Anyone have a hydrofoil for their motors?

[buddha]

Any one have or ever use one of these on their boats. I have a 200 and just curious if it helps with gas, take off etc. I don't need to add any top end speed but I know that it can. Any advice is appreciated.

[BoxMN]

We have one on a 50hp that doesn't have trim. It is on our duck boat. It does add stability and lets us have sort of the best of both worlds when load changes (decoys, dogs, etc.) without trim.

But on a 200 hp, if you think you need one I would suggest you need to look at getting the best prop for what you want to do, rather than a foil. A 200 should not need one if propped correctly. And they will slow you down on the top end, just the nature of them. They are generally used when folks can't get a good enough hole shot, and the correct prop usually is the answer there.

I am no expert, but tested plenty of props on 50 thru 150 hp two strokes. Good luck.

[buddha]

I have a stainless prop on the motor, never really looked into if it is the best one for it or not. The guy I bought the boat from is a big walleye guy and seemed to have everything set up the right way. Thanks for the info.

[BoxMN]

Just curious, what boat make/model and motor? I.e. 2 stroke, 4 stroke, etc. Also, what is the brand/model and pitch of the prop? Also what rpms are you getting when going wide open throttle? Speed doesn't matter, it all depends on rpm.

Are you just looking for faster hole shot, or slower planing speeds? I could give you tips if it is mercury 2 stroke, but I don't know the 4 strokes at all.

In general, if it is fishing/walleye boat, the Lasers will stink, regardless of what some might tell you. They are for bass boats. The High-5 is a great prop, only drawback is slightly slower top end and lack of reverse power. The Tempest is a great prop for all around. I don't know the newest models though. We use a Tempest 19" on our merc150efi on alum boat an dit works about perfect. With a 200 a 21" might be good depending upon the hull, or maybe a 21" high 5 if you want better hole shot or slower planing speed. We had a 21" high 5 for years it was great, smoooooooth and responsive. The Tempest just goes a bit faster and has better reverse.

[dfv87]

I had a foil on my last boat and added one to my current boat last year. I feel I get quicker plane and higher plane as the front end lifts more. I have heard tabs on the trnasom work even better but I haven't used them.

[Finlander]

They stop your prop from air cavitation that sucks in air especially when your are turning at a higher speed.

[GBPackerNut]

I had one for awhile on another boat, it didnt do much for me, in fact it slowed the boat down by about 5 Mph.

[opsirc]

have one on a 40hp, not sure it helps.

[gregg52]

buy an e-tec lots of power i can see over the bow of my boat at all times and its 20 ft glass boat with a 150

sounds to me you a little under powered

i cant believe that thing add top end it has to create drag

i would think

[Neighbor_guy]

I had one on a 35hp tiller and it definatly made a differance. Quicker to plane and eliminated all porpoising. But like was said above, it was on a boat with no trim.

I think hydofoil's make the biggest differences on smaller motors, but I am not sure what they do for the bigger motors with trim and all that.

[Burbot]

I worked at a place in Alaska that had Dolefin on a Jet Stream Boat; it did nothing positive for porpus. Have you tried using your power trim??

[fishnowworknever]

are there different sizes of hydrofoils?

I picked up a set and they look HUGE on my little 20. It takes a while for me to get on plane, and if I have another person with me, it's a PITA.

Hoping these will cure some of the downfalls.

[Sam Sterner]

We got one on a 120 on our Nitro boat. Made a world of differnce getting to plane. Night and day from before with a loaded down boat.

[Grainbelter]

I have a 14' with a 25 and it makes an absolute world of difference getting on plane and also with porposing. Watch out though if you have trolling motor on back though, those fins stick out a little!!!

[marine_man]

In my humble opinion, they work well on smaller hp motors that are slightly undersized for the size of boat / or load carried in the boat - small being 25 - 50 or 60...

Once you get over that, more often than not, a propping change (to get the motor running where it should be) will produce better results than a hydrofoil / whale tale / fin / etc.

At a minimum, a propping change will get you running where you should be for RPM's.

marine_man

[Surface Tension]

I have one on a 16 fter with a 40 hp.

Never had a problem planing out without the fin. With the fin I can get on plane easily with very heavy loads.

What I especially like is it keeps the boat on plane at slower speeds.

So instead of falling off plane when coming in slow or around traffic I can stay on plane. That isn't a underpower issue, its asking a boat to stay up when the law of physics won't let it without a fin.

When trimming you use the angle of props thrust to get the attitude your looking for. Not only does the fin add lift but when trimmed the planing surface aids in the direction of thrust.

End result trimmed less with more direct forward thrust.

Still, having something extra sticking in the water is going to create drag. Unless your underpowered it is going to take away the top end.

In a nutshell, a fin is great for an underpowered boat.

Or the fin is great if your looking for boat handling at slower speeds and don't care about running around at WOT and getting a couple extra mph.

[DTro]

I installed mine for the same reason as Surface Tension.

My 14ft boat with 25hp gets up on plane much faster with fin and I’m able to stay on plane at a much slower speed. This isn’t a big deal for most boats out on a lake, but for running the river at night like I do I wanted another choice between 20mph or idle to be on plane.

I lost about 2mph at the top end.

[kitchy]

I just put on a SE Sport 200 hydrofoil and it works great for my setup. I have a 16' Lund Rebel. Origianlly it had a 25HP 2 stroke and I recently changed to a 30HP 4 stroke. The extra weight of the motor caused some issues. Plus I removed my bow mount troller and battery. When I was by myself I could not get up on plane at all. It would just plow through the water. Did a test run tonight with the hydrofoil and I was on plane very quick.

[Dahitman44]

I had one on my old 16.5 CS 'craft. Had a 96 60hp evinrude on it and had the foil added to it. I saw a difference and I would do it again if I still had a medium to small boat and motor -- for sure.

Hit