tunnelvision

seen some skater pix. with the pick-up in the tab (i/o & o/b) does this work better then a trans. pick-up?????????/ tabs are mounted on the hulls , does this help compensate for a tunnel tab? the first skater in the classif. sect. ,a 28' w/2.5's has a good pix. of them . i'm putting 300x's on a 24' and thinking of this approach for the pick-ups

puder

2 300x on a 24' = death rockit!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KAAMA

Water pick-ups in the tabs are usually for ballast tanks in a boat's nose or bow---usually a race boat set-up or for someone who is EXTREMELY serious about his pleasure/poker run boat! At least that is what I have seen.

Wally

I've seen this application used for ballast tanks like KAAMA said...i was thinking about useing it as a drive shower instead! With all that fresh water coming off the tabs the drives will be ice cold!

tunnelvision

KAMMA, do you know if the tabs are good on a 24', or should i just go w/tunnel tab . (just trying to get rid of the hop a little

Panther

I agree with Kaama, I have only seen water pickups on the tabs for balast tanks.

As for skater, they have one of the best water pick-ups molded right into the boat. It is molded into the bottom of the sponson about 1-2 ft from the transom. It has been proven that it creates the least amount of drag, much more efficient than a standard transom water pickup.

tunnelvision

puder, there are a few older 24' skaters around here(cen. fl) with 300x's . a frind of ours just bought a early 90's 24' with brand new x's on it. runs easilt in the mid teens with no dif. hadling then one w/2.5's. only dif. is about 100lbs. a motor. nothing against 2.5's, but the x's on a 24' make it an unbelievable ride .

Bazooka

I am the guy that was asking the "tunnel tab" questions in Scream and Fly. I got my Lib 24 with two 300x's and I used a Dana Monster Tab (the 18" wide one) and it is magic!! you can trim the nose down to what ever makes you feel comfortable. It really controls the attitude of the nose. When it starts to hop, just tap the down lever on the tab (a little is all it takes) and the boat will settle down. I run my engine trim just a little positive (maybe on click on the mechanical indicator) and do everthing else with the tab. Makes the boat a dream to drive. The tab all the way down will even allow you to get on plane from a standing start, without trimming the engines in. It is a "must have". Some caution is needed when running it down, use just enough to keep the hop out while still allowing the bow to "fly". This may sound complicated but it isn't. The flying bow will keep your speed up and prevent bowsteer (really a bad thing at speed) and stuffing (a worse thing). The tab doesn't have to completely cover the tunnel. Randy has pics of mine if you want to see it (my handle is Liberator24 on S&F). This makes the boat a really nice piece that will still outrun just about anybody. Although this isn't tab related, the thing doesn't like to steer at slow speeds and isn't crazy about it at higher speeds. Manuverablility isn't a strong point for a cat hull, but if you want "go fast straight ahead" this hull is probably the finest money can buy. I outran two of the "lake studs" last weekend while breaking in my motors and I didn't even know I was racing one of them, no kidding. I am just running a little set of 15x30 four blades (my 34's will be put on when the breakin is over) and I'm currently limiting my RPM to 6000. At any rate, while cruisin' at 6K this Fountain with twin 502's was trying to catch me and I didn't even know we were "racing". I slowed down for a little bit and he finally caught up and the questions started, but this was pretty funny. He was really floored when I explained that I was just varying my rpms to follow the breakin regimen and not trying to race. He said "you mean that you weren't trying to outrun me?", I told him that I honestly didn't know he was back there. But he did get some consolation out of the fact that I was bumping 92 and that helped explain why he wasn't catching me. Bottom line, get the tab it will change everything.