K Plane Travel limiters?
 

Anyone have any idea where to get the blocks Reggie used to limit the travel on his K Planes?

I don't have a source other than calling Fountain. The ones on my boat look fairly simple (possibly Fountain made them in house??), so maybe they could be made out of a poly block??

Not familiar. Did they limit travel up or down?

There is a Mercury part number for little C-clip blocks that go INSIDE the trim cylinders for Bravo Drives. These limit travel upwards on that application.

These are also available, for which people use when trailering, again on the drive(s): to keep weight off the hydraulic system. I don't know if they would work on the trim tabs, but might be worth a shot if both rams are same diameter.
http://www.jmsonline.net/trailering-...UnoaAn8x8P8HAQ

They limit the travel up... so as to keep the K Plane level with the bottom of the boat when all the way up... I considered the Travel clips cut to length... but the cylinder ram on the K planes are smaller in diameter then the Trim cylinder rams... not sure they would stay on? Thanks for the replies....

I don't think Starboard comes in 2x2xXlength size, but you could probably make some out of 1" thick starboard cubes epoxied together. Then drill a hole down the center (with a lathe).
Finish by cutting an opening on a bandsaw slightly smaller than the diameter of the trim ram.

There may be another manufacturer of plastic/vinyl in a 2x2xXlength size that may work, but I don't know of anything offhand.

Thanks again... I was thinking along those lines... maybe a piece of round aluminum bar stock drilled then cut down the middle & screwed together?

Yep, but line it with a thin sheet of rubber or something so you wouldn't have to worry about dissimilar metal corrosion; and you could shoot a little WD-40 in there from time to time. Maybe even a lube hole in the center.

All good suggestions... thanks again

Aren't tabs supposed to angle up a bit when raised so they are completely out of the water on high speed runs?

Depends on the boat....

On the large step 32's it seems above level doesn't give anymore speed but does make it rock more. Mine doesn't have the limiters and I have tried running with them above lever and the speed didn't change a bit.

Reggie said way back when to always run the tabs parallel with the boat's running surface.

I think that depends on the boat though now. That may have been true on straight bottom boats.
However, step bottom boats have a "disjointed running surface" as the actual "surface" is a straight line drawn across the aft points of each step.
Remember, steps were invented to create a natural "rake" in the water. Introducing air under the hull was a by-product.

With that being said, I do think it varies on the boat.
On my trim indicators, I have "neutral" or parallel with the aft running surface of the boat (behind the (last) step) MARKED with a Sharpie line. That's normally where my tabs stay parked.

When you need to adjust trim for running conditions, remember you can run the drives at different trim levels as well. That may adjust the angle of the dangle side to side in quartering seas or with a breeze; without scrubbing speed as tabs can do.

THE MOST important thing when it comes to adjusting tabs for changing the attitude of the boat side to side is DIFFERENCE between the two tabs. For THAT reason, I don't know that I would chose to run upward limiting blocks.

But, every captain has their own method of running their own boat.

Sunsation installed them on the old Dominators. Not sure if they still use them on the newer twin-step S,SS,SSR,XRT hull. You could post something on the Sunny forum and see if Jeff Sunsation responds..

Thanks everyone... A friend of a friend has a set off a Fountain for me to try.... really appreciate the responses....

Did you find out if it's a Merc or Fountain part?

It is a Fountain Part #2542 according to David Hardison....$65/each!

I've got them on my 2002 35' Lightning, assuming from the factory.

Eddie and I spoke about removing them to loosen the boat up a bit to gain some speed. ...but then he talked me in to putting in a new roller cam....
:cool-smiley-027:

I gained some speed!

Anyone have a pic of what they look like?

If the boat runs best with tabs parallel with the bottom, why not just run it like that? Why do you need stops for, assuming you have mechanical indicators? I'm only curious...

That is what I do, even with the bottom is 3 on my indicators for both drive and tabs.

Say you are cruising along at 50-60 mph & someone runs up on you... you want to play with them but they don;t want to wait until you adjust your tabs to where the indicators say is full up.... I want to hold the up button & go... not look down at the tab indicators... personal preference I suppose....

Same here - I like the stops as I can lay in to the rocker switch and not even look at the tab indicators. 99.9% of the time, I run with them parallel with bottom of the boat - that's 3 on my gauge and my stops, stop the tabs at 3.

I only use the tabs to get on plane.