I'm looking at adding a Stainless Marine trim indicator system to my boat. Does anybody have first hand experience with the system? Is it superior or inferior to the Gaffrig system? Can somebody tell me how the head unit is assembled? I will need to custom make a mounting bezel to tilt the panel for better viewing. I'm trying to determine if I need the stock bezel or if a new one will be needed.

I used them on my baja. They use a cable that is very similar in size to a bicycle cable. You can use much tighter radii with this system which was a must for my application.

Most systems use standard cable which requires a lot of room before it can bend. The SM system probably is not compatible with most other systems.

The sending unit is very different since it works off a cam system mounted on top of the Bravo. A little harder to adjust but I really liked the end results.

Cord

I just did a Merc Racing unit. What I can say everything was top notch and simple to install. The end results are worth the price payed, that I will guarantee you. I feel the merc actuators are the best on the market, set them and forget them. I never trusted the stock gages, it is nice to know were your drives are. Truly are. If I can help you with more info let me know. I still have the template for the dash cut out if that would help you compare.

Russ

Cord stainless marine unit has a flat spring in the head unit. It was furnished with a plexi front panel. I stood my unit straight up. The new style indicator head has thumb screw adjustment at the indicator head. Very easy to adjust. Plus I think they will make the panel anyway you like.

I installed the Stainless Marine "no-slack" system on my Bravo drive and love it. I have the Gaffrig mechanical indicators on the trim tabs and am annoyed by the slack that has to be taken up before the gauge on the dash responds. I can tolerate the slop in the tab indicators, but my boat is very sensitive to outdrive trim changes, and I love the precision movement of the Stainless Marine system. I don't have an opinion on your mounting situation.

Another thing I like about the Stainless Marine system is that the indicator is actually an LED that is very bright and easy to see in daylight or at night. If I could do it over again, I'd have used the Stainless Marine system on the tabs too. I'm leaving now to go enjoy the boat for a week!

Cord what about the ones that come strait up out of the dash? I have a picture some place (maybe my computer at the shop) They look like rods that come straite up out of the dash.

Jon

Thet are called pop ups. They are new. Stainless marine is selling them but they are not cheap

Yes, I forgot about that system. It sounds like they've got a pretty good product. Never having used a mechanical trim system before, I wasn't sure if the no-slack system was advantageous or not.

In a nutshell, our No-slack system uses a triple wound constant force spring (like your grandma's Victrola) to keep all slack out of the system. The spring is 4.3# of tensile force Movements of 1/32" can be read either direction on the dash display. We also use a superbright 80 mcd LED for the pointer. We now have bezels with all the bubblegum colors.

Our "Heads-up" display uses the same technology and comes vertically through the dash. We make it with black delrin or clear polycarbonate rods, and can illuminate the clear ones. On a really fast cat, you can look right through the display, and never take you eyes off the water. We also have all-stainless cables available.

We are trying... hard!

Brownie-do you work for stainless? Can you forward me more info on the heads up system? A brochure would be grand. Pricing would help. It sounds like it would be more effective for my application...