TAPS 21

[hycosurf]

I had a stainless steel company find time to cut, bend and weld it. I got them the dimensions and such. It cost me 560 labor and materials.

[hycosurf]

I was hoping I caught you in time before drilling in the boat. Phew!

[UNSTUCK]

That seems like a ton of money to have the tabs built. I wonder if you can buy the real ones from dealers now?

[Dandy]

That seems like a ton of money to have the tabs built. I wonder if you can buy the real ones from dealers now?

I actually disagree. For a 1 off product, for a shop to even be willing to work it through would be tough to find and I would doubt I could beat that price. Now, if these were being produced in quantities, that is different. Most of the shops in our area don't want to touch work under 25 pcs.

[UNSTUCK]

No, your right. I'm just so used to doing things myself, or having buddies help me with stuff I can't do. I never bother to find out what it would cost if I was Joe Blow off the street looking for custom parts. Having said that, any shop that is worth anything should have been able to do all that in a few hours. Hour or so to draw it up, hour to cut and bend, hour to weld. $300 would have been a fair price I think. I would expect retail to be marked up 100%. That gets closer to what he paid.

[UNSTUCK]

Finished the tab install last night. I still haven't received the controller, so no operation yet. I did run them up and down several times before I ran the wiring through the transom, so I know they work with no binding. So, as most would expect, this is not the perfect transom for this mod. The TAPS 3 boats use the 4.25" stroke actuators so I got them for this mod. I needed to be able to mount them a few inches higher than what I did to make them more efficient. TAPS 3 is able to raise higher to get them way out of the way when not in use, These pictures show them as high as I can get them. The lowest point is still 3/4" above the bottom of the boat so that shouldn't be too bad. My TAPS plate is about 1/2" above, for comparison. I fully expect some drag though.
The worst part was figuring out the mounting points on the tab and transom. Because of all the bends in the tab and the angle of the transom, it made it a mess to figure out the exact position to attach the actuator mounts. Rotate either one the wrong way, just a hair, and the actuator would bind up. It was a difficult set up as I had to hold the actuator, make marks on the tab and transom then run it up and down and see if it still lined up to my marks. Then reposition and remark.....over and over and over.
Anyways, they're on and it's done. I ordered my controller over two weeks ago. Not sure where it's at......Amazon?

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My first trip of the season is in two weeks. I can't wait to try this out. In the meantime, I have a lot of unrelated work to do. Clean, wax, service, ect...

[NICKYPOO]

My, what big tabs you have!

They are bigger than I expected. I hope that don't hang too bad while underway. Maybe they will clean up the old frothy lip on the board wakes.

Cheers to you man. Ballsy project. I hope it works as expected so that I can start planning mine. Ya right, you know I'm already planning

[BJM]

Looks Good! It's going to be a long two week wait for you. I hope it works great.

[Z3CO23]

Man that's awesome. I applaud you guys who have the skills and marbles to take these projects on..... well done.

[NickWWS]

Unstuck,

This is an AWESOME project!! Very clean install.

As for the electronics, did you get the speed to control the actuators?

Above 15 MPH you need the actuators to pull all the way up, correct?

and when you switch side to side, you need the actuators to know what position to go to as well, right?

When you turn your "system" off the actuators pull up as well, correct?

Very interested in the aftermarket electronics of this!

[JohnnieMo]

How did you fasten the tabs through the transom? Bolts? Screws?

Sent from my BlackBerry Priv

[culrich77]

Looks amazing!! I just saw a post on Instagram from our local Tige dealer that the Taps 3 system can be installed on any boat for a cool $2995, so as long as you did it for less than that you came out way ahead!!

[UNSTUCK]

Nick, no electronics yet. Still waiting for them to get here. It is all the standard Lenco parts though. So for now they will only retract automatically when the system is turned off. We will have to remember to raise them when going fast. Not that we ever go fast. We only surf. Sounds like most people that have chimed in have said they run taps 3 all the way down all the time. So not too worried about memory for a certain position. I did get the Lenco led switches so I will know the position of the tabs though. If it works as well as I hope it will next year I will work on fully automating it.

Johnnie, they are attached with #14,1 1/4" SS pan head screws. This seems to be the standard way of mounting them. I filled each hole with 5200 before running the screws in.

Culrich, I wonder if it is actually tabs 3 or that other new system that popped up on here the other day for the same price? That other system appears to be a complete joke at $2995. It's all off the shelf Lenco parts with custom semi taps 3 tabs. I'll be in to my system at right around $700. And I could have saved about a hundred by using the shorter actuators which would have fit my boat better, I think.

[UNSTUCK]

So here is a little information for you guys that may want to copy this system. I've learned a lot and so far still really like this set up. Every part of this has been a cakewalk, except anything that has to do with Lenco!

They have a great website that is packed full with all the items they sell, but there is almost no explanation on anything. I guess I should have just called them and told them what I was doing and see if they could put a parts list together for me. But after sending them an email one time and the poor response I got, I just kind of dropped them.

So here is some important actuator / switch / controller information that you must know, but that you wont find anywhere:

To run their actuators you really need to have their control box. What it does is reverse the polarity of the two wires going to the actuator for up or down movement. You could build this yourself with relays and such, but their box is nice and handy. If you use their controller, just get one of there switches too. Then it's easy plug and play.
So here is where it gets interesting. They have at least three different controllers. Well, three that we would use for this kind of application. Each of those then breaks down between one or two actuators per trim tab. We will only ever use one actuator per tab. No need for two. Then they have three switches to choose from. The first is two basic rocker switches, then the nicer rubber switch (not sure what to call it, but you'll know it when you see it). The third is the LED rubber switch. This is the one we would want for this application. It tells you what position the tabs are in. A must have to easily adjust the wave each time.
So like all savvy shoppers I jumped on Amazon and found the switch. Then I noticed the "frequently purchased together" group on that page. It included the LED switch and the controller. I clicked that, purchased, done deal. A few days later the parts arrive and as I'm opening the controller box I just happen to notice that it says for the "basic" switch. Interesting. A call to Lenco confirms my fear. That controller will not light up the LED indicators on the switch. He gives me the part number to the one that I need. I start the return process with amazon and also purchase the controller that I need. So last night I get everything wired up and hit the switch. My actuators go up and down!!!!!! But wait.....I notice that the indicator says they are all the way down, but I see that I still have about an inch of ram still to go down. Huh? I turn off the key switch and the automatic return kicks in just like it should. Then I see that the ram doesn't go all the way up. Huh? If I hold the buttons for about 2 seconds after the lights indicated that they are fully extended or retracted then they will be. So I call Lenco today to find out if there is an adjustment to make the lights coincide with the travel of the ram. "Oh, you must have 4 1/4" stroke actuators. You have the wrong controller." I about screamed at the guy. I asked why they don't put this VERY IMPORTANT information out there for the world to see. He said, "most people don't buy the longer travel units". So What?
So why not just return the controller again and buy the right one? Well the two power leads on the controller use a not so common deutsch connector. And of course Lenco does not supply the male counterpart in the package, even though the Lenco guy told me everything I need to install it comes in the box. So I cut the deutsch connector off and used a connector that I had.

So here some useful part numbers that you need to have if you want to copy this set up.

Basic actuator controller for either actuator: Lenco 30134-001
LED actuator controller for 2" actuator: Lenco 30072-001
LED actuator controller for 4" actuator: Lenco 30109-001
LED switch for either Controller: Lenco 30007-001D
12v controller pig tail: Lenco 30140-202D (should be this one but not 100% sure) or just cut off the connector and use butt connectors or something similar.
Upper actuator mount: Lenco 50015-001D

Lenco, please update your website to include this valuable information!


If I was to do this again, for my boat, I would use the 2" stroke actuators and then the controller I have now would be fine. That would save a bit of money and I think actually work better with the shallower transom of these older boats. So if anyone is planning this, I'll give you a smoking deal on this controller then you just get the 2" stroke and be better than me. I will use it for now and just remember to hold the buttons for 2 seconds longer than I should need to.

I'm hoping to do a test run tomorrow!

[JohnnieMo]

Awesome info. Blazing the trail is never easy but the rest of us sure appreciate it. This will be my next winter project.

Now just get lots of pics and vids of the wave

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