QL Trim Tab Stuck in Down Position

pistonbroker

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I have the QL trim tab system on my Bavaria and up till now its behaved ok. I had a comms fault on the starboard side indicated by the flashing leds on the console yesterday and investigated further. It would seem that the starboard trim tab has packed up and is now stuck in the fully down position. I swapped over the starboard and port side leads that plug into the control unit to see if I can replcate the fault port side, and indeed the comms fault transferred to port. So have hopefully ruled out the control unit.

I'll have to get the boat out to replace the trim tab, and I'm due to take it out late August anyway, but in the meantime is there any way of retracting the blade, either mechanically or brute force? I assume the blades are operated via a motor with some form of rack and pinion arrangement ? So the motor is either defective or the mechnical drive has seized or broken.

Any suggestions most welcome until I can get the boat out and replace.
 

Jamie Dundee

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The motor has probably drowned, happened to mine and the other motor stripped a gear. No way I can think of to raise the blade without taking the unit off. I replaced mine with Zipwakes, so far so good (y)

AB3331F8-09AA-45D7-89A9-A453D3DE86AC.jpeg
 

Rangerman

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Had the same problem on my Antares 30, Motors flooded or gears stripped. There is no way of getting the tab back up or repairing it but it is only plastic so get in the water and cut it off with a hacksaw. When its out of the water it is an easy swap out, just make sure you fit the rubber boot correctly!
 

pistonbroker

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Thanks for the replies guys. Appreciate the pictures Jamie, I think I can see the problem now. Motor or gear problem.

Looks like I'm going to have to wield a hacksaw and get wet!

Longer term I'll check out the zip wakes, I saw another thread on here.
 

ICTM

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As Mr Seastoke says you may be lucky and manage to ‘feed‘ it back in with someone operating it. They are a pain in the rear, I have been through 3 blade units in the past 5 years. As soon as I can divert enough funds I will rip them off and replace with something that is fit for purpose……. I replaced another one this year and they were on back order pretty much everywhere.
 

Jamie Dundee

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As Mr Seastoke says you may be lucky and manage to ‘feed‘ it back in with someone operating it. They are a pain in the rear, I have been through 3 blade units in the past 5 years. As soon as I can divert enough funds I will rip them off and replace with something that is fit for purpose……. I replaced another one this year and they were on back order pretty much everywhere.
You can see that the motor/gear boxes are sealed with a crappy splodge of sealant. No wonder they leak, the screw holes were also disintegrating. The Zipwakes motors are totally self contained, no screws or access. They are also at least twice the weight of the QLs.
 

pistonbroker

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Thanks for the replies, definitely worth a go at forcing them up whilst being operated.

Looking at the photos again no wonder they break down, what a poor design. They remind of gears that you used to get with lego sets years ago, although lego is probably stronger!
 
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