Hydrofoils

[Allen]

Does anyone have one fitted to their outboard? I have a 25hp on my boat and not sure how well it works and not game enough to drill holes in the outboard just for experiment.

[Stu_000]

Allen

I shared your concern but went to work on my Honda 25 and drilled the holes. And would do it again in a pinch. Planing is almost immediate which I had trouble getting to with two blokes and a full livewell. Not any real speed gain but just to get on the plane quickly is a real bonus. Go on drill the holes...........

HTH

[don]

Allen

I put one on my 75hp and it didn't hurt the top end speed but did help keap the nose down at 5-8 knotts and did get on the plane faster.
Hope that helps

[Bear]

Do you have one on the Stratos Don??

[don]

I have been told not to.

If I wanted to achieve the same results I have to go to hyd trim tabs. ?
Now just got to stay on the gas to keap the nose down.

[Matrix]

OMG, for some boats, a hydrofoil (Permatrim) will help no end.

A friend got one for his boat a while back and it went from a gnarly, porpoising,didnt want to get on plane, beast, to a nice, reasonably comfy and puppy like boat

[Brad Y]

Definitely go a permatrim or one of the laser foils from solas. Dont even bother with the plastic ones unless you have to.

Trim tabs are a great idea. Craig Johnstons boat that I borrowed for the ABT grand final last year had them and with szarn in the passengers seat on the prefish day, there was a bit of a lean to one side with the uneven weight distribution (no hes not overweight, im just skinny) . Quick adjustment of one of the foils and we were level again.

[Allen]

Thank you all for the reply, what make me wonder is if the hydrofoils make the boat handle better without any negatives, why don't the outboard manufacturer build it in to their product, I guess not much more metal.

[Brad Y]

I think we just load our boats up more mate. 80L of water in the livewell, decking, deep cycles, two people etc is alot of work for a small motor.

I also found that my planing improved with a 4 blade prop. That might be another option if you could source one.

[Stu_000]

Originally posted by Brad Y
Dont even bother with the plastic ones unless you have to

I did - $50 and my problems were sorted

[Brad Y]

I had the troubles with my old stessco, I trimmed it out a notch as it was too far in, which was great, then when loaded up, it struggled to get onto the plane.

I put on and all it did was porpoise. Had to change a heap of weight around the boat which was really inconvenient.

Might be different in other peoples boats, but this was my only experience with the plastic ones.

[Stu_000]

Yeah fair enough Brad. I hear that they don't suit all situations and rigs. Other people have complained that it didn't really help and created more hassles. I guess I got lucky but I really only needed it to get planing quicker.

[Rod]

See each boat is different. I've never heard of a good report with the Perma-trim style.

I personially found the best allround is the Hydro-Foil (the one with the turned down edges).