs I have been hearing a lot about on this forum and I don't need any stinkin' trim tabs on my boat. But Wake Surf Tabs-YES! I need those!

OKsurf-tabs.jpg http://www.actionwater.com/blog/mastercraft-surf-tabs-a-must-have/
Sooo what is the difference and how come you guys hawking the trim tabs are not telling us about this use!
 

Glassman

Jetboaters Admiral
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2004
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Well, if you want to dig deep enough on that other site, you'll find a write-up from me about the tabs way back when I installed them.

They will "help" on the Yamaha, but you still need weight aft to get a big wake.

I put them all the way down, get all the people to sit as far back as they can and the wake gets pretty good. I'm sure the guys with sacs or added static ballast will chime in. I don't know if anyone with tabs has bags as well, but I'm sure you'll hear about if someone has.

My son in law has a V-drive Tige' with bags and he has one real big tab that goes down to make a very large wake.
 

007

Jetboaters Captain
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I am not sure traditional tabs work vey well to shape wake on our boats. Hopefully #operationROL will chime in here as he has ballast and tabs. Hull shape, weight amount, weight distribution, tab placement and shape would all have an effect on wave shape, the crispness of the wave and the push. A couple members here are experimenting with ideas, but not sure anyone has come up with any results near a completion level wakesurf boat.
 

mtnv900

Jet Boat Addict
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I have tabs and no ballasts in the boat. The tabs do nothing for creating a bigger wake. I would spend my money else where if thats all you want trim tabs for.
 
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