Why mount tabs horizontal
 

I notice a few race boats at Key West run there tabs horizontal. what is the reason behind this. I going to be reinstalling my tabs next week and want to know what would be better.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

you ever snowski?
how'd you learn to stop?

didn't you learn to snowplow with the skis tucked in towards each other?

Let's consider an extreme..
What happens when you mount the tabs VERTICAL and put them "down"?
You snowplow, right?

So if you go from vertical (fully snowplowing)
to horizontal (no snowplowing), then you can see that the more you stray from horizontal, the more snowplow effect you will have when you tab below neutral.

When tabs are mounted at a matching angle to the deadrise, and you run them neutral, then there is no snowplow, there is just additional "hull length". This is useful. But when you have to run them below neutral, you start snowplowing.

There are arguments both ways. I guess the real answer depends on how much tab you need to run at racing speeds.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Also heard of the snowplow effect described above.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

HEY!! Your back! I look foward to your insight. Always
top notch. :)
Paul (hot boat). It's because its a Fountain....always on
the cutting edge. :drink:

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

if beek boats do it, it must be right no ?













ONLY KIDDING !!

Have also gotten the snowplowing explanation makes sense to me but who am i ?

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

I have a 28' single engine. I only use the tabs when its rough water or during a poker run. When I do use them I dont need much tab, either flat with the hull or slightly lower, just enough to give the hull some extra length to keep the bow from lifting.

mcollinstn from what you said it sound that I would be best leaving them where they are , and using them more as a hull extension.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

if they are horizontal yes...

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

JEB BROWN was doing that back in the early 90's on his race boats :cool:

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

do the water flow calcs b4 you decide to mount them. I have them horizontal on my fountain now, but I tried that on the Venom earler this year and I found them to be useless(tabs in down position caught 2 3/4" of a 30" tab) in that position so I went back to matching the bottom. Boat design detirmines alot when making this decision

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Installing the tabs horizontal is a very old idea. Far from cutting edge. CanDo

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Very true. They were mounting tabs horizontal 12-15 years ago in A class.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

step or straight bottom?..

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Most all of the offshore vee-bottom rigging, hull design ideas, etc., come from OPC racing of the past. The horizintal tab idea came to light in the mid-sixties & was common then. Reggie raced quite a bit in OPC in his youth before working with Mercury as a test boat driver, then a tunnel boat race team driver for Mercury Hi-Performance Division. Old ideas become new again. Ed

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Depends on what you use the tabs for. If they are for longitudenal (fore and aft) trim, either way is OK. If they are for roll axis control (side to side), then following the bottom contour is desirable. Visualize a couple of extra fat asses on one side, and the boat leaning 15 or so degrees. A horizontally mounted tab would be a great deal less effective because it is at the same angle.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

I remember seeing Velocity do this on their smaller boats way before Fountain ever did... Or at least on their pleasure boats. :drink:

Anyway, I heard that it helps with high speed stability having them horizontal?

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Even on some of the big boats, my 41 has them mounted this way.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

What year is yours again? 97' - 98'???? :cool:

I didn't see them on the Reggies until a few years ago. :eek:

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

96 just like yours

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Mine is a 95'.. :rolleyes: :drink:

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

I think you should install them upside down....that way you can make sure they are way out of the water :drink:

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

your always thinking chris.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

you could just mount one verticle in the center like the sail boats do it. :evilb:

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

The Fountain is a single step 29 Fever F1 and the Venom was a twin step 32 ZXR F1 Both have notched transoms.

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

When you run the tabs straight across, it gives the idea of possibly adding some length to the bottom with out scrubbing as much speed off when tabs need to be used in various conditions. Is this what the Arneson rocker plates do? Thanks Jeff

Re: Why mount tabs horizontal
 

Tantrum, which way should we install them on the NEW SBRT underwater secret weapon :rolleyes: :drink:

Imo basically the same thing but I think Tabs horizontal work better.
Discussed this with some offshore 2 liter racers recently and came to this conclusion.
the thought behind this was that the tabs and the running surface of the boat makes a triangle which is the most effective way of stabilizing.
Feel free to correct/inform me.

Correct...I saw boats back in the '90s doing this and I'm sure they were doing this before that time too. I saw Bob Bull's F1 Velocity back in 1997-98 with tabs mounted like this...also Miklos and Gary from the F1 Oatey boat played around with tabs a lot from inner to outer mountings as well.