Hydrofoils... do they work?

Again, the effect of the foils will not be as big as on a smaller boat but they will help and cost very little to install
 
I had a similar problem on my last boat 33.5 LOA with twin 205s what I found worked best was real simple. Don't fill the fuel or water tank unless you need to. The boat ran great with half a tank of fuel and 1/4 to half a tank of water. When I was going on a trip I would top of the tanks and struggle for the first part of the trip as soon as I burned enough fuel thing were great again. Worth a try!
 
Rick, keep in mind, that when a boat is tested (new by manufac), its done completely empty, meaning not loaded with people and supplies. Your boat is probably fine, just have to work for getting a feel for the weight and what its going to take to plane the boat off.

Id seriously look into 4 bladed props. It really helps when there is a load. When I am full of people plus a couple dogs, It takes to reach 3500rpms to plane, and then Ill cruise and hold plane at 2700-2800rpms which is about 19mph..
 
Rick- when I got my Regal 29' I had the same problem getting out of the hole and over the top to get on plane with 6 folks on board. I had excellant results moving to 4-blade props and larger tabs. Boat lost a little top end speed with the 4-blade props but jumping up on plane was much easier.
 
Is this your first boat of size that you have operated? If so talk to dock mates and try getting a ride on other boats similar in set up. Take notes on how they run and compare.

I agree 4 gblades will be very beneficial.

When bringing the boat to plane where are your drives/tabs at?
When cruisng in ideal conditions what are your drives/tabs at?

If you are tabbed all of the way down and tucked in on the drives once up and running this will give a real dragg effect.

These steppede hulls like to run with a little tab, and the drives ideally at level to the hull. I would sususpet one bump into the up position will really be all that is required for good attitude once on plane. It really is a "feel" that you will need to learn, assuming the boat is running good.

Forgive me for all of the questions, but have you had the boat tuned up?

If you have 2B Carbs, I would invest in an upgrade of new intakes and carbs (Stock merc is plenty good for what you are using the boat for)

Please note I have only been on the wheel of your boat model one time for about an hour. That is where my thought process comes from.

I am not the smartest man in the world, but working on boats put me through schools! And I love working on boats - its fun!
 
As much as this sound backward, the 4 bladed prop will probably give you a little better cruise speed but you lose some top end. I would not worry about the loss of top end as this is not where you run the boat at least not if you want to have the motors last.
One other thing is that most boats come with trimtabs that are to small, there is not tradeoff going big but you sure can be to small. I used to have a 27' Doral that had al kinds of running problems till I replaced the trimtabs with bigger ones, after that the boat was one sweet handling machine.

Cor
 
Considering the price, I'd try a hydrofoil before I bought anything else.
 
I asked this question when I took the safe boating class and they had a propellor repair expert as the guest speaker. He said they are OK for small boats but he has done many repairs on outdrives on bigger boats where the foil has created so much pressure on the drive that they break the fins off where they are attached.
 
I forgot to mention that I installed hydro-foils on my twin outdrives before I moved to the 4-blade props and the hydrofoils did nothing to help the boat's performance.
 
My last boat was Wellcraft Monaco, 30'+-, 10,000# twin 350 Mags,alpha ones, it was very hard to get up on plane loaded until I replaced the standard tabs with ones sized properly, it felt like a different boat, stainless props helped even more. The original tabs were no bigger than about 8" X 8" the newones were about 8" X 12", maybe a little bigger.
 
My thoughts on hydra foils, doel fins and the like is simply, if they help a given boat, why didn't the manufacturer put them on from the factory? I have put them on a couple of boats, a 20 foot walk thru and a big jon boat. Took it off of both. I just don't care for them. On the 20 foot boat that I bought new, the hull had a rocker in it. They tried to pawn the doel fin off to me as a fix. Then they gave me trim tabs. Finally they took it back to the factory and fixed it under warranty. George Van P was a big help on that one.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Tommy Allen

My thoughts on hydra foils, doel fins and the like is simply, if they help a given boat, why didn't the manufacturer put them on from the factory?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. My boat didn't come with a chart plotter, so therefore it makes no sense to add one, since the MFG didn't put it on there, they must be useless.
 
quote:
Originally posted by EdFitz

quote:
Originally posted by Tommy Allen

My thoughts on hydra foils, doel fins and the like is simply, if they help a given boat, why didn't the manufacturer put them on from the factory?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. My boat didn't come with a chart plotter, so therefore it makes no sense to add one, since the MFG didn't put it on there, they must be useless.

Click to expand...


Tommy Allen was providing a different perspective, which I appreciate since I take all the counsel I can get. No need for sarcasm... winter starts in 3 days but I think we are all ready for Spring right now. :)

--Rick
 
Rick: I have a 21' cuddy that is ass-heavy, expecially when I have two people in the rear seats. I bought a hydrofoil and it helped, but I finally put trim tabs on and took the foil off and the improvement was dramatic. I personnaly do not think that a hydrofoil will help you on a boat your size, but I do have a Stingray Classic foil that I will give to you if you want to try it (you pay shipping).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top