Which trim tabs? Zipwakes vs Others?

[Islander77]

I’ve searched the forum and have read every thread on a subject. However the last thorough discussion was a good few years ago.

Just wondering what is the consensus on trim tabs in 2022?

Are there members here who have/tried Zipwakes for extended period of time and would share their experience? Would you buy them again? Or would you go back to the Bennets/Lenco that are proven over time. I guess my major concern with Zipwakes is long term reliability…

Ideally I prefer the the system to have an “Auto” function, can’t see myself enjoying too much fiddling with trim tabs settings/position all the time. I read on other forums that people who have Zipwakes have them on Auto (set and forget) and very happy with how it performs. Are there other traditional systems that work well in Auto?

All opinions are welcome.

[Dignity]

Never been in a boat with Zipwakes so can't comment. I do have Lenco Trim Tabs and wouldn't be without them. With the indicator switches there is no guessing at what stage the tabs are deployed and I have a hesitancy of an Auto tab especially on a return crossing of a bar, my tabs are fully up, also on a following sea they are barely used. I would like to play around with Zipwakes, just haven't found anybody with them.

[The Mad Cat]

Have 450 Zipwakes on a 6.4m glass boat since 2018 and couldn't be happier with them. On auto it's just turn on and it does it all.
If I bought another boat and tabs were not already fitted they would be the first thing fitted and a Minn kota and electric anchor winch and auto pilot and 2 MFDs and a fridge and shit where do you stop, BLOODY BOATS.
Seriously though they were worth fitting. Zipwakes sizing was very hard to work out so I fitted the biggest size that would fit.
Whitworths were the best price back then.

TMC

[Mopheus]

Zipwakes sizing was very hard to work out so I fitted the biggest size that would fit.

Really the only critical value with Zipwake sizing is the minimum threshold, as anything over that should work acceptably with bigger interceptors just adding to system responsiveness. Just check you meet the minimum then go with the biggest you can fit.

300 Zipwakes meet the minimum recommended criteria for anything up to 10m length and 2.0m transom beam width across the chines. Anything over that is a bonus, but it gets pretty tight fitting anything much larger than 450 Zipwakes on most trailer boats once you allow for the outboard + transducer + live tank pickup with recommended clearances.

CH Smith and Whitworths are pretty competitive on pricing atm.

zUZJL9s.jpg

[Islander77]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

1694206[/URL]]…and 2 MFDs

A little off topic while we are at this:
Based on your experience would you get a single 16” MFD or 2x 9” MFDs ? (Unfortunately I can’t fit 2 x 12”, not enough space)
Obviously 16” will provide much more screen real estate, but probably not as convenient as two devices?

[The Mad Cat]

Personally I would go with 2 x 9" because the way I use my chartplotters is one on nav chart and one on sonar. With the 16" you would end up with (in theory) 2 x 8" which is nothing to be sneezed at, but if one fails you don't have any backup. I believe you are in Tasmania. Where you fish and how far from land etc, a failure may not be as big a problem as fishing the Great Barrier Reef, where we are always looking to find new marks or going to old marks while working around shallow reefs and dodging reefs to get out and get home. I do like your new boat that 's on the way.

TMC

[Islander77]

1694228[/URL]]Personally I would go with 2 x 9" because the way I use my chartplotters is one on nav chart and one on sonar. With the 16" you would end up with (in theory) 2 x 8" which is nothing to be sneezed at, but if one fails you don't have any backup. I believe you are in Tasmania. Where you fish and how far from land etc, a failure may not be as big a problem as fishing the Great Barrier Reef, where we are always looking to find new marks or going to old marks while working around shallow reefs and dodging reefs to get out and get home. I do like your new boat that 's on the way.

TMC

Thanks!
Just a correction - 16” is roughly equivalent to 4 x 8”, which is “almost” twice more area than 2 x 9”… But yes, I agree about convenience! I also prefer to run Nav chart / Radar on one device and Sonar on another.

Here is a good comparison tool
http://www.displaywars.com/15,6-inch...vs-9-inch-16x9

Yes I’m in Tassie and where I fish - MFD failure wouldn’t be big problem at all.
The new boat isn’t on the way yet I’m about to test-drive a demo sometime next week, after that final decision will be made on spot.

[disorderly]

Hi mate..sounds like you have a million things running through your mind at the moment..

So I'll throw another cat among the pigeons..

When we were researching trim tabs 2.5 yrs back I loved the idea of the Zipwakes but found it hard to get good info..being a newish product most owners were still in the "honeymoon" period so there is a lot of "fanboys" out there who will tell you they are the best thing since sliced bread whilst only recently installing them....

We ended up going with Bennett hydraulic tabs with Auto-trim Pro for several reasons such as they only have one moving part(the piston) and all the electronics and hydraulics are inside the boat....the reliability is legendary and you can still find these Tabs, decades old, on the back of boats still working as good the day they were fitted..Plate style tabs also work better at slower speeds so when trolling or pushing through really rough stuff.....the missus ordered ours from the USA back when the dollar was high so were about half price..

Unfortunately when I went to fit them a year after purchase i realised she had bought the ones with shorter rams .....I rang the QLD distributer in Brissie and even though we had imported them a year before he told me just to send him the 2 rams I had and if i paid the postage he would send me a pair of the correct length rams...I was blown away and very grateful for that customer service..but am told that its par for the course with Bennett.

Zipwakes are a bit more responsive and a bit easier to install and you have less stuff hanging off the back of the boat but some of the issues which have been popping up with zipwakes are the cable sheathing have started to degrade.....motors can stuff up at about $600 each side and i have heard of sand and grit causing issues with the interceptor going up and down and also causing water ingress into the unit..heard one guy tell of the horror trip back from 80km's out off Fraser island when one of the Tabs stuck in the down position...also heard various good and bad of trying to get warranty issues sorted and buyiing new motors..

The sheathing , even when out of the sunlight inside the boat, seems to be a problem for quite a few blokes..I have heard it starting from a year old but the below photo is about 3.5 yrs old..

zipwakes cable.jpg

Decisions, decisions...


The other thing you mention is your sonar units..

I went for 2x 9 inch garmins but now wish I had have gone 12 inch..Go as big as can afford with your screens..

Whichever boat you end up ordering Is there any way you can have them modify the dash during the build to more easily accept larger units...?

I am surprised that with the larger screens becoming so popular that boatbuilders dont seem to have followed the trend and modified their designs or provided options to make installation of these units easier and more practical...

If thats not possible, swing arm RAM mounts certainly can add some flexibility of positioning..

[Greg P]

I seriously looked at Zipwakes but they can be tricky to install depending on the shape of your transom. My Signature would have required glass work to ensure there was a flat surface for mounting which on top of an already super high intial price when compared to Bennets or Lencos. I went with Lencos in the end as I had been burnt by the Volvo QLs before going through about 3 blade motors so stayed with the simple system. Thought I read somewhere recently that the guys who build those Veitch Boats dont recommend to run them in auto??? The technology for the auto mode does sound enticing on the Zipwakes though.

[Mopheus]

Thought I read somewhere recently that the guys who build those Veitch Boats dont recommend to run them in auto???

Wouldn't surprise me - Veitch run a 25.5° deadrise with a sharp bow entry, so I imagine they'd be pretty roll sensitive and prone to overcorrection in Auto mode.

Hulls with more moderate deadrise have greater roll stability (at the cost of increased slamming) and are less sensitive to roll inputs, so less chance of overcorrection.

[scottar]

Wouldn't surprise me - Veitch run a 25.5° deadrise with a sharp bow entry, so I imagine they'd be pretty roll sensitive and prone to overcorrection in Auto mode.

Hulls with more moderate deadrise have greater roll stability (at the cost of increased slamming) and are less sensitive to roll inputs, so less chance of overcorrection.

They aren't the only ones from reports I have seen. More to do with rapid full scale deployment of one tab in a failure event.

[Mopheus]

They aren't the only ones from reports I have seen. More to do with rapid full scale deployment of one tab in a failure event.

That'd be cause for a change of jocks

[scottar]

Indeed it would. That said I don't think any of the traditional tab systems even with an auto module would be as effective in auto mode due to tab speed. For Islander, I'm not sure of the necessity. Pontoon style craft in my experience tend to be the one style of boat that may not need them.

[The Mad Cat]

[QUOTE=Islander77;1694230]Thanks!
Just a correction - 16” is roughly equivalent to 4 x 8”, which is “almost” twice more area than 2 x 9”… But yes, I agree about convenience! I also prefer to run Nav chart / Radar on one device and Sonar on another.

Yes your right Islander I was having a blond moment, I did a quick calculation in my head and used the approx. screen size of a 12" Humminbird Solex which I was given for Xmas.

TMC

[The Mad Cat]

The sheathing , even when out of the sunlight inside the boat, seems to be a problem for quite a few blokes..I have heard it starting from a year old but the below photo is about 3.5 yrs old..

zipwakes cable.jpg

This looks bad, really bad. Especially if you own Zipwakes of about the same age. Will have a good look at my boat today.
Thanks for the heads up Disorderly.

TMC