Livorsi Marine Stepped Trim Tabs

I always make it a point to stop by Livorsi Marine's booth at Miami, and I was most intrigued by their new billet aluminum stepped trim tab. I am very curious to see how these run, and the idea has some very interesting potential benefits.

The stepped trim tab would essentially create an air bearing effect which would reduce drag.

Below are photos of Livorsi's billet aluminum trim tabs with LED lighting and also V-tail.
Link to Stepped Trim Tabs on Livorsi Marine's website

What do you all think? I definitely want to get a closer look at these soon. I'll also have more information on these on the home page very soon.

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Mike Livorsi is great and I'm thankful for him and the Livorsi company always making time for anything we need here. Just a very cool company that makes killer products that has been supporting Scream And Fly for a very long time.

My first thought is that it’s an interesting idea and theoretically they should reduce drag caused by the tabs themselves – when they’re actually in contact with the water. (Remember, trim tabs are not always in contact with the water.) Of course one also has to look carefully at how much drag reduction can be gained by reducing surface friction on a fairly small surface – the tabs themselves.

On the other hand, there’s the age old debate about how to mount tabs on the transom for maximum speed / drag reduction whilst still maintaining the ability of the tabs to push the stern up / bow down. Generally speaking, one is better off mounting the tabs level with the water / horizontally. Although this tends to “twist” the tab when one comes down from a launch because the outside edge of the tab contacts the water first, the reduced surface area of the water contacting the tab does mean less drag. And yes, there is also a reduction in the “wedgie effect” when mounted this way.

What this tab design might do is give folks with tabs mounted parallel to the hull running surface a reduction in drag without going through all of the trouble of removing the old tabs and filling all of the holes in the transom up so they can re-mount them parallel with the water / horizontally.

Overall, I’d say it’s an interesting idea – but probably not a game changer.