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Trim Tabs Fouling

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Tomm24

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I pretty sure my marina puts Micron bottom paint on my boat. My bottom stays clean but the trim tabs foul bad. I'm in brackish water in NJ usually 1/2 to 1/3 the salinity of sea water and I'm in from April to December. My neighbor winters his and has his bottom painted  at the same marina and his tabs were just about as bad as mine. His boat was in a week longer than mine. His bottom is green and mine black but I assume they are the same brand of paint . Checked out other boats at the marina and most were similar but there were a few good ones but I don't know how long they were in and if they did an in season cleaning. Last year the marina told me maybe a trim tab was leaking current and that was causing the fouling. Last year one of the tabs was not working 100% of the time so it was replaced and both tabs are equally fouled this year so I don't think that was the issue. Plenty of zinc left on the tabs. Anyone have this problem and solve it? Or is this just typical the tabs foul first?  I pretty much use the boat at least once every week

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Same area, Curtis Point.

 

I paint my tabs.  Everyone says you cant, yaddity yada, but they are original to the 1990 hull and I've been doing it since I got the boat in 99.  Never an issue.  Some fouling on the top of the tab, but nothing major.

 

I use the cheapest ablative I can find, usually only paint every other year.

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My tabs are painted. Fouling is on the bottom if my memory is correct the top was clean will double check this weekend. would be odd that the top didn't foul.  In prior years I noticed a 10% loss in fuel mileage at the end of the season. Thought it was from the fouled tabs but it didn't happen this year. So the change may have been a fluke or the seas weren't as bad end of the year 10% isn't much of a change I may have just gotten better at trimming the boat.

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I paint mine and they look like the rest of the boat but i scrub mine before i pull it . Fun time in October . I have seen boats with a zink bolted to each tab . Those half bagel looking ones . Not sure what the underside bolt and nut look like at the end of the year 

Top Drawer Sport fishing " We Put Everything Into It "

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  • 2 weeks later...

Same issue here.  I pulled mine off in December and took them to a place by me that does glass bead blasting.  Then I did a couple of thin coats of propcoat barnacle buster.  It says on the can (and I also called Pettit to confirm) "For multi-season protection, coat with at least 2 coats of Hydrocoat Eco".  I did this, so only time will tell.   Going to mount them back up once the weather gets warmer.

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First season with a boat with tabs and also first time leaving a boat in salt water. It was recommended that I paint the tabs, so I did. Micron csc i think. Lots of growth, mostly green stuff, few barnicals when I pulled the boat. Rest of the boat had some slime but not bad. Bottom of outboard stays in the water when tilted up, lots of growth there too. I need to figure out what to do with the tabs, motor, and tab actuators next season to prevent this.

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27 mins ago, GP100 said:

First season with a boat with tabs and also first time leaving a boat in salt water. It was recommended that I paint the tabs, so I did. Micron csc i think. Lots of growth, mostly green stuff, few barnicals when I pulled the boat. Rest of the boat had some slime but not bad. Bottom of outboard stays in the water when tilted up, lots of growth there too. I need to figure out what to do with the tabs, motor, and tab actuators next season to prevent this.

You're going to get growth on the engine mount, no way around it.  Pressure wash then bust the barnacles with a hammer when dried out.

 

I do get some barnacles on top of the tab, but doesn't affect range of motion, and being they are recessed with covers you don't see them so....really....who cares?  5 minutes in the spring with a hammer and putty knife lol

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