I am so happy I must post

[plastic1]

added trim tabs to my persuader 218 after hating the way the boat handled when water was rough and loaded unevenly.

I gotta say again, the tabs were the best money I ever spent. I now have a 1996 boat with about 140 hours on it that performs awesome! keep your fountains, bajas, scarabs and every other underwear boat on the lake. I will keep my old checkmate until I am old gray and long in the tooth. hell, you can even keep your new checkmates, I could not be happier with my persuader. if you dont have tabs on your similar sized or larger checkmate I would totally recommend them. I now see larger mates on the water without tabs bouncing through the same conditions I get a smooth ride in. thanks to all the folks who built my boat thirteen years ago, the girl is rock solid, gorgeous and I could not be more proud to be a checkmate fanatic.

 

[Big Red]

Damn I hate to here this because,, I think I have the only Convincor that never had tabs. WTF was the person thinking when mine was built. Must have been ordered that way because every boat like mine has them.

Been thinking about buying some sure would help cruse speeds for me. I just cringe of the thought of drilling holes in the transom

Post a pic

 

[drewman]

Been thinking about buying some sure would help cruse speeds for me. I just cringe of the thought of drilling holes in the transom

I am still considering selling my Lenco electric complete system. But, it won't happen til winter...

 

[plastic1]

Damn I hate to here this because,, I think I have the only Convincor that never had tabs. WTF was the person thinking when mine was built. Must have been ordered that way because every boat like mine has them.

Been thinking about buying some sure would help cruse speeds for me. I just cringe of the thought of drilling holes in the transom

Post a pic

the first hole is the only one that hurts, the next 31 are easy. the only one that made me nervous was the 1.5" one in the dash for the switch. big 'ole hole saw. truthfully there are only two thru holes so it aint bad. my wife was terrified about the drilling though. install came out great, I will post some photos this weekend. truthfully, I did not go with the indicators for money and space reasons on the dash. the checkmate hull is so lively in the water you can easily tell where your tabs are by the bottom of the seat. the slightest touch of the switch and the boat really responds. well worth driling the holes. had the boat loaded with five of us last night, at one point I had about 380 lbs of passenger on the right side and 125 lbs on the left side. with the tabs the boat planed right off and ran flat even loaded so unevenly. not bad for a boat with a narrow beam.

 

[fiftyp]

Damn I hate to here this because,, I think I have the only Convincor that never had tabs. WTF was the person thinking when mine was built. Must have been ordered that way because every boat like mine has them.

Been thinking about buying some sure would help cruse speeds for me. I just cringe of the thought of drilling holes in the transom

Post a pic

My enforcer does not have a set, and I have been thinking about adding them, just not liking the Idea of more holes either. Would be nice to even out the ride throught the rough though..... The back and forth rocking while WOT gets a little jarring...

 

[dogschool]

decided to chime in

My 251 has hydraulic trim tabs, I rarely use them! My boat
rides great in any water big or small. There are nice to have
when balancing passenger load etc but otherwise I don't
think the big 'mates with the older narrow hulls need them,
however I do know drewmans '07 270 does need them!!

 

[chrisMX-15]

I just installed a set of original checkmate tabs on my MX-15 much better ride. Thanks Barry (largecar)they look great on the boat too

 

[plastic1]

My 251 has hydraulic trim tabs, I rarely use them! My boat
rides great in any water big or small. There are nice to have
when balancing passenger load etc but otherwise I don't
think the big 'mates with the older narrow hulls need them,
however I do know drewmans '07 270 does need them!!

glad you chimed in, I know what you mean. my 1989 Senator had tabs but I never needed to use them. that boat was awesome for its size. my persuader is a whole nother animal. had the tabs not helped so much it would have been sold.

 

[enticer 25]

tabs are great, just make shure you don't put them too far down you'll drag the boat , loose speed gain rpm's, overwork your drive. i'm thinking of changing my tabs to kplanes when i increase the power and change the drive, need to be longer

 

[plastic1]

tabs are great, just make shure you don't put them too far down you'll drag the boat , loose speed gain rpm's, overwork your drive. i'm thinking of changing my tabs to kplanes when i increase the power and change the drive, need to be longer

the tabs I added are 12x11, maybe a bit large for a 218. you dont need much tab to get the boat to react. its easy to find the sweet spot. just enough tab to keep the bow down and the away but one click up with the drive and your light and up on the pad. seriously, no indicators will ever work as well as the seat of your pants, you can feel it when it is right.

 

[hotdaddy27]

Congrats Plastic!!!!

Sometimes "set-up" is the fun part (when you get results like the one you just got) other times it is just a lot of money and time for no change (the not so fun).

Sounds like you can sit back and enjoy the rest of the summer!!!!

HD

 

[foyboy]

Been thinking about putting tabs on my 95 Persuader, just waiting to get my other problems solved first. What brand of tabs did buy? Are they electric or hydraulic? How did you decide what size you needed and where to install them. What prop you running? Can't wait to see pics.

 

[plastic1]

Been thinking about putting tabs on my 95 Persuader, just waiting to get my other problems solved first. What brand of tabs did buy? Are they electric or hydraulic? How did you decide what size you needed and where to install them. What prop you running? Can't wait to see pics.

I decided on the insta-trim after I had long conversations with the people from insta-trim and bennett about their products. I am a hydraulics guy by trade so was curious about pumps etc. I was very impressed with the people from insta-trim and equally unimpressed with the folks at bennett. I followed general guidelines from both companies websites for sizing and made the final decision with the help of the guy at insta-trim. mine are single cylinder 12"x11" tabs. if you get a set I will do some detailed measuring for you as we both have the same model. in fact, my map says you are about a four and a half hour trip from me being just south of ft. wayne. I would welcome you to make the trip and see how they work on my boat, or if you have a big enough truck just drag it up and I will help with the install. I am running a four blade mach. I think its about 13.25" dia by 21 pitch. I mostly enjoy slow cruising with my family so I am not propped for top speed. the four blade seems to work pretty well for me. I think mike combs actually recomended a 14x21 four blade turbo prop. what power do you have? mine is a carbed small block rated 250 hp with the alpha. I will get some photos as soon as I get it off the lift and back on the trailer.

 

[foyboy]

Found inst-trim N121100 at Boat Owners World on sale for 299.00 plus 30.00 shipping. Is this the same part number you bought or did you buy the heavy duty? They are N12100HDB on sale for 399.00 plus 40.00 shipping. My checkmate has the same engine/drive as yours. I do have a little bigger cam and I cleaned heads up a little, probably around 275hp. Planning on putting set of vortex heads casting 060 on it with edelbrock intake. Not sure what carb. yet, going to try original and see how it does before I change. Not to sure what cam I'm going to run yet, probably around 465 lift 224 duration. Don't want to get to wild with the alpha drive we also like to tube and ski. Used to barefoot alot when I had my Supra but this boat not to kind for footin'. Running three blade 21 pitch SS for speed and cheap 3 blade 19 for skiing. Local Marine shop wanting me to try a torque shift he's got, set up as 17 pitch then shifts to 21 pitch he says if I don't like it he will let me try a 4 blade 19 pitch that he has sitting around. I can't wait to try the torque shift, never been in boat with one on, read a lot about them some love them some hate them. Thanks for the info on the tabs, probably be a winter project along with engine upgrades.