Hydrofoils for boats?

[woody1975]

Last night I was looking at the Overtons Catalog and was looking at the Hydrofoils they have for sale.

Can anybody tell me if these are worth the money in there opinion?

I have a 16.5' Alumacraft with a 75 hp Merc. Is this something I should consider putting on this motor?

My boat comes out of the hole a little slow, but it gets on plane relatively quick after that.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thank You,

DL

[Valv]

Do a search for this, it's a common issue that comes op often. Some love it some don't.

[marine_man]

IMHO, Hydrofoils are a bandaid for an mis-propped boat when you get above 50 hp or so.

Not that there's anything wrong with them, but there are other ways to fix the issue usually on larger motors.

marine_man

[boatfixer]

First thing to figure out is if the the motor is set up properly (proped right) and the weight distribution in the boat. What are maxing out on RPM's?

[woody1975]

Looks like I am going to need to do my homework, but if I am remembering right, it was somewhere around 4000 rpms on top end. (Last year seems like a long time ago)

DL

[boatfixer]

Too low. What engine do you have? I know you will need to be somewhere around 5000 though.

[marine_man]

Way too low.. which would explain why you're having a difficult time getting on plane. Provide your motor information, boat information, and if possible, the pitch of your prop and we'll see what kind of changes you could make to improve the situation.

marine_man

[woody1975]

The boat is coming home this afternoon. When I get off of work, I will take a look at it. But for now, it is a 1994 16.5' Alumacraft Dominator w/ a 1995 Mercury 75 HP 2 stroke.

I appreciate the help!

[VMS]

I would agree with the above posts...

What a hydrofoil is primarily for are those boats that are under-powered or are continually pushing heavy loads. The addition of the foil allows the boat to plane easier and stay there so long as the foil is in the water.

For your rig, no foil should be needed since you should be at (or quite close) to your boat's maximum HP rating.

As has been mentioned, a set-up issue seems to be more of what you have, and a foil will only mask that issue. To be honest, if your boat has a slow hole shot, a drop in pitch by 2 inches (potentially more if your stated RPM's are correct). Each in of pitch is roughly equivalent to (up to) 200 RPM. Go down in pitch, RPMs up, and vice versa. I would start there first and see how your boat performs when it gets into optimum RPM range (which I am guessing somewhere around 5300 to 5500 RPM)

From there, you have lots of options...moving motor up off the transom, steel prop potential, etc. It can be fun, but some find it intimidating and "putzy"...

Something to consider, though..

Steve

[Farley]

When I was younger and into water skiing, we put a hydrofoil on a little glasstron ski boat. It definetly got me up and out of the water faster and it did shrink the wake which made it easier to cross when slalom skiing. But like stated above, just changing the prop pitch could give you what you're looking for.