K-Planes??
 

When the weather breaks or I should say if the weather EVER breaks, I am going to install a set of K-Planes. I am sick of those junk Insta-Trim trim tabs that Checkmate put on.
I was going to go with Kiekehauffer 280-S planes but I stumbled onto the site I linked below. Has anyone heard of or used K-Planes from these guys? How is the quality? I like the fact that they are billet rather than cast. The choice of colors and finish is also a nice option. I am thinking of going with their hp1000 kit. What do you think? I am hoping to see a big change from my stock tabs.

http://www.danamarineproducts.com/st...FTOKEN=5443515

checkmate454mag - Go get the February issue of Power Boat Magazine if you haven't already, there is a good article on installing K-Planes, they put them on a new 28' Formula, it has photos and everything. They said it took them about 12 hours to install them. Eric

You can check out eddie marine.com

I have a 259 Convincor. My current tabs are 16 ". The hp1000 planes are 23", the hp900 planes are 17". Any opinions?

FormulaFastech

That's why I want the opinions of the members of this board.

My buddy had a '89 251 Checkmate Convincor with 280S K-Planes. They worked great. He hardly ever had to adjust them from neutral, or parallel with the bottom, as they were perfect for the boat, with the 500HP.

Thanks for all the information. But, has anyone used K-Planes from Dana Performance Marine??

http://www.danamarineproducts.com/st...FTOKEN=5443515

No but IM thinking about exactally what your doing
get something less expensive than the 280S k planes that will yield the same result
more flat running boat
not bobbing up and down
Jason

Checkmate454, I have looked at the Dana products, they appear to be high quaility. I think the only question is how they hold up. I remeber several threads from race teams saying they were real good for them in race conditions. I think the other thing to think about is the cost. I have a 251 convincor and considered instaklling K-Planes on mine, but for ~200$ I changed my Bennett sport tabs from the 9" to the larger ones (I just changed the bottom) and changed the location in closer to the drive. This helped dramaticaly with the handling issue. I think if money was no object then I would go with the K-Planes, but if money was no object the I'd have a 41' Apache !

i have been thinking about a pair of these tabs form eddiemarine . . .anybody have any experiance with these . here a link . they are like 1600.00 for the whole kit. sounds pretty good to me. i have seen those dana's on more than a few race boats. they look pretty heavy duty. looks like a good price on those to.

billet tabs

The Dana Planes and the Eddie Marine Planes look very similar. The only difference I see is the color of the piston-- and the price. Makes you wonder if both of these guys are buying the K-Planes from someone and just slapping their names on them.

i was think'n that same thing . . .they do look very much alike. :cool: . . . that eddie marine is a dangerous site to be on . . . lots of cool on there :D :D

I spoke to Eddie Marine today. It seems that they don't powder coat their K-Planes. They first put a clear anodized coating on, then they put a fusion coating of color on. The pistons stay clear anodized. Personally, I prefer powder coating.

Leaky Yellow caps?
 

If your new K-Plane pump Yellow caps leak check out my site!

Thanks turbosonic. I already use your caps on my pumps. I will be using them on my new pumps as well. Thanks for a great product...:D

Hey Checkmate,
Thinking of spring ha? me too
Ive used dana hatch lifts, great product but i found thier powdercoating didnt handle saltwater very well.Eddie marine does make thier own tabs although very similiar and thier coating for me has help up better (fusion coating) Iv got lots of eddie fusion coated stuff , battery hold downs,cleat trims and it all has held up really well in salt .

Jim

Hey Jim;
Yes I am thinking of spring. I have had about enough of these sub-artic temps around here. That is good to know about the coatings. I was leaning towards getting the Dana tabs. They seem to be working with me regarding an issue I have about which indicator would work for me. Eddie marine told me that they can't help me. I am still sitting on the fence with this one. I have time before making a decision.
How is your motor coming along? Will you be back at OceanOutboard this year? I will still be at Grovers. I did look around for another place. But no one with indoor rac storage would take me in. Blue Water told me that my boat is too big for their racs!! I said I have a 25 Checkmate, are you kidding me.. How much smaller of a boat can you get than that? Then I looked into buying a HydroHoist and renting a spot for it. That didn't work out either. I looked into Ocean Outboard, but they told me that they wouldn't even allow me to change my own oil there. At Grovers, I can swing a motor if I had to. So it's back to Grovers.

Hey guys I think fusion coating and power coating are exactly the same thing. Check it out. Eddies tabs are $250 cheaper then danas. Both have the look of quality. I think they are machined in house by both companys.:frog:

mnwalters,

I think you are right about the coatings. But, I most likely will have to go with Dana Marine. They were able to work with me regarding a trick indicator set-up I need . Eddie Marine could not help me.

Hey Vin,
Yea Ocean Outboard can be a pain and they are expensive 120/ft $3600.00 for a 30 footer. Even Tony admits he can be anal, but he runs a very tight ship.The place is kept immaculate, his staff is all very good , his drive guy jimmy is one of the best and even the guy who runs the lift is also excellent , never a mark on my hull. But I have loyalty to him because of the trouble I had when I bought my Superboat , I think I told you the story but Its worth repeating in OSO.
Ocean Outboard of Freeport NY brokered the sale of my 30Y2K Superboat. It was a boat that I knew was raced by John the owner of Superboat and was throttled by his son an experienced throttleman and had seen some very rough water.It than had a blower added and was run a season by a novice boater, and still had the original bravo xr upper with an Imco lower .Needless to say ,no guarantee with my purchase !The day I took delivery , I ran the boat for 2 or 3 hours never going over 3500rpms(new boat to me, 30 ft single screw 7 ft beam 32pitch prop 725hp ,definetely took a little getting used to !)heading back in running 3200rpms terrible grinding and the rpms start screaming!The upper went,scrapnel flew wiped the lower also!Well long story short, The people from Ocean Outboard didnt know me at all and just figured I was some green as_hole who beat on his new toy and fried the drive with air and over rev.(I couldnt blame them)I exected very little from them to be honest. It was mid july an xr upper was impossible to find , so they got mercury to overnight a complete xr drive , overnighted the imco parts, installed a new xr upper and rebuilt my imco lower and had me back in the water in a week, and charged me about $2000.00 ,about 1/4 of the complete bill! I gotta say Thanks again Tony!! He really did go above and beyond.
Jim

Jim,
Yes I do remember you telling that story. I guess they did take care of you. As you said, sometimes loyalty gets involved in decisions. As I said, I looked around just to satisfy my curiousity, but couldn't find a better deal. He charged me $75. per foot, and I am indoors. I also didn't have any problems with the forklift guys.