[jergofish]

birdwatcher, I certainly can't speak to your sailing conditions but can tell you about the installation of the Bennetts. I went with the 18x9's. This was the set recommended by Bennett. They're a little bigger than the 120's but really DO WORK. The cost is about the same as the 120's. I think ease of installation would be about the same for electrics or hydraulics. Basically, here are the steps for the hydraulics.

1. Fasten the trim tab paddles to the hull. Nail a board with a screw in it to the skid on each side to set the retracted height. The instructions provided by Bennett will make this clearer. (Easy, 1/2 hour total, small amount of Rule needed, screws provided by Bennett.)

2. Locate attachment point of rams and drill pilot holes for screws (Easy, 1/2 hour total, pattern provided by Bennett.)

3. Drill center hole for rigid copper piping. You need a half inch or 5/8 inch drill, I can't remember, woodworking will do, and a drill bit extension to get through the transom. (Easy, 15 minutes)

4. Measure thickness of transom and go buy additional lengths of 3/8 copper pipe to reach through transom. (A pain, since I had written Bennett and they had shipped me additional tubing and instructions on how to install on a Triumph I would have thought they would know how thick the transom is and would have also shipped two unions and two 5" sections of pipe or two 8 inch pipes. An hour at Lowe's)

5. Mount the rams with their copper tubing reaching inside the transom. Screws provided by Bennett. Rule needed. (Easy, 20 minutes.)

6. Pull two plastic tubes for the hydraulics from the starboard rear compartment to the center console. (Easy if you have a pull cord, 15 minutes)

7. Drill a hole in the side of the starboard rear compartment close to the top and close to the transom for the plastic hydraulic tubing and do the same on the port side. (Fairly easy, again, a longer than standard drill is necessary or a drill extension. 30 minutes)

8. Pull one of the tubes through to the port side and fasten it where exposed along the transom using nylon wire fasteners. Seal the holes with Rule at the end of the project. (Easy, 5 minutes)

9. Figure where you are going to mount the control buttons, probably to the right of the steering wheel, use the pattern provided and route out the hole for the controls using a reaming drill. (Hard! In their efforts to make the footprint as small as possible, Bennett have a semi rectangular hole pattern with lots of small bumps in it. The fasteners for the panel are only a 1/4inch away from the hole. Make the hole too big and you will have no way to fasten it to the dash and you'll have to get some starboard and make a plate to mount the panel and cover your mistake! It would have been a lot easier if the mounting would have been designed around a 2 1/2" hole saw cut. At least half an hour of screwing around carefully routing out the hole and fitting the control buttons.)

10. Bennett only provides a bulkhead mount for the pump. It's not practical for a
Triumph. Mark the footprint of the pump on the floor inside the center console and design a mount using a plywood donut, or stainless or aluminum angle and bungee, etc. I used the supplied mount by fastening it to the deck and then put some ring eyes in the deck and bungeed the pump in place. (Easy but a pain in the rear. Bennett should provide both a bulkhead mount and a deck mount. Again, an hour of building your own mount.)

11. Wire the black and red wires into the accessory panel and put in the proper sized fuse. Hook up the color coded wires from the pump to the control switches and mount the switch in the dash. (Easy, 1/2 hour)

12. Overfill the pump with ATF and hook up the two hydraulic lines. (Easy if you have a small funnel. Make sure you read the instructions BEFORE tightening up the hydraulic lines. (Easy, 20 minutes)

13. Use a vice grip and put the 90 degree elbows on the pipes coming from the rams and then hook up the hydraulic lines. Again, read instructions before tightening. (Easy, 15 minutes)

14. You're done. Activate the rams ten to fifteen times each to bleed the system. At first it seems like they don't work but all of a sudden they're moving. Eureka, you now have trim tabs.

I must be pretty close on the times because it took me about six hours and my description above adds up to six hours and ten minutes.