Hydrofoils

doober113

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What are the pros and cons of hydrofoils? I use my boat for fishing and pulling the kids on the tube. Does not get up on plane very well when pulling the kids, would a hydrofoil help with that. Generally the boat has a few more people in it also when using it to pull the tube. Just wondering if it would be beneficial to use a hydrofoil or not? Thanks.
 


Wall-eyes

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Yes mine gets me out of hole quicker and on plane. I do not have big HP most guys run so it helps.
 

LBrandt

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Put one on my aluma-craft 16.5 with a 50 Yamaha to keep it from bobbing around after 30 mph and it does plane better.
 

That guy

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Put one on you will be happy with planning out and you will be able to stay on a plane at slower speed also. This will help with gas as well.
 

Allen

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I have put a hydrofoil on every boat I've ever owned, and have seen all kinds of improvement. Especially with faster on plane times and lower speed handling. The boats I've used them on include: 1. Mid-70s, 16.5 ft Alumacraft with a 25 tiller motor. 2. A late 80s Smokercraft with a 75 horse Mariner, and a 2004 Lund Fisherman with a 115 Yamaha 4S.

The benefits are different between the boats. The small and light Alumacraft had a significantly faster top end with the hydrofoil, but a part of me wonders if that wasn't just compensating for not having power trim, regardless, it went about 7 miles an hour faster with a 2-4 person load in the boat and was about 3-4 mph faster with just one person in the boat. The Smokercraft had a terrible chine-walking problem, probably because it was the only of my boats at max HP. The hydrofoil tamed that quite a bit and didn't seem to really affect top end speed. The Lund's benefits are really noticed at lower speeds while on plane. The thing used to "swim" and was really an effort to control at ~10-14 mph. The hydrofoil had it on plane with less throttle and lower speeds which really helped control. It also seems to blowout less at WOT with similar trim levels when turning. However, I think I also lost 2-3 mph top end speed with it.

At one point in time (like maybe 15 years ago) I had pretty well documented the performance of all the above running the boats with and without the hydrofoil. Needless to say, if I buy a different boat tomorrow, I will buy a hydrofoil for it at the same time.
 


ORCUS DEMENS

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Put a hydrofoil on my current boat to alleviate a handling issue. It helped get on plane quicker as well. Sometimes trim motor up and use the extra drag to get boat speed down for trolling. Weight distribution within the boat helps in some circumstances. If most of the adults are in the back and a couple kids up front, boat will be harder to get on plane.
 

Slappy

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Mine came with one from the last guy. Took it off to see the difference and put it right back on. Along with everything mentioned above, it also gives me a little more ability to nose down into rough chop.
 

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