thanks for the advice, will definitely buy some for my boat. Just wondering what size other 208 owners have gone withWhere do you use your boat and how do you use it? That may help decide.
But... once you get used to using them - you'll never want a boat without them. All of the benefiits that you can read about on Bennett's site are dead-on accurate, so no real reason to type about that here. Personally, I would use hydraulic as they have proven to have a longer, more reliable longspan thatn electric. However, electric will move the tab a bit faster. Not a huge deal in the end, though. Electric is a bit easier to install - but hydraulic is very easy to install as well.
Get the largest trim tab span you can comforatably fit. Span is more important than chord.
Thanks for the reply...I gues they fit no issues?Hi,
I have a 2000 Adventure 208 as well and have 9x12 Bennetts on it . I am actually swapping hydraulics out to electrics this season. I would definitely put them on, you wont regret it!!
Don't base it on what others have used or what comes from the factory. You have the opportunity to do it "better". Measure and see what you can fit.thanks for the advice, will definitely buy some for my boat. Just wondering what size other 208 owners have gone with
To add on to what I said... adding ANY size tabs (even small ones) will show a marked improvement in hole shot, lowering planing speed and calming the bow down in a chop. So anything you do is going to be good. But as in pretty much all things boating... bigger is betterthanks for the advice, will definitely buy some for my boat. Just wondering what size other 208 owners have gone with
The space on the transom should be the same, or similar, on 208 as the 228, it's the same shaped hull. Or so I think.Bennett recommends 18x9 for the 208. But with a transom mount transducer, there's not really any room for 18's, so we went with 12x9 and they do just fine.
Lucky..do you have pics of the larger tabs on your 228?The space on the transom should be the same, or similar, on 208 as the 228, it's the same shaped hull. Or so I think.
What I _know_ is that there is a night and day difference between the 9x12 and 12x18 tabs on my 228. Might be particular to the part of the Pacific I'm in, but with the smaller tabs I was forced to back off the throttle on 95% of the swells we see. Every swell was go up 1/2 the way, back off the throttle, go over the top, get back on the throttle. On extremely flat days I could skip that but we rarely see those conditions.
With the bigger tabs, I push them down, get up to around 25mph, set the autopilot, and put my hands in my pockets. The bigger tabs make the boat roll over the top of the swell rather than launch off of it.
It is a night and day difference. 9x12 are way too small for the 228 and the 208, go look at Bennett's web site and they say for 9 inch deep tabs, you want an inch of width for each foot of length. 9x12 tabs are for a 12 foot boat, not a 20 or 22 foot boat.
I'm 100% certain that if I had not upgraded to the 12x18 tabs I would have gotten frustrated with my 228 and sold it. They make that much of a difference, I can't say that strongly enough. It's a completely different ride, so much better. You are losing out if you don't get the correctly sized tabs. If anyone doubts that, I'll happily take you out in my boat and show you, you'll be a believer after that.
I don't disagree with you... put the biggest tabs you can fit. In my case, it was going to require rearranging too much stuff and the 22 foot Gradys at one point in time (many years ago when I was deciding which size to install) came stock from Grady with 12x9's, and looking around the yard, almost all 20-22 foot boats has 12x9's, so I decided 12x9's would be fine. I've been very happy with them. Our weather in the So Cal Bight is nothing compared to what you deal with daily in Santa Cruz, but I've never had an issue keeping the bow down, even in small craft advisory weather. Fully extended they will keep the hull on plane at 10 knots.The space on the transom should be the same, or similar, on 208 as the 228, it's the same shaped hull. Or so I think.
What I _know_ is that there is a night and day difference between the 9x12 and 12x18 tabs on my 228. Might be particular to the part of the Pacific I'm in, but with the smaller tabs I was forced to back off the throttle on 95% of the swells we see. Every swell was go up 1/2 the way, back off the throttle, go over the top, get back on the throttle. On extremely flat days I could skip that but we rarely see those conditions.
With the bigger tabs, I push them down, get up to around 25mph, set the autopilot, and put my hands in my pockets. The bigger tabs make the boat roll over the top of the swell rather than launch off of it.
It is a night and day difference. 9x12 are way too small for the 228 and the 208, go look at Bennett's web site and they say for 9 inch deep tabs, you want an inch of width for each foot of length. 9x12 tabs are for a 12 foot boat, not a 20 or 22 foot boat.
I'm 100% certain that if I had not upgraded to the 12x18 tabs I would have gotten frustrated with my 228 and sold it. They make that much of a difference, I can't say that strongly enough. It's a completely different ride, so much better. You are losing out if you don't get the correctly sized tabs. If anyone doubts that, I'll happily take you out in my boat and show you, you'll be a believer after that.