Cobra stabilizer-

[tnnelvision]

I have had good luck w/ a stingray stabilizer on my 18' C-hawk, so after alot of thought I decided to add a fin to my 25 mvwa w/ f225 on a bracket. Studied all the current manufacturers and opted for an aluminum cobra plate vs. stainless model or permatrim. I liked the idea of it mounting underside the cav. plate. The cobra is alot thinner than the permatrim and with it being aluminum , I thought in the event of an impact maybe it would fail vs. my cavitation plate. Had boat loaded heavy all weekend in wide variety of sea conditions, from slick , to a steep 2'-3' Pamlico sound chop , to 4' sea @ about 6 sec. interval, in the ocean. The most noticable improvements were: Much improved response from undersized lencos, lowered planing rpms down to 3500 or so @ 14 kts. and increased fuel economy. Increased economy really showed up rougher water and at lower planing speeds. When @ my normal 4300-4400 cruise in calmer water didn't see much difference. I lost about 200rpm @ WOT, but speedabout the same. Only problem was the fancy little decal on the plate was gone in first 10 minutes. :lol:

 

[BradV]

I messed with some fins on my boat and noticed about a 10% decrease in economy. but the planing at lower speeds was a big difference. problem is i weigh over 11k loaded so i dont think the fins would handle the stress.

 

[Porkchunker]

I have twin F-115s on my 2510. She is a$$-heavy and the OEM trim tabs could not pull the bow down even with the motors trimmed all the way in. Trimmed all the way in, fuel consumption was very high.

I put on a pair of Cobra plates (mine are actually SS), and what a difference. I could pull the bow down with the OEM tabs when the motors were trimmed neutral (anti-cavitation plate parallel with the keel). I could plane at a much lower speed. Mid-range performance was better. I lost 1 mph off of WOT speed, but I never run her there anyway. Mid-range and slowing down in the chop is where the Cobra plates made the boat shine.

Dave

aka