07 Gen1 surf tab bolt on DIY

[Masterfoilcraft]

Morning Fellas,
In another dimension I think I am an Engineer, because I’m always trying to improve off of ideas.

I have a 2007 X30 that had surf tabs out on it two years ago by the previous owner. Lenco actuators and a pretty generic trim tab. Don’t think it did to much, at least not that I could notice.

Last year I was running stock ballast and a wakeshaper slim and getting a decent wave, but not great. I’ve got the big motor so I think I could grunt out some more ballast to the wakemakers rear piggy back bags were added this spring, but I really wanted to get some proper surf tabs.

GSA’s are $4500 and I figured I could do it for under $100 and my own devices, so here I go.

Templated off of cardboard and bought some 1/8” thick aluminum sheet for $50.

I cut out the shape I wanted and took it to a fabricator and had the tabs bent on a finger break. $28

Next I test mounted it to the existing tabs, just look at the size difference! I’m gonna get barrelled!!!

After adjusting the bracket to the actuator at full retract I made sure it tucked up nice, the previous gen1 tabs didn’t and would cause drag, I don’t think the guy that installed them knew what he was doing.

Once everything looked good, the test run looked ok and the actuator was doing its geometry thing.

I also took 2x2 aluminum square tubing and mounted it to the underside of the swim platform, then fastened it to the platform bracket with 3/8 self tapping screws. Hopefully this will lift it enough to clean up the wake a little bit.

Anyways, $100 in, and we will see how she goes next weekend.

[dh009]

It’s hard to tell from the photo if the new bolt on tab extends below the running surface a little. If so, you may run into issues with water constantly putting force on the screws holding the hinge on the transom. I had a boat with gen 1 trim tabs and considered a bolt on solution but realized it wasn’t much harder to remove all the gen 1 hardware and start over with a new homemade tab, hinge, and actuator. That also gives you freedom to hit the stow/deploy angles you want and get more screws into the transom for the larger tab size.

Your retract angle still looks a little low in the photos, but it could be the perspective. If the non-engaged tab is too low with the fins and such it can have a negative effect (as you already mentioned).

[Masterfoilcraft]

Theoretically I could buy longer actuators and get more range of motion yeah.
I was also thinking about the bracket from the actuator to the tab, the further out I make the tab, the greater the angle I could retract it?

Or, what if the pin attachment on the actuator that slides into the bracket hole wasn’t a singular hole, but a curved track that would make the plate rise higher?

[jpwhit]

I think you're going to need the longer actuator to have the power to move the larger tabs.