Hydrofoils

[Extremeboating]

Anybody have a preference for which one they prefer over the other? I'm really on the fence about drilling into my anti cavitation plate, but I've been eyeballing three of them right now, all have the potential to gain speed and the obvious better holeshot which is really what I'm after, I have a hydraulic jack plate so lifting the motor out a bit of the water is possible:

SE400 no-drill hydrofoil (yes I know, it's plastic but has a promising design)

35c0155b-902a-5c44-b826-9d136c27d6d0.jpeg.jpg

Davis Instruments Whale Tail XL (currently have this one sitting in my garage)

Screenshot_20210508-110047_Samsung Internet.jpg

Bob's Machine shop True Tracker stabilizer

IMG_0425-scaled.jpg

Your thoughts are welcome, but please no nay saying about how they are a band aid.

[06 SB]

Mercury loves to deny warranty claims when holes are drilled in their motor. Get the right prop. Find the right motor height. Most times, a foil is covering up an imperfect setup, out of whack load or underpowered rig.

[Extremeboating]

Mercury loves to deny warranty claims when holes are drilled in their motor. Get the right prop. Find the right motor height. Most times, a foil is covering up an imperfect setup, out of whack load or underpowered rig.

Everything is correct and optimized. I'd love to see them try to prove that a hydrofoil was the cause of their engine failure. I'm most likely out of warranty in every aspect at this point with all the mods I've done to this rig anyways. Lol.

This is more about getting faster holeshot. That's all there is to it.

[JOE54]

BOBS prob will have less ill efects on steering

[Extremeboating]

BOBS prob will have less ill efects on steering

Do you figure that because of the size of it or because of the design?

[06 SB]

What prop are you running and what is your WOT RPMs?

[EuropeanAM]

Design.

Be careful with this... because with rigs in this class you can potentially end up with a TON (almost literally) of force or weight resting against the aft end of the Anti-Ventilation Plate. For this reason, I'm not at all fond of the designs that extend AFT of the end of the Anti-Ventilation plate. Especially not thrilled with the SE one.

BEST option is to balance out the boat, look into a small weld near the transom to act as a trim tab, etc. Lots of "tweaks" out there, check out the Tin-Boat's sections (some of those folks have spent thousands trying things... you might be able to benefit from some of their "research").

[Extremeboating]

What prop are you running and what is your WOT RPMs?

Merc Vengeance 15 pitch, 6000 RPM at WOT. If I remember right I think initial holeshot comes in at about 3000 RPM. It might be a little more but it is good.

[Extremeboating]

Design.

Be careful with this... because with rigs in this class you can potentially end up with a TON (almost literally) of force or weight resting against the aft end of the Anti-Ventilation Plate. For this reason, I'm not at all fond of the designs that extend AFT of the end of the Anti-Ventilation plate. Especially not thrilled with the SE one.

BEST option is to balance out the boat, look into a small weld near the transom to act as a trim tab, etc. Lots of "tweaks" out there, check out the Tin-Boat's sections (some of those folks have spent thousands trying things... you might be able to benefit from some of their "research").

Got any threads on this stuff? I have searched but have not found anything in particular helpful.

[EuropeanAM]

I don't frequent those particular forums much... but you could ask on there, some of those guys can probably share their experiences.

[SilverFox579]

This is what Don is talking about...


2009_11080004.JPG

In my case it's not a welded on piece it's actually the hull bottom extending beyond transom and mfr advises it can be tweaked if necessary.

[blackboat]

What exactly is the problem with your hole shot? How far out of the water can you get the cavitation plate at WOT without the prop ventilating? The foil will hurt you if it contacts any water at speed but be a non issue if up and out of the water.If your boat wallows around on the hole shot,a foil will help that but too bad you need to drill holes to find out for sure.

[Extremeboating]

This is what Don is talking about...


2009_11080004.JPG

In my case it's not a welded on piece it's actually the hull bottom extending beyond transom and mfr advises it can be tweaked if necessary.

Interesting looking setup. It's like an entire piece of aluminum which has been welded to the hull. What does this accomplish exactly? I understand it basically gives you a "longer" hull, but I can't see an extra inch giving you that much more of an "edge" for holeshot and planing abilities. Got any insight on this mod?

[Extremeboating]

What exactly is the problem with your hole shot? How far out of the water can you get the cavitation plate at WOT without the prop ventilating? The foil will hurt you if it contacts any water at speed but be a non issue if up and out of the water.If your boat wallows around on the hole shot,a foil will help that but too bad you need to drill holes to find out for sure.

I just want a faster holeshot. Current holeshot hits about 3400 RPM (confirmed today) in about 4.5-5 seconds plane time. I want to try and cut that down further. Current motor is a 60 HP and plenty powerful. Tops out at about 43.5 mph in wavy conditions, but once I get on it, with the livewell full or a buddy which weighs anywhere from 200-250 that time increases a little bit, so just trying to squeeze that last bit out of it before I call it good and am totally happy with the setup.

Here is a photo of full out plane. This is prior jack plate but you get the idea.

20210527_180627.jpg

[JOE54]

TIN BOATS ^^^^^^^+1

[LT4247]

Good advice!

Mercury loves to deny warranty claims when holes are drilled in their motor. Get the right prop. Find the right motor height. Most times, a foil is covering up an imperfect setup, out of whack load or underpowered rig.

[SilverFox579]

Interesting looking setup. It's like an entire piece of aluminum which has been welded to the hull. What does this accomplish exactly? I understand it basically gives you a "longer" hull, but I can't see an extra inch giving you that much more of an "edge" for holeshot and planing abilities. Got any insight on this mod?

In my case it's not a welded on piece it's actually the hull bottom extending beyond transom...

For MY boat (see my sig pic) there is no "holeshot". The extension can be used to trim boat in same manner as trim tabs but only for normal as loaded conditions. Yes, I have tweaked the "extension" to obtain desired result.

[Alex from GA]

In the past I've used a DoelFin for holeshot problems. None will give you more top speed.

[Extremeboating]

Hey guys great advice all around, so thanks for chiming in. I picked up an SE400 just because I figured what the heck and tried it out yesterday. Holeshot was crazy fast with two people, and loaded down with gear at about 4 seconds. Before it used to be 4.5-5 seconds just with me in it. Water conditions were absolutely horrid and tide was insanely low where I was at, so I didn't have a chance to really give it any top speed testing, but so far I'm liking the changes to it. It also managed to maintain my plane at a much lower necessary speed, where as before it was at about 25+ mph just to stay on plane.

I'll give another update when I get a chance to properly test it by myself to see where things are at. So far, so good though.

[JOE54]

good luck