Great experience with Bennett Marine!
 

I have a had problems getting much trim ( couldnt resist ). The prop blows out at less than 1/4 trim on the indicator. Ive tried several different props with no change. I was looking at the factory installed Bennett trim tabs and noticed that they barley pull past level with the hull in the full up position. I thought this might be hurting me so I called Bennett. I spoke with a gentelman named Lewis who at first did not think the tabs were hurting me as long as the pulled up past level. He took a minute to speak with another employee ( who posts here under the name TABMAN I am told) who was more familiar with my boat (92 Four Wins Liberator). When he came back, he stated that there may in fact be an issue with the placement of the tabs on my boat. He offered to email me instructions on how to shorten the stop inside the actuator so that the tabs came up an inch further. After I got off the phone, he called back back and stated that he could send me an upper hinge that was shorter which would do the same. The parts have been sent at THEIR EXPENSE ! Mind you, this is a 10 year old setup installed by the factory. The parts would have cost me about $40 plus shiping. Anyway, I asked Lewis if he was familiar with this board and he was. I told him that I would post a little somthing about his companies service. Turns out Lewis is the Director of Marketing for the company.

Put Bennett Marine on your "good" list.

Chris,

I too found the same problem. I figured it was to make up for the large hook I had and I was going to redrill the top mount, but if there is a replacement part that would be great. I would definetly be interested in the info you got and his number regarding the parts.

I've dealt with Bennett once before and was very impressed with their customer service.

Thanks
Les

Its an easy fix without the part. Unhook the bottom hinge from the trim plate. Now put down some rags and unscrew the trim actuator from the top hinge/mount. Some ATF will spill out so hold on as there is a little mess. Now you will see a small black plug sticking down from the center of the top hinge/mount. Cut off about an inch of that. I took a piece of masking tape and wrapped it around the plug as a guide. Cut it with a hacksaw w/o removing it from the boat. Cleaned up the edges with sand paper and then cleaned up all the fragments. Re-assemble, top off the fluid in the resevior, and work the tabs up and down. They are self bleeding. Takes no time at all.

I have seen Bennetts' excellent approach to customer support on the boatered.com forum before- they are on that site quite a bit.
They always seem to be quick with the answers, and I have seen them offer up fixes or mods to a lot of boaters!
Definitely a class act company!

Chris- still planning to go to the SOTW, weather permitting. We will probably stay in Holland Friday night, pick up the AT and splash it Saturday morning. Hope to hook up with some OSO'ers over there!

Jim