33 Outlaw Tabs vs Planes
 

Just bought a 33 outlaw with dual ram Bennett tabs. The boat will kept at LOTO. It's only got 7.4's so it's low 60's tops. But as many of you know it's rough as hell on weekends. I can get a set of Eddie Marine 24" tabs and mechanical indicators for both tabs and drives installed for about $3700 tax labor everything. Even as rough as it is I'm wondering if I'll ever see the value in this?

You just bought it and already tweaking with it? Lol my sister had a 33 502 outlaw with the Bennett's It road really well and even pretty good on the way back from the shootout which anything under a apache or big cat rides worth a hell in that slop.

It will be fine. Trim down and put the tabs down - it will ride very well for a 33 foot boat.

Appreciate the quick feedback!

Baditude...I'm in OP as well. Normally not so quick to mod stuff but I'm going to have it out of the water to get the drives pulled, checked and serviced....so figured I might have them do it at the same time. But that was back when I thought I could surely find a used set around LOTO! Not as easy as I thought. And it has ****ty gauges for motor trim and LED trim tab indicators that I can't see in the sunlight...thus the mechanical indicators. I can live with the motor trim and maybe make a visor for the LED trim so I can see the damn thing.

Anyway, great feedback. I'll put the money toward stereo and gas! :-)

Not worth the investment. Like keith said run your drives and tabs down when it's sloppy. You'll be fine. You'll be lucky to see 60 with 7.4s. Cruise it around 45 and plow through whatever the hell you want. Enjoy!!

I have 380 k-planes, (18" long)
I found the sweet spot where they
work best ( cruise and top speed) and very rarely mess with them.

If you can find that spot with the the bennets where they
work best for all situations, I wouldn't waste the $$$, just
leave them at that position and run it.

One of the best things about about the k-planes is that
they react just like drive trim does, the bennets are slow to react, so if you find yourself not able to find that sweet spot,
and find yourself constantly fiddling with the tab settings the
k-planes are are definetly worth it, plus they're a bit more robust, as I recall some of the bennet cylinder components
are made of plastic.

I've found that anything under 50 mph and the pounding worsens on the rough weekends....there's more boat in the water and the hull takes more hits.

As far as the value goes, I've found nothing that you can do to a boat results in an increase in monetary value in the eye
of a potential buyer.;)

As far as an operational standpoint,
if you end up using them a lot, you'll appreciate them
and the'll have value to you.

Great tips and advice! Thanks for taking the time. This is my fist foray into performance boats, so bolster time will certainly be needed to learn the boat. Interesting about the 50 mph thing in rough water...somebody else said the same thing. Coming from a large open bow Monterey 298SS with twins, it rides more like a huge ski boat...the tendency is to slow down when it gets rough. Obviously I need to change my thinking and gain some confidence in the boat.

FWIW, I bought a 280 Baja new about 20 yrs ago. It came with Bennet tabs from the factory. The second weekend out, I tore one of the tabs right off the boat... Installed K-Planes the next week. That boat needed a lot of tab input, needed quality tabs and glad to have spent the $$ for the extra control and safety.

Any pics of the boat? Curious if this was Curt Mansells boat?

If it was I rode on the boat and the bennets seemed to work just fine..

No...bought it from an older couple in Sunrise Beach. Sorry, camera phone pic my wife took from our dock not real clear. The kids seem to like it :-)) ...

http://midwestboatparty.com/forum/at...3&d=1366117083