Most of the modern fast cruisers that run at planing speeds have trim tabs that are adjusted manually to level the boat off and make it run more comfortably and efficiently. Adjusting trim tabs takes practice and skill and affects trim slowly, not dynamically.
Swedish inventor Niclas Olofsson, who has a PhD in hydrodynamics had a better idea. In 1994, while on a business trip to Fremantle, Australia, the boat builder he was calling on had a problem. The Chinese company that had ordered several small fast ferry boats had rejected the products because the ferries could not reach the required 28 knots.
Olofsson had been working on a prototype for dynamic trim tabs that adjusted automatically in response to pitch and roll data collected by onboard sensors. He convinced the Australian builder to try his trim tabs on the ferries and they worked. The ferries exceeded the 28-knot requirement.
Twenty years later, Olofsson decided to bring this dynamic trim tab technology to the general boating market with the formation of Zipwake, based near Gothenberg, Sweden. Now, 10 years later, the company has distributors around the world and has delivered more than 50,000 Zipwake trim tabs to happy boat owners.
As Olofsson notes on the Zipwake website: “We have a great product, which more and more boating enthusiasts are discovering each year. And when you consider that there are some 30 million recreational boats around the world, and most of them would be greatly improved by installing a Zipwake system, you could say we are only at the beginning of our journey.”
The Zipwake trim tabs attach to a motorboat’s transom and deploy short dynamic blades they call interceptors into the water flow below the transom. A typical installation on a 30-footer would see four modules with two on each side of the transom.
But Zipwake can be fitted to performance hulls up to 100 feet in which as many as eight modules could be installed.
The motion sensors and the GPS receiver are in the control head at the helm station and send data to a distribution module that in turn directs the blade angle of each interceptor individually. The interceptor blades can adjust in as little as 1.5 seconds.
The tabs correct for pitching motion fore and aft, roll motion from side to side and yaw or directional motion through confused seas. The result is a much more stable ride with reduced pounding in choppy seas and reduced rolling in cross seas.
The flatter, more stable ride is more comfortable and improves performance and fuel efficiency.
Recently, Zipwake, through it’s US distributor IMTRA, announced that US builder Tiara will install the trim tabs on all its outboard models starting in 2025. Sue Kane, Director of Sales at Tiara noted:
“Zipwake is an incredibly intuitive and effective system that will elevate the comfort and performance of our yachts. It’s an easy-to-use solution that enhances the luxury experience Tiara owners expect. We are excited to offer Zipwake to our customers and confident they will appreciate the added benefits.”
