Factory Trim Tabs

[tpbrady]

I took just finished my shakedown cruise of a new CD-22 in spite of 3 foot chop with winds gusting to 20 mph in Passage Canal out of Whittier. We really exercised the trim tabs to minimize the pounding. 18 knots downwind and 11 knots into the wind seemed to be the best spots. I also learned how poor a job the factory did in mounting the the tank and the trim tab switches and the position indicator. The position indicator didn't work, the zero degree light just flashed. The indicator was mounted so low you couldn't see it unless you kneeled down next to the helm. The switches are below the indicator so you have to lean forward to activate them. All and all they are in the wrong place.

The pump was put on the starboard side of the drain plug with the hydraulic lines running straight back toward the cabin. At least the kicker fuel tank still fits. This needs to be moved or at a minimum 90 degree fittings put on the hydraulic lines.

I took a quick look at the back of the indicator panel to see if there were any obvious problems. What I found would have flunked a quality control inspection in middle school. The red and green sensor wires were soldered to addtional wire to send them to what appears to be a control module. Neither of the solder joints were insulated and were probably shorted to one another during most of the trip. What appears to be a ground wire was literally stretched to get to the electrical ground and tight up against the steering box. A similar ground runs from the control module to the electrical ground bus and it is also very tight.

Aside from the trim tabs, the boat ran as anticipated and surprised the salesman. I went with him while he ran a familiarization ride on a 25 foot Jetcraft for a customer. The C-Dory took the chop as well as the Jetcraft but only a couple of knots slower with a lot less water on the windows. The Evinrude 90 E-Tec ran well, consuming 5.1 gals in about 1.5 hours
over a distance of about 18 miles.

Red Fox is in the Sound. I passed him heading toward Whittier just north of the Twenty Mile River.

tpb

[Sea Wolf]

tpbrady-

First of all, congratulations on your new CD-22!!!

Sorry to hear about the problems with your trim tabs. Here are some thoughts about this unfortunate problem:

The boat shouldn't have left the factory that way. Sounds like they have a new employee who wasn't either instructed on how to do the job or wasn't checked out on the completion of the work.

The factory is extremely busy now with all the Boat Show and Spring orders, in fact, many of the expectant new boat owners are all over the factory weekly checking on the progress of their boats.

But no excuses exist for sloppy work. They should be able to go back on the assembly checklist and see who did the work and be sure it doesn't happen again. A few years ago, a new employee sunk the screws into the stainless bow protector strips and caused some leakage issues, but the boats were fixed and the problem did not continue.

Your dealer should have caught the problem BEFORE delivering the boat to you, and since the boat is already in Alaska, the dealer is the one who will have to fix it. Fortunately, the fix isn't all that complicated, and should be done quickly.

The unfortunate outcome here, besides your poorly rigged boat, it the damage to the reputation to the C-Dory factory and your dealer. The embarrassment should serve as an adequate motivator to correct the problem at both ends.

Sorry you had to go through this disappointment and inconvenience, but we know you'll enjoy your new C-Dory in the years to come and will be a welcome addition to all our friends here at the C-Brats group. Joe.

[Jeff M]

Hello Tp Brady. I met you at the Anchorage Boat Show and watched your boat being built. Congrats on your maiden voyage and thank you for your business. Thanks for the input. I will have a closer look at the positioning of the indicator and trim tab switch as well as the overall installation. We always try to be responsive when these types of things are brought to our attention. The one negative to the Bennet tabs is the large hydraulic pump. That is what originally led us to the Lenco's. If you would like to e-mail me feed back to me directly that would be great. Or through your salesman Dan at AK Mining.

A couple of questions for the owners. Are the trim tab indicators of real value? Should we continue to offer the indicators? Where have you, or would you, mount the trim tab indicator and switch?

Thanks,

Jeff

[tpbrady]

Jeff,

Thanks for the quick followup. Dan and I will work it out in the next week or so. He needed to get some additional data on the electical side in order troubleshoot it. The data that came with the boat was only a few pages and not too useful for fixing anything.

On the usability of an indicator, over the course of an hour I got a better feel for the positions of the trim tabs since I didn't have an indicator to depend on. As we were in choppy water all the way in, I kept the bow down some. When we came off step, I raised the trim tabs what I thought was to the fully up position, but once on the trailer realized they were still down some. If nothing else the indicator will tell you when they are up.

As far as positioning the indicator and switches, the higher the better. The LED's have a limited viewing angle so in the current position, to see them you would have to tilt the indicator up at a 30 degree angle. On my particular boat, I would have put them high on the right side of the helm in the rounded area meant for a tachometer or some other round instrument. Since you didn't know the engine instrument combination on my boat, you put it where it wouldn't interfere with anything else.

A quick suggestion for the factory and dealers. Produce a template of the helm area for the customer to indicate guage positions or for the salesman and the customer to discuss guage positions and make it part of the sales order.

Tom

[Ron on Meander]

Jeff,
On my 22 the trim tab switches are mounted in the rounded space where the tack or speedo would go in the upper starboard area of the instrument panel. I don't have a indicator and would prefer to have one. Maybe the tab switch positioning should be something that is done by the dealer after consulting with the customer. That way the customer would only have themselves to blame if they didn't like the position.

If the wiring is run to the helm but not connected the job of installing the switches wouldn't be very difficult at all. Heck, I even managed to do it myself.
Ron

[digger]

On boats I've previously owned, the trim tab control was handy to my left hand, leaving the ability to run both the throttle and tabs simultaneously while holding steady course with my knees holding the steering wheel steady. Often, the tabs and throttle tweaking are necessary almost simultaneously. My 2cents worth.

Also, after using the tabs for awhile, the indicator is not of great use. It's main use would be when initiating movement. I would often dock with full down tabs, giving much more control of the boat. Full down, or cocked tabs when throttling up, can really rock the boat. I had a fellow start piloting my boat when the tabs were uneven, and he almost fell out of the pilot seat.

Ron

[tpbrady]

Just to clarify a point, the dealer and I found the trim tab problem at the same time. Rather than do a detailed inspection at the dealer (we looked for the big things), we looked into the details on the familiarization and checkout cruise on the water. AMDS did a good job setting the boat up and I got a chance to go over each of the tasks one on one with the technician doing the work. That was a big help to be able to place gauges, set up trailer bunks, get both batteries in the starboard compartment, place the fuel filter and bowl in an accessible location, and get the kicker to fit between the main engine and the trim tab.

[Redƒox]