Permatrim

W

Wallkerbay

New member
I have read a lot about the Permatrim. I did order one today. I do think that it will help bring the bow down with out useing a lot of trim tab :) I will post more when I have recieved it. Neal
 
Neal,

I had both trim tabs and a PermaTrim on Naknek. With the PermaTrim the tabs were handy but not critical.

I used the PermaTrim for the basic pitch control, then fine-tuned trim with the tab's. And the tab's were handy for lateral trim.

Casey
 
Concur with Charlie's comment...
I mounted trim tabs on my boat when I got it and noted that I had to have the tabs down pretty far to get the bow to a reasonable attitude. This amounted to a greater amount of RPM for the speed that I wanted to go, i.e. lots of drag. After mounting the Permatrim, I now use the tabs for port or starboard list from off balance weight and or wind and the engine is not trimmed down anywhere near where it was to achieve a nice ride with a bow that I can now see over.
 
I never used the tabs after I tried them out. Not wide enough to make a difference and they really dig in. I put a SE Sport 300 on Cocoon. All I ever use now is the motor trim. It seems to give more control at low speed.
 
I bought one for my 2000 22 Cruiser. It is not installed yet. Hope to install in next few weeks. I am looking forward to the improved performance.
 
Pete, I put them on my Honda 45's. A little scary drilling the cavatation plate but not hard. It's Aluminum so use a very sharp bit, don't hit it with a center punch(it may crack it), and drill slowly with some oil to lube/cool it. Snug it down tightly, use the lock nuts provided but don't overtighten. If it doesn't fit totally flush with the cav plate, it will pull into shape gradually. Put in two holes/bolts first and then use the plate as a guide for the last holes. Sometimes hard to drill straight down because of the lower unit but it can be done.


Charlie
 
Well got to say that I am in the other camp. Read about them here spent the money and am not really impressed with Permatrim. Still have to use the tabs for more than just side to side trim. To much money for to little gain. Just my $.02
 
Chuck, I'm surprised. Not familiar with the Yami setup but does it have a pin in the mounting bracket where you can level out the engine at rest or make it so the cavitation plate is leaning forward or backward? If so, if you put the pin in the hole that puts the cav plate down at the stern as much as it will go, it will give you a lot more permatrim effect. Where's your "pin" :?: :?:

If it's set right, you should be able to bring the bow way up with the engine tilt/trim and darn near bury it's nose :shock: if you want to by trimming all the way down.. I had to adjust mine to get them to work to the max effect.

Charlie
 
I too had a marginal result from adding a Permatrim to my Honda 90 V-Tec. There's no tilt restrictor pin and the engine trims so the plate is down in the stern, but I still had to run with a lot of trim tab. The boat planes a bit quicker with a little less bow rise I think, but that wasn't a problem for me. I was hoping to eliminate the trim tab drag.

I just today removed the 9.9 kicker engine (130 lbs with electric tilt, etc.) and I'm looking forward to a test run without the stern weight. I left the cabling in place for now in case I want to go back.

I'm going to remove some other weight from the boat also. Mine's not as loaded up as some, but more than others. It's only a 22 ft boat after all. One can't expect to install grand pianos and hot tubs and still see any performance...

Maybe I'll have a result in a week and I can report back.

-Jeff
 
Anyone with permatrims have experience with a following swell on the quarter? Do they get grabbed like trim tabs that are left too far down? Do they get grabbed in your normal running position?
Thanks,
Karl
 
Interesting thread. I would think permatrims on a twin setup would offer pretty dramatic control of the attitude of the bow. After all, there is a ton of leverage and lots of surface area. On a single, it seems like it would still have impact, just not as pronounced because there is less surface area available. I don't know if it is just me or not, but I think they are pretty expensive for what they are.
 
We have had Permatrims on our twin 40hp Honda's for several years. It is correct that side to side trim can be accomplished with them easily. What I did not like was the motors running at different attitudes. That is the primary reason that we recently had Lenco trim tabs installed. After two trips out with both installed I am very happy with the control possible with running the Permatrims basically inline with the bottem of the transom, which I believe is the most efficient way to run, and do any side to side or bow change with the tabs. So far so good, just my 2 cents worth.
 
amy and karl":3i5r6e1k said:
Anyone with permatrims have experience with a following swell on the quarter? Do they get grabbed like trim tabs that are left too far down? Do they get grabbed in your normal running position?
Thanks,
Karl
Click to expand...

Karl,

I don't have first hand experience with this, but even with just twins and no permatrims the boat handles goofy when in a following swell with the trim down. I really hate how trimming the nose down impacts going down a wave. I prefer a neutral trim position in just about all heavy conditions as the boat handles far better. I wonder if they grab then? It doesn't seem like they should.

Tim
 
We have had permatrim on our boat since new. I think it must give better low speed handling. I never use trim tabs as we are shifty people and move things around to get level. I mean if you are in a slip leaning to one side the trim tabs don't do much good no matter what kind you have. We run inlets on the east coast and I don't notice anything funny on quartering following seas. I like to ride on the back side of the rollers about in the middle coming in an inlet. I usually trim my motor all the way down and give it a couple little bumps up on the motor trim switch for my normal running. If seas are really flat I just raise the motor until I feel the bow starting to wander or porpoise and bump it back down by hitting the trim switch a little. I don't know if the transom angle is different on a Venture /Cape Cruiser. I might try using tabs if I was getting blasted by quartering seas on the bow as that might cause the boat to lift a little to one side. I never had it so bad that I had to do that. We usually in cruising mode travel with a generator, an inflatable dinghy, 2.5 hp Yamaha also in cockpit full of fuel and water with enough provisions to feed a family of six. Our 20 gallon water tank is under the rear port dinette seat. We have a roof mounted air conditioner. Plenty of tools spare drinking water in at least 4 to 6 gallon jugs with a 65 gallon cooler with enough Pinot Grigio to get a squad drunk. . Did I mention the 55 pound dog. Plus with a 150 hp we are heavy in the butt. No matter we top out at 40mph. The boat rides very nicely. Do we sound like we are loaded heavy???
D.D.
 
Well, I couldn't wait to do a test, so here I am on Mission Bay near San Diego with a moderately loaded boat, somewhat less than a week's worth of stuff but not real light. The boat does well without trim tabs now that the heavy kicker's in the garage. It still likes full down trim on the engine, though.

I guess I'll spend the night, watch Sea World's fireworks and be a little late for work in the morning…

-Jeff
 
Charlie
115 hp Yamahas do not have a restrictor pin set up, hydraulic from stop to stop. I really dont run all that heavy and try to shift as much weight as I can forward. Just dont think they are worth the money, but will keep it on as I now have 8 nice little holes in my cavition plate
 
We had no trim tabs or Permatrim on the C Dory 22. The boat ran level with out, but there would have been an advantage to get the bow down in chop. The 25 already had trim tabs, and I ran it for a season without the Permatrim. The permatrim did improve the ride into chop, and gave use faster on a plane, and a better top speed when loaded, on an underpowered boat (Honda 135).

There was no adverse affect going down wind/seas--including severe conditions--as long as the boat was trimmed properly. If the bow had been trimmed down, then there would have been bow steering and some potential issues.
 
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