Is anyone in Alaska?

[Otis K.]

I primarily fish and hunt near the Gulf of Alaska, from Cook Inlet(Homer) & Prince William Sound(Whittier) or even Seward. I am interested in finding a ribbing companion to push out and explore to find more fishing/hunting grounds. I see some pretty nasty seas in the vicinity but i am not wreckless. Been doing this for a decade in a Hurricane 500 and now run a Hurricane 733.

The more Ribs there are the safer the trip.

[AKBronco2]

I am in anchorage. I have an 18' achilles SU built like a tank and a 25' safeboat defender.

[Otis K.]

Well right on man, this puts a smile on my face. Good to see another Alaskan here.

I am not sure if you do much fishing or what not, but Would you be interested in doing a trip out passed pearl island and possibly push to the Barrens if weather permits? Maybe that is your Safe boat i see moored in Homer Harbor?

I got another buddy, Keegan Montague if you know him who is going to be running the Hurricane 500 with us.

[AKBronco2]

I haven't moored it in the harbor down there but did fish frequently down there last summer. I am up for whatever. I'm not sure I can slow down enough to run with you. Working on getting trim tabs to help with that. Anything less than 34 kts and the bow starts to rise. Definitely up for tandem trips though. I just built this boat last spring. I had been looking for one for a while. I'm fully setup for overnights now too. Definitely do a lot of fishing.

[Otis K.]

Sounds like quite the boat, what do you have powering it? I bet Trim-tabs will help you a lot. I had Weld-air in Wasilla fab up a custom set of 11"WideX20"long tabs for my boat, (Yes extra Long). It planes very well at slow speed and it literally handles like it is a bigger boat in rough water since i installed them due to basically extending the hull.

I have a shelter that i set up on mine when i am anchored off fishing or for overnights and gets toasty with a mr.heater on, We set up Cots and roughneck very comfortably. Otherwise, we are looking sporty in Full Drysuits, Masks, Goggles and i honestly enjoy it. We could definitely meet up towards the Gulf or in Windy bay.

I will PM you some contact info and we can chat some time to come up with a plan for this summer.


Otis-

[AKBronco2]

Powered with 2-250 suzuki outboards. What did it run you for the custom tabs and how did you mount them?

[Otis K.]

I bought a 4x2ft Sheet of 3/16 Stainless steel from them which ran about $180 (They only sell it in 4x2ft sheets) only used half of it. Labor runs @ 94 an hour. They charged me for two hours. Basically Bent all three edges of the tabs upwards and welded the seams.
Ran me about $360 total. I didn't fish around for pricing or anything i just paid for less hassle, not sure if it was a great deal or not.. ive moved on.

I mounted them as far Outboard as i could near the top of the V, Pre-drilled Inch and a half long 5/16 Stainless Steel Fasteners and sealed it with 3M Marine Sealant. I will snap a picture for you tomorrow and see if i can attach it to this thread.

I Ordered Actuators with hand Trim brackets from Nauticus. Basically roughneck trim tab setup. But if you invest into a set of helm controlled tabs and just fab up a set of longer plates, that would be the ultimate setup.

[AKBronco2]

It would be great to see! I've been having a hard time finding someone to ship me the tabs I want.

[Otis K.]

A guy on here actually pointed me in the direction of home-made tabs in a thread, most tabs are as wide as they are long, most of the lift pressure comes from length. And of course when running them flat, you are lengthening the hull which was the primary perk i wanted. Mine don't even trim down very far and when they are retracted, they are facing upwards allowing me to trim the bow as high as i want for following seas.

[AKBronco2]

Did the tabs actually help with planing? My biggest issue is porpoising at slower speeds.

[Otis K.]

Yes, they make it overall easier for the boat to plane. You will also be able to maintain a plane at slower speeds and yes also eliminate porpoising completely in the process.

I can't believe you don't have trim tabs for your setup, i think you need them. A set of helm-controlled will pay themselves off to you in your first cruise. Super easy installation, tons of information on youtube.

[AKBronco2]

I have trim tabs on the achilles. Just hadn't found a good enough deal on ones that will work with mine. Due to me having a twin engine setup and a narrow transom, it doesn't leave me a lot of room to mount. Also, my fuel tank is built into the bottom section of the transom making mounting the actuators difficult.

[Otis K.]

Sounds like a pain, are the outboards mounted to a Pod or just a Bracket? If so, obviously not be long and narrow enough to get the engines out quite far enough. Smaller transom to, i am not all familier with safe boats.

A narrower set of trim tabs was your idea? I guess its a common rule to have at least 10 inches of space between the tabs and cavitation plate. Might be something clever you can do though.

Have you tried big Hydro-foils on both engines? Basically just causes drag when you tilt the outboards all the way down. Depending on how far downward they point, the drag will do a good job at keeping your bow down as well & Reduce porpoising. Same exact concept as trim tabs, just not as effective ofcourse. You have 500hp, you just need to channel a little bit of into drag.

They are cheap, can't loose anything by trying them out.

[AKBronco2]

I will never run a hydrofoil on 35000$ worth of engines. The last one I ran cracked a lower unit.

[Otis K.]

Damn, thats crazy. The drag alone was strong enough to break the unit? Sorry for recommending them

[AKBronco2]

It wasn't the drag. It's the leverage from the lift created by them. The cav plate wasn't meant to have that much leverage. I tig welded the plate back together but one side broke completely off. I need one that is around 8" wide and 12" long approximately. I need to take some more measurements first.

[Otis K.]

Well, Tabs are surely the way to go. Hope all goes well hunting down a set as well as the installation. Give me a call or shoot me a text if i can help out with anything at all.


Otis-