Challenger Trim Tabs

[Bad Intentions]

Morning All from St. Louis and THANKS for all the great advice I "discovered" on your site yesterday. I am a new owner of a '97 15' Challenger that is in excellent condition - and of course experienced the same porpoising that apparently all have with my new "toy". After reading the input from several members, I contacted Nauticus and they were very helpful with advice. John recommended the ST980-40 set which has a 9" x 8" stainless tab and a 40# strut for my particular application. My only concern is how they will mount on the transom side considering the extended swim platform. "Murph-13" stated that he purchased the 9" x 12" stainless tabs with the 60# struts and it appears that he mounted the strut bracket directly to the underside of his platform. Since he has the identical boat - only one year older - I'm wondering if I would be better off with the same model. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Murph_13]

Congratulations on your new toy!

I just wanted to clarify that I mounted the strut bracket to the transom and not to the underside of the swim platform. I can't say enough good things about how the tabs improved the ride on my boat. If I were to get another Challenger 15', one of the first things I would do is put the exact model of tabs on the boat.

I had used the Nauticas website "Product Selector" (which appears to have changed since I purchased mine quite some time ago) and the ST1290-60 is what was recommended based on my boat (length, horsepower and drive-type; the old selector did not ask for weight).

When I bought mine they only offered the Smart Tabs (the Smart Tabs II and Smart Tabs SX had not come out yet). I think I would stick with the Smart Tabs based on feedback from a co-worker who put the Smart Tabs SX on a 16' Sugar Sands Jet Boat and didn't like them. It seemed like the plate sizes were smaller and more square shaped on the SX models compared to the Smart Tabs. Maybe due to strength of the plates they make the plastic (SX) smaller?

 

[Bad Intentions]

Thanks for the quick response, Murph. I'm convinced the Nauticus Smart Tabs is the way to go. Just so I'm clear...would you recommend the 12" x 9" with the 60# strut versus the 9" x 8" with the 40# strut? Boatersland seems to have the best prices at $119.99 for the smaller tab and $139.99 for the larger one. I would just as soon spend the extra 20 bucks as long as you think I have room for it. The photos that you posted don't really show the top of the bracket, so it isn't clear exactly where they were attached to the transom/swim platform. It also appears they are not parallel with the bottom of the hull, but at somewhat of a "downward angle". I assume by sliding the tab mounting bolt to the top of the slot, you achieved the 30 degree downward angle shown? Did your tabs come polished, or did you do that yourself?

 

[Murph_13]

It's hard for me to recommend one over the other not having any experience with the ST980-40 model. If they are capable of producing the same results that I had with the ST1290-60 (meaning the ST1290-60 are overkill for the application, which I didn't think they were) then I would go with the smaller tab due to the limited space to work with in mounting the tabs. With that said, I again would put the ST1290-60 on a Challenger 15' if I were to get another one based on my experience with them.

Due to the size of the ST1290-60 model they really can only be mounted where I had them. The upper strut bracket was as far up on the transom as I could go, overall they mounted nicely and worked very well. The installation instructions provide a template to achieve the 30 degree downward angle as a starting point and with the tabs in this position the fasteners for the struts are to be placed in the center of the slots on the brackets, again as a starting point for installation, allowing for adjustments in both directions should adjustments need to be made. I never adjusted mine after installation and found them to work very well at the starting point of 30 degrees.

The tabs came polished, the pictures are after a number of years of having been installed and they aren't quite as nice looking as when they were new. Sorry I don't have any other pictures to share, I should have taken more I suppose showing the mounting brackets.

The hardest part of the install is drilling all those holes in a perfectly good boat!

 

[Bad Intentions]

I just got off the phone with Greg at Nauticus to get their opinion on the best over-all fit for my application. Even though they work great on your boat, he thought the 1290-60's were over-kill. He recommended the ST980-40 and said that considering the horsepower "loss" in a jet-drive, plus the light weight of the boat, those tabs would be plenty. Unfortunately, the days of polished stainless are gone, but as Greg said, the only time they look cool is when the boat's on the trailer! As far as drilling holes in a "perfectly good boat"...that never gets any easier for me either!

 

[Murph_13]

Well it sounds like you're all set! And Greg's right, they do only look cool on the trailer! Fortunately their function outweighs their looks anyway.

I think you'll be very pleased with the results. Be sure to post some pics when you get them installed (better detail than I provided if possible...lol) along with results.

Hopefully you'll have fewer holes to drill with the slightly smaller plates!

 

[Bad Intentions]

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out with my Challenger "challenges", Murph. I'm anxious to receive and install my tabs and I will definitely post the results along with some photos. Hopefully my biggest problem after that will be where to store the SeaDoo on our dock - that already has eight water craft on it. (You gotta love an understanding wife, right?)