Did smarttabs improve ride in chop on your starcraft?

[bryanwess2000]

Looking for ways to improve my boats ride in the bay chop. Anyone notice an improvement with smarttabs?

 

[magnumdeke]

Re: Did smarttabs improve ride in chop on your starcraft?

I am planning on adding a set when done with my restoration, so your thread interests me also. Hopefully someone here has tried them.

 

[Jlawsen]

Re: Did smarttabs improve ride in chop on your starcraft?

Ironically, the Starcrafts are excellent in rough water, the smart tabs will help to get you up on plane quicker and that will help you stay on top of the waves. That's the key to handling the rough stuf. I know guys that slow way down in 2' chop but I speed up and get on top, where the ride is a heck of a lot better.

 

[Pugetsound]

Re: Did smarttabs improve ride in chop on your starcraft?

22 ft Holiday with 9 inch Bennett tabs was a dream very handy in ocean water as they help hold the boat leveler even when drifting. My boat with the 200 Johnson never was slow enough to worry about hole shot. I however had them on two glasply boats 19 ft long and they were a god send for rough water. good investment just be sure to follow install instructions .

 

[Husker-Q]

Re: Did smarttabs improve ride in chop on your starcraft?

I put the SX-60's on my 18.5 ft Sea Ray - mainly for porposing. It did seem to improve the ability to handle chop I have them set at # 2 setting. I'm still not over the though of drilling in my stern and check them every time I go out!

 

[JohnWI]

Re: Did smarttabs improve ride in chop on your starcraft?

I'm interested, also. So far, I've been a pansy in the chop. My top speed is in the 32-34 range and I haven't dared to get there in the chop. Maybe I need to.

Now on my PWC, 30-35 is where I ride out the chop. But I have the ability to go around 60, so 35 is easy. Not to mention my PWC is probably not too much different in weight (maybe 100 pounds less) than my SS but is probably weight distributed better than an outboard.

Another thing is that in the chop with wind at my back, that 30-35 is needed to stay on top of the waves that are being blown from behind. Maybe I need that 90HP more than I thought? But pounding the heck out of the hull doesn't sound appealing. But I probably should hammer it once in a while to find out if that's where I need to be.