fountain 0200

My buddie has a 1991 27' fountain fever with a 502 mag. The tabs will only lift out to #3 on the indicators. At WOT the bow feels "stuck" to the water and top speed is only about 60 MPH. We ran a straightedge along the bottom of the boat and the tabs are just a hair above the neutral position.

My 2000 29' fever has loads of bow lift. At full up the tabs read #1 on the indicator and are several inches above neutral. Admittedly the boat has more power and a stepped hull.

He still has the original test report from the fountain factory. When new, the boat ran 67 MPH at WOT with the tabs set at #3. The prop is the same 23" Mercury Mirage. Is there a problem with the trim tab position or is the engine (625 hrs.) just getting a little tired???

218diver

Something is wrong with the hydraulic pump assembly. It could be the motor or pump. What happened to mine was the switches were hanging up for a split second longer than the unit could handle. I sent the entire pump and motor assembly back to the factory a year after I bought my boat new and they sent me a new pump assembly with new switches as well.

jpclear

It should be easy enough to see it the hyd.cylinders are fully retracted when you have trimmed to full bow-up/tabs-up position. If this is the case, then reset your indicators on "0" or "1" or whatever you want as reference for "full up". If you still have nose low problems with full up position then you have a problem with Fountain and/or whoever installed the tabs. --- jp

Pwrbt33

does this Fountain have limit blocks installed to hold the tabs almost neutral?

Pwrbt33

fountain 0200

Can you tell me what limit blocks are and if they can be removed. It seems like the tabs should go a lot higher but they appear to be fully up?? Thanks for your help.

mrp

The K-planes on my 1999 27' Fountain do not go up all the way either. It stops betweeen #2 and 3. A Fountain likes to chine walk at high speeds. I have been told they are put in that position at the factory so you don't kill yourself. Try posting this thread in the Fountain section also to verify this.

magnum27

Is it possible to take off the tab plate at the bottom and run the boat without the plates. You should be able to strap the hydraulic arm and indicator cable so they will not be in any danger. Then see how the boat feels. If you can do this, then you will know if the tab is slowing you down or not.

jpclear

I obviously did not make myself clear in my last post here. Let me try again with a little help from pwrbt33. We don't really care WHAT your dash indicators say. If the hydraulic cylinders have no limiting blocks (spacers), and the rams are fully retracted, and the tabs angle up about 5 deg. from the extended bottom line when retracted, and the tab base is installed at least 1/2 up from the transom/hull bottom edge, they should certainly NOT be contributing to a nose down condition. If all the above checks out, then look to a drive trim problem. And if not there, you have a problem with a Fountain with a hull problem. --- jp

jpclear

Oh yeah, limiting blocks or "stop spacers" are devices installed on the tab hyd.cyl. ram that prevents it from fully retracting. Lets you set up your tabs to run free and fastest in dead water but on the edge of reaction with the slightest touch so that you don't have to go through lots of wasted motion before you get a reaction from your tabs. --- jp

fountain 0200

Thanks for everyone's help. I will try removing the stop spacers or tab plates and see if this frees up the bow, but from what i am hearing, i don't expect much.
I dont care what the indicators on the dash read either (this is not my boat). It just seems that with the tabs less than 1/2" above the extended bottom line of the boat, they could be keeping the bow from lifting. On my 29' 2000 Fever, when the rams are fully retracted, they are 3 1/2" above the extended bottom. I know that this is an entirely different stepped bottom hull, but the boat runs much faster in calm water with the tabs fully retracted than it does in the neutral position.