The trimmed deck fit great Transom will go in this weekend

Test fit

BT welding did mine with a hard top.

2” Coosa is bonded in. I want the bracket as low to the water as possible. What is my best option for trim tabs? Tabman usually recommends 12”x12”. But I’m worried about the actuators interfering with the bracket

Making good progress even with your storm damaged house in the Keys..

I see you plan on using an Armstrong Bracket. You may have to cut holes
for the rams like we had to do on junior's 23 Sceptre with a Hermco !

Attachment 17429

Attachment 17430

Kraken, go with the 12 x 12 Bennett Bolt tabs. The actuator mounts at the back end of the tab (notice in NoBones' picture the actuator mounts in the middle of the tab) and the top of the actuator is 9.5" up the 13 degree transom (I'll double check that number today). That's about as low as you can go. It looks like the top mounting edge of my brother's bracket will be 26" up from the keel with no notches cut. For reference my 12" wide X 8" deep Bennett tabs the actuator is 13.5" up the transom. I'll have him post some pictures on his re-build thread.

I have Bennett's short ram and notched the flange a little.

I did double check and the Bolts are 9 3/4" up the transom. As I mentioned if you lay a 2" board across the top of the upper actuator brackets it's 26" from the bottom of the boat. The aluminum brackets, such as the Armstrong, have a different platform height than the Hermco pictured. Good luck.

Check out the Bennett Bolt edge mount tabs. The upper actuator mount is only 6.39” up the transom versus 13” with the standard tabs

Actually Corey that measurement is against a 90 degree transom angle. Our 13 degree SeaCrafts move it up to 9 1/2" to 9 3/4". It's one of those tricky things ya gotta look out for. Check with Tom at Bennett, he can confirm. I saw the same drawing you saw in their ad/brochure, however not a lot of 90 degree transoms out there. Plus the more negative trim you use during install makes it even higher. They recommend 5/8", we did 1/2" and it looks fine.

Hate to do this, or admit this, however there is a thread on THT where Tom confirms this. 9 1/2" is 4" below my original Bennetts.