I have read most of the stuff and was lucky my vessle can with permatrims on the twin 40's. Man that was sweet, not only could I smooth it out by stuffing the nose in but also level things out when I had an uneven load. Now after a repower I am down to a single 115 and put about 50 hrs on without one. Wow what a difference! To be fair I am teaching kiteboarding off the boat so I am often out in 20-30 knot winds ripping over a shallow estuary, so very tight bumpy chop. The first 50 hrs I was limited to about 3600 rpm (13 knots) when running into it on the way back in, any faster and the ride was too rough. Me and the my son just installed one the other day and finally got out yesterday to try it. He was kiting and I was watching/giving tips via the radio helmet from the cabin. The winds started out in the high 20's and backed off to mid 20's by the time we called it. The ride in was GREAT. We were cutting across the chop at about 45-60 degrees like I always have done but we we running more like 4500 rpms and 20+ knots. The ride was smoother than it used to be going waaaaay slower. Anyway now that I have actually tried with, on dual engine, and both ways on a single. I thought I could finally chime in and say I am a huge fan and have felt the difference first hand.
Permatrims: My 2 cents
- Thread starter C Sniper
- Start date
You won't get any argument from me! I am a big fan and proponent of Permatrims. I made my first round trip to Alaska without them, and my next two with. Night and day difference - especially heading into short chop. With Permatrims on twin engines, I found no need for trim tabs.
can someone with permatrims and trim tabs chime in here as well. Even though the permas made a HUGE difference there is still alot of "gentle bumps" charging into it upwind, at a shallow angle to boot. The more I am using this boat for work the more I like it! I am wondering how much more I can smash the nose in and further smooth out the ride by adding tabs? My center console has tabs but not a foil... I think partly I miss being able to level the boat as well. ugh, single engine repower regret perhaps... why can't the passengers just stay seated! hahaha
The Permatrims on my twin Honda 60’s are much larger than the ones on my replaced Honda 40’s. My now Permatrims would fit all Honda’s between 60 hp & 150 hp, yet I still have & use the Bennett trim tabs too. I run heavy & with the extra hp of the twin 60’s, find the combination of the larger permitrims & trim tabs very useful in varying boat weight & sea conditions.
Jay
Jay
On my 19 I have both trim tabs and a permatrim. The tabs are a must on the 19, as it is like a 22 with the back 3' cut off. Usually, I trim the permatrim for max revs. on the motor and use the tabs to adjust from side to side and to bring the bow down when going thru the bigger waves and also to come up on plane when running heavy. We have to slow down a bit in the waves when we trim down or else the boat gets a little squarely, but we still get bounced around some in the 3 and 4 footers as slow usually means 15 to 20 mph. I guess the only thing the permatrim does on my boat is to make the waves think I'm a 20- footer instead of a 19.
PaulNBriannaLynn
New member
We had a 22 with twin 40s with permatrims for a number of years, and later a 22 with a single outboard, also with a permatrim. Both boats had tabs. I'd say I could have possibly gotten by without the tabs if I had to, on the first boat with twins. The two permatrims on the twins kept the bow down and I could adjust side to side. On the boat with a single, I think tabs are an absolute necessity, unless you opt to move a lot of the weight off the stern somehow with saddle tanks and batteries forward. We had issues with the lenco controls a few times and the boat did not handle the way I wanted it to without tabs.
The advantage of either tabs or Permatrim is that you can drive the bow down into chop, but in following seas your can negate the tabs, (not so much the permatrim) so you decrease the chance of bow steering should you get some big lift from waves aft.
Much easier to flip a switch than to move ballast.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
Much easier to flip a switch than to move ballast.
Harvey
SleepyC :moon
pcg":3tfxwcoq said:
Permatrim (essentially an extension of the motor's anti-ventilation plate) reinforces the OB engine's angle (up or down).
https://www.permatrims.com/
pcg":2614p72r said:
The way trim tabs are installed they can only push the bow down because they are blanked by the hull in the bow up direction. The permatrim rides in more of a free stream and can give a bow up moment. However, if you install it per the directions (and your engine is at the correct height relative to the hull), the bow up moment will be less than the bow down moment.
I'm sure that different installations give more or less bow up control with the permatrim and won't be the same for all boats. Permatrims are not designed for bow up control, but in some cases it can happen.
So I finally got a tomcat, which I have been dreaming/drooling over for a few years. I starting looking a boattrader and here daily, some times twice a day... and boom one popped up in PA. Fast forward, have been using her mainly as my work boat for a few weeks, figuring out the nuances and such. I have read that permatrims on the tomcat are not as helpful as on the other C Dory vessels. Working, I am regularly out in 20-30 kt winds, always finishing the day smashing up wind into estuary chop. So any thought from those who have tried them in similar conditions? I would say the 20% smoother ride would motivate me to pull the trigger.
I put the Permatrims on our Tom Cat 255 to see if I could plane and get the stern up at a slower speed, because of similar concerns.
Although I feel that they are almost essential in the monohulls, I don't think that they help much, and may be slightly detrimental on the Tom Cat.
We found that speeding up and keeping the boat light was the best "solution" for going into the 2' chop. The Suzuki outboards definitely give a faster top end speed. We were running very close to 50 mph with the 150 Suzuki outboards and as I recollect 21" pitch 4 blade PowerTech props.
Although I feel that they are almost essential in the monohulls, I don't think that they help much, and may be slightly detrimental on the Tom Cat.
We found that speeding up and keeping the boat light was the best "solution" for going into the 2' chop. The Suzuki outboards definitely give a faster top end speed. We were running very close to 50 mph with the 150 Suzuki outboards and as I recollect 21" pitch 4 blade PowerTech props.