hey guys been reading alot about tabs but nothing really seems to fit my application. i have a 1978 glastron v194 (18'10"), that i have been working on for 4 years now. last winter i redid the whole boat; transom, stringers, and floor. also built a 96 454 mpi with custom fuel set up (no vst!), just keep motor stock for now. we use the boat for wakeboarding so i wanted the torque of the bbc. the boat was basically designed to hold alot of power, and the combo has been working out great. i run an alpha one with a raised x dimension also (cut the hole myself 1 1/2" high). went through a couple of lower gear sets, but that another story, went to stock case and no issues last few times out. i put about 125hrs a year on the motor and i boat here on long island south shore so it gets pretty rough. i have been running a 23 mirage plus and a 24 bravo one. the 23 got me to 72 on gps 69-70 all day(with tower and boards in the rack) but the 24 was only around 64 and was stuffing the bow!
this winter i flipped the boat over to check the hull and remove the bottom paint. when i put the level up on it it was disgusting, had a bad hook in the back and big concave section right in the center belly about 3' long. after alot of grinding, filling and sanding the bottom is flat, straight and sharp. i blueprinted a hull before but never drove the boat before hand just after and it drove like it was on rails!.
so after seeing this hook it was determined this was the cause of the bow stuffing with the 4 blade and needing alot of trim in general with the 23. makes sense to me... i also extended the 2 inner most chines/strakes all the way to the back.
after a few old time racers saw my bottom they said fix it and it will really run! saying i could pick up maybe 5-8mph with removing the bottom paint, blue printing, remove windshield and wakeboard tower? tower will go back on after testing .
so here is my questions they said trim tabs would help me out, but how and if they do what do i need for my set up? will i really see a speed increase of that much?
sorry for the long post but any help would be great.
heres a link for my whole build process...its 14 pages with a ton of pictures. http://www.classicglastron.com/phpbb...php?f=20&t=169
jay

I doubt you will see an increase in speed with tabs. They will help you in rough water as you can set them so that it is similar to extending the hull. I have heard some claim they can get more speed by playing with the tabs, but I have never seen it. They can bring more stability which may alow you to run faster, but you didn't indicate you were having any handling problems.

the boat was a handful to drive over 69-70, would start chine walking fierce. however after taking apart my transom assembly cause i could shake my drive side to side almost 2" i found that the bolts were never tightened around the gimbal ring and steering arm! my mistake. also had the wrong hardware for the ring. i put a bravo one ring in my alpha but kept the 2 straight bolts not the ushaped one i now put in with newer square pin. now i have almost no movement in the assembly where before i had alot.
i was thinking the tabs wouldnt add speed, the work i did to the boat would. just was wondering how tabs would affect me positively or negatively, and if i need them what do i try to get?

Try Bennett trim tabs.com. I'm sure they will help you.

what do you guys run on your 18'-20' big block boats running 70-80?
tabs or no tabs?
help or no help?
somebody got to have some good input....speak your mind please!

anybody? i have about month beofore i want to be back in the water and i have a ton to do.