Why are the trim tabs on the 228 so small?

[luckydude]

I measured mine and they are 9x12 which Bennett's website says are for a 14-18 foot boat. Given that the engine is out on a 2+ foot platform, that makes the 228 more like a 24-25 foot boat from the tabs point of view.

I've got 12x18 tabs coming, gonna see if that smooths out my a ride a little. Anyone else done that?

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

It's not the size of the tabs but how you use them in conjunction with the motor. Grady built that boat for 4 decades and I trust they know what they were doing in regards to the tabs. I have never had an issue running the boat now 13 years with the factory equipped tabs. Let us know how you like the bigger tabs.

Ps at the end of the day it's a 22 footer . The bracket doesn't add 2 feet of wetted hull length. It just doesn't.

 

[luckydude]

It's not the size of the tabs but how you use them in conjunction with the motor. Grady built that boat for 4 decades and I trust they know what they were doing in regards to the tabs. I have never had an issue running the boat now 13 years with the factory equipped tabs. Let us know how you like the bigger tabs.

Ps at the end of the day it's a 22 footer . The bracket doesn't add 2 feet of wetted hull length. It just doesn't.

You are correct that it doesn't add more hull because, well, there is no hull under the bracket. That wasn't my point. My point was that the bracket puts all the weight 2+ feet further back which is going to push the stern down more (just ask any 226 owner why they like their boat). With all that weight back there, the tabs need to work like they are on a bigger boat.

While I absolutely adore my 228, I've come to realize why Grady stopped making them. It was a great design for lighter 2 stroke engines, everything about that boat was pretty much perfect when you had a light engine. When they plopped a heavy 4 stroke engine they really needed to redo the molds, they should have raised the deck and they should have gone to a bracket with more volume in it (that would have made it more like a bigger hull) to lift the stern. They didn't and the 4 stroke 228s are not as good as they could be.

I'll report back on the bigger tabs. The reason I got them is because one of my fishing friends used to fish in the Pacific on an 18 foot Grady center console and he got on my boat and said "My 18 foot boat ran way better than your boat does". He went looking for what I could do to fix my ride and after looking at my prop and tabs, he said "bigger tabs".

All of that happened because I fear swells and he asked why that was (his current boat is a Canyon 271, he puts that on autopilot and comes home at 25-30 knots through swells and doesn't touch the throttle). The swells launch my boat so I have to go up the swell, get about halfway up, pull the boat off plane, ok, over the top, goose it, repeat.

 

[glacierbaze]

Bennett makes different styles, some are just flat on the bottom, or maybe have the edges turned up for rigidity. Pretty sure your boat will have Sport tabs, which have the sides turned down, so that they act as fins, to channel more water across the surface. Doubling the size will not necessarily double the effect, if you go to a flat bottom tab. You can use the sport tab on a larger boat then you could if using the classic flat tab.
If you had asked Tabman (RIP)what was the right size for your boat, he might have said, “the biggest ones that will fit”.

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

I had a 192 dual console Grady. I can attest the 228 runs way better than my 192 did. With that said they discontinued the boat because it sales went below some metric. why did it do that? Because the walk around especially on smaller boats under 27 feet have fallen out of favor with the boat buying public. Grady focused on luxury dual consoles,center consoles and big walks and expresses.

I love my 228 and yah I want a Marlin or Sailfish or maybe an express 305 or 330,but I have run my 228 to the Bahamas a few times, the Dry Tortuga's and places in between.

We do have the sport tabs with the edges turned down. I don't know if bigger tabs will perform what you are seeking. There are trade offs between the 226 and 228. I sure do like the layout and cockpit space of the 228.

 

[DennisG01]

Actually, having an engine on a bracket improves performance since it has more "leverage" against the boat.

For a small boat, 9x12 is certainly adequate... but, yes, bigger can't hurt. FYI, span has more impact than chord.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I'll report back on the bigger tabs. The reason I got them is because one of my fishing friends used to fish in the Pacific on an 18 foot Grady center console and he got on my boat and said "My 18 foot boat ran way better than your boat does". He went looking for what I could do to fix my ride and after looking at my prop and tabs, he said "bigger tabs".

That seems fairly subjective and very difficult to compare to real world applications just based off the opinion of one person and a boat they had years and years ago. Was the wind, weather, waves and other conditions the same as when you went out with him? I think people, and I mean no offense to your buddy, oftentimes remember things being better, or even worse, than they really are/were. When I was in high school my parents bought a 17' Arima to use in front of our beach cabin on Whidbey Island and I remember at the time thinking "this boat works pretty well for the Puget Sound. They ended up selling that boat and I figured that buying a 21' Arima back in 2017 would be even better as it's a 4' longer boat. Not the case at all. I ended up selling the Arima because in the 1'-2' chop it would just pound and your back and knees would be feeling it very badly. Of which, I don't remember having that issue in the smaller boat, probably because I just wasn't paying attention and because I was younger to where it didn't affect me as much. If I didn't buy the 21' Arima and someone asked me my opinion on them, I'd probably have said something like "yeah, it's a great boat for the Puget Sound and will do just about anything that you need it to do." Now, I'd say, "it's a lightweight modified vee boat with all the weight in the rear, a rough ride that's jarring in the 1'-2' chop and it's a wet ride in that you'll take waves over the front and sides of the boat since the boat sits so low in the water." Not trying to call your buddy out, that being said... as mentioned above, I think that people tend to remember things being better or worse than how they actually are/were.

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I had a 192 dual console Grady. I can attest the 228 runs way better than my 192 did. With that said they discontinued the boat because it sales went below some metric. why did it do that? Because the walk around especially on smaller boats under 27 feet have fallen out of favor with the boat buying public. Grady focused on luxury dual consoles,center consoles and big walks and expresses.

My thought process on the matter is that they essentially have a 21' WA with the 208 Adventure as well as a 23' WA with the 232 Gulfstream and didn't really need a 22' WA as well with the 226/228 Seafarer... or basically one WA model for every foot from 21'-23'. I'm sure they looked at the sales numbers and have to imagine that the 226/228 Seafarer didn't sell anywhere near as well as the 208 Adventure or 232 Gulfstream, and is unfortunately the reason why it went away. Which is weird, because you'd think that the 226/228 Seafarer having essentially two different models would still sell better than either the 208 Adventure, or the 232 Gulfstream. But I guess that's not the case, and think pricing probably also came into play as you can get a 208 Adventure for quite a bit less than a 226/228 Seafarer, and the Seafarer seems like it's verging on 232 Gulfstream pricing. Just my thoughts of course.