I have a 1998 Fountain 32 Fever. When my trim tabs are all the way up against the stops, my mechanical indicator is set on number 3. I always thought that was the neutral position (being on the same plane as the boat bottom) until I put a straight edge on the bottom where the tabs are located and found the tabs to be in a negative (down) position. The outer tip of the tab is almost touching the straight edge. The base of the tab ( where it is attached to the boat) is 1/2 " higher than the boat bottom. I plan to remove the stops and carefully trim the tabs up until I run out of indicator cable. I will then pencil in a stop line on the gauge. My goal obviously is to pick up some speed. I am sure someone else has already done this. My question is - did you pick up any speed? And, if you did, how much? Thanks for the feedback.
DL

"Tuning" the tabs takes a bit of effort but is worth it I think. I would first remove the stops. Then with the boat lightly loaded, pick a good running day and starting with tabs full up, and your drive trimmed to give your best top end, "tap" the tabs down in tiny increments till you start to notice some effect. Then "tap" back up ONLY till that effect is gone. Now, DON'T TOUCH THE TAB CONTROL, and either haul the boat out or go overboard and measure the tab ram extension on both sides. (they may be a bit different) Modify your stops to allow exactly that much retraction and reinstall. There you have it. They will never need to run any higher and there will be no wasted motion when you need them. Then I like to set my indicators at "0" in your new full up position. As for how much gain? It really depends on how much they were dragging, if at all. --- Jer

The last post is a great explanation. I removed the stops on my 1993 27' Fountain and gained 1 or 2 mph. It definitely lets the boat run more lose. I'm sure the 32 will not have the controlabiliy issues that I experienced my 27.

Thanks for the replies. I like the idea of starting at maximum up and bumping tabs down until it slows down and then bump up enough to return to max speed. That will become 0 setting.
I have a friend that had a 27 Fever and when he removed his stops he did not pick up any speed at all. I have got to at least try it. Looking at it with the straight edge it is hard to believe I won't get a little more mph. We will see.
Thanks again,
DL

Just one thing to remember-Fountains are designed to run flat and fly flat-not bow high. I suspect they put the stops in so the average Joe can't loosen up the bow too much and get in trouble (trip/stuff). Just know where the origianl stop point was and don't run the boat hard in the rough without some tab dialed in.

No problem, I understand and appreciate what you are saying and I do not plan on doing anything crazy. Normal operating procedure in rough water will be trim at #4 and tabs at #4. Add more tab if needed. I am just trying to see how fast it will go in smooth conditions. I have owned a 25' Checkmate with a 502 and a 20' Allison with a Merc 2.5 o/b so, I know what flying em high and light feels like. Thanks,
DL