trim tabs 2000 adventure, any input?

[rmf4grady]

Hi All,

Never ran my boat with trim tabs not sure what improvement in ride they will give me. Anyone with experience I would greatly appreciate advice.
Also what size should i be looking at.
Thanks ahead of time for your help

 

[DennisG01]

Where do you use your boat and how do you use it? That may help decide.

But... once you get used to using them - you'll never want a boat without them. All of the benefiits that you can read about on Bennett's site are dead-on accurate, so no real reason to type about that here. Personally, I would use hydraulic as they have proven to have a longer, more reliable longspan thatn electric. However, electric will move the tab a bit faster. Not a huge deal in the end, though. Electric is a bit easier to install - but hydraulic is very easy to install as well.

Get the largest trim tab span you can comforatably fit. Span is more important than chord.

 

[Recoil Rob]

I put 9x12 Lectrotabs on my 180 Sportsman, can't imagine running without them. Easy to install, lifetime warranty, excellent customer support.
On a small boat, when even the difference between a 160lb passenger and a 190lb one makes a difference, being able to tweak the ride is key.

 

[Duke1903]

Hi,
I have a 2000 Adventure 208 as well and have 9x12 Bennetts on it . I am actually swapping hydraulics out to electrics this season. I would definitely put them on, you wont regret it!!

 

[Mustang65fbk]

luckydude put some oversized trim tabs on his 228 Seafarer and really seems to like them. I personally have I believe they're 9"x12" tabs on my boat and I don't really ever use them as I do 99% of my fishing in protected waters. If I was on the open ocean in less than favorable elements and conditions, then I might consider getting some slightly bigger ones. But for now, and the fishing/boating that I do, it's not worth spending the extra money on something that I'll likely never use. Currently, I row out to my fishing boat that's on a mooring buoy in front of my beach cabin during the summer, start her up, unhook her from the buoy and start trolling for salmon from there. I have the older trim tab gauge that just has the buttons on it but not the indicators telling you where the tabs are at. Typically, I just leave the trim tabs in the "bow up" position unless I'm dealing with some less than favorable conditions and so forth. Then I might change them up a little bit, or if I've got 8 people on board and they keep shifting around. I'd say less than a handful of times out of a hundred though, I just leave them as is or even forget about them altogether.

 

[luckydude]

I have a 2020 228, so similar but slightly larger hull. Stock, it came with 9x12, I read the Bennett website and those are WAY too small for my boat, they did not help much. I swapped them out for 12x18 tabs and WOW, what a difference. With the smaller tabs, I was on and off my throttle on every big swell so I didn't launch. Now I push the tabs down, engage autopilot, and drive home. 95% of the time I used to manage the throttle in the past, now I do nothing, just run.

I would be in a different boat had I not put the bigger tabs on. Yeah, I had to cut a corner to fit them next to the scuppers but no big deal, 5 minutes with an angle grinder and I was good to go. Highly recommended in swells, I use them pretty much every time I go out.

 

[rmf4grady]

Where do you use your boat and how do you use it? That may help decide.

But... once you get used to using them - you'll never want a boat without them. All of the benefiits that you can read about on Bennett's site are dead-on accurate, so no real reason to type about that here. Personally, I would use hydraulic as they have proven to have a longer, more reliable longspan thatn electric. However, electric will move the tab a bit faster. Not a huge deal in the end, though. Electric is a bit easier to install - but hydraulic is very easy to install as well.

Get the largest trim tab span you can comforatably fit. Span is more important than chord.

thanks for the advice, will definitely buy some for my boat. Just wondering what size other 208 owners have gone with

 

[rmf4grady]

Hi,
I have a 2000 Adventure 208 as well and have 9x12 Bennetts on it . I am actually swapping hydraulics out to electrics this season. I would definitely put them on, you wont regret it!!

Thanks for the reply...I gues they fit no issues?

 

[Peter A]

Definitely want tabs, I have a 2021 208. Not sure the size, I will measure this weekend but they are as installed by Grady. Most of my running attitude adjustment is via motor trim but I have had times where I have a lot of motor trim in (bow down) and still need a bit more bite especially if I am running very light. Also you need the tabs to adjust side to side, at times pretty significant based on wind or weight in the boat. Prior owner installed auto trim but I don’t really find the need, 2nd year with the boat so maybe I will change opinions.

 

[seasick]

On my 208, I use trim pals. That is when you ask your pals to switch seats or to stand on the opposite side.

 

[Duke1903]

9x12 Bennetts fit perfect and work great!

 

[DennisG01]

thanks for the advice, will definitely buy some for my boat. Just wondering what size other 208 owners have gone with

Don't base it on what others have used or what comes from the factory. You have the opportunity to do it "better". Measure and see what you can fit.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I see a lot of guys running 9"x12" trim tabs on 21'-22' boats and that will probably do you just fine, as well as I wouldn't want to go any smaller than that. Or as Lucky mentioned, you could always go as big as possible and likely see a substantial improvement on top of that.

 

[DennisG01]

thanks for the advice, will definitely buy some for my boat. Just wondering what size other 208 owners have gone with

To add on to what I said... adding ANY size tabs (even small ones) will show a marked improvement in hole shot, lowering planing speed and calming the bow down in a chop. So anything you do is going to be good. But as in pretty much all things boating... bigger is better

 

[rmf4grady]

Hello Richard,

Below is the information that I have on file for the optional trim tabs for the 2000 208 Adventure. This is a 12 x 9 Hydraulic tabs from Bennett Marine (PH#954-427-1400). They can help with questions on this for you. Below is the kit # for this option. #18-501.

Hope this helps.



Carolyn Ray

Customer Relations

Grady White Boats

 

[enfish]

Bennett recommends 18x9 for the 208. But with a transom mount transducer, there's not really any room for 18's, so we went with 12x9 and they do just fine.

 

[luckydude]

Bennett recommends 18x9 for the 208. But with a transom mount transducer, there's not really any room for 18's, so we went with 12x9 and they do just fine.

The space on the transom should be the same, or similar, on 208 as the 228, it's the same shaped hull. Or so I think.

What I _know_ is that there is a night and day difference between the 9x12 and 12x18 tabs on my 228. Might be particular to the part of the Pacific I'm in, but with the smaller tabs I was forced to back off the throttle on 95% of the swells we see. Every swell was go up 1/2 the way, back off the throttle, go over the top, get back on the throttle. On extremely flat days I could skip that but we rarely see those conditions.

With the bigger tabs, I push them down, get up to around 25mph, set the autopilot, and put my hands in my pockets. The bigger tabs make the boat roll over the top of the swell rather than launch off of it.

It is a night and day difference. 9x12 are way too small for the 228 and the 208, go look at Bennett's web site and they say for 9 inch deep tabs, you want an inch of width for each foot of length. 9x12 tabs are for a 12 foot boat, not a 20 or 22 foot boat.

I'm 100% certain that if I had not upgraded to the 12x18 tabs I would have gotten frustrated with my 228 and sold it. They make that much of a difference, I can't say that strongly enough. It's a completely different ride, so much better. You are losing out if you don't get the correctly sized tabs. If anyone doubts that, I'll happily take you out in my boat and show you, you'll be a believer after that.

 

[Msp381]

The space on the transom should be the same, or similar, on 208 as the 228, it's the same shaped hull. Or so I think.

What I _know_ is that there is a night and day difference between the 9x12 and 12x18 tabs on my 228. Might be particular to the part of the Pacific I'm in, but with the smaller tabs I was forced to back off the throttle on 95% of the swells we see. Every swell was go up 1/2 the way, back off the throttle, go over the top, get back on the throttle. On extremely flat days I could skip that but we rarely see those conditions.

With the bigger tabs, I push them down, get up to around 25mph, set the autopilot, and put my hands in my pockets. The bigger tabs make the boat roll over the top of the swell rather than launch off of it.

It is a night and day difference. 9x12 are way too small for the 228 and the 208, go look at Bennett's web site and they say for 9 inch deep tabs, you want an inch of width for each foot of length. 9x12 tabs are for a 12 foot boat, not a 20 or 22 foot boat.

I'm 100% certain that if I had not upgraded to the 12x18 tabs I would have gotten frustrated with my 228 and sold it. They make that much of a difference, I can't say that strongly enough. It's a completely different ride, so much better. You are losing out if you don't get the correctly sized tabs. If anyone doubts that, I'll happily take you out in my boat and show you, you'll be a believer after that.

Lucky..do you have pics of the larger tabs on your 228?

 

[luckydude]

Lucky..do you have pics of the larger tabs on your 228?

Yes. You can see I had to use an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to make them fit around the scupper but that was 5 minutes and we're all good.

 

[enfish]

The space on the transom should be the same, or similar, on 208 as the 228, it's the same shaped hull. Or so I think.

What I _know_ is that there is a night and day difference between the 9x12 and 12x18 tabs on my 228. Might be particular to the part of the Pacific I'm in, but with the smaller tabs I was forced to back off the throttle on 95% of the swells we see. Every swell was go up 1/2 the way, back off the throttle, go over the top, get back on the throttle. On extremely flat days I could skip that but we rarely see those conditions.

With the bigger tabs, I push them down, get up to around 25mph, set the autopilot, and put my hands in my pockets. The bigger tabs make the boat roll over the top of the swell rather than launch off of it.

It is a night and day difference. 9x12 are way too small for the 228 and the 208, go look at Bennett's web site and they say for 9 inch deep tabs, you want an inch of width for each foot of length. 9x12 tabs are for a 12 foot boat, not a 20 or 22 foot boat.

I'm 100% certain that if I had not upgraded to the 12x18 tabs I would have gotten frustrated with my 228 and sold it. They make that much of a difference, I can't say that strongly enough. It's a completely different ride, so much better. You are losing out if you don't get the correctly sized tabs. If anyone doubts that, I'll happily take you out in my boat and show you, you'll be a believer after that.

I don't disagree with you... put the biggest tabs you can fit. In my case, it was going to require rearranging too much stuff and the 22 foot Gradys at one point in time (many years ago when I was deciding which size to install) came stock from Grady with 12x9's, and looking around the yard, almost all 20-22 foot boats has 12x9's, so I decided 12x9's would be fine. I've been very happy with them. Our weather in the So Cal Bight is nothing compared to what you deal with daily in Santa Cruz, but I've never had an issue keeping the bow down, even in small craft advisory weather. Fully extended they will keep the hull on plane at 10 knots.