Which Hydofoil?

[Dedeye]

I see there are a lot of different hydrofoils on the market. I am looking at putting one on a Yamaha 150 (new), what have you guys had luck with? Are the more expensive ones worth the money?

[propmann]

Originally Posted by Dedeye

I see there are a lot of different hydrofoils on the market. I am looking at putting one on a Yamaha 150 (new), what have you guys had luck with? Are the more expensive ones worth the money?

Start with trying to get the right prop.

[rebs]

I have never been a fan of the hydrofoils. There are I am sure people that like them, but I have always felt that if you need one then your boat setup isn't right

[TravisC]

I ran a se-sport fin on a couple boats worked great.

[Javelin360]

I have had a couple of boats and the SE Sport worked great. However, I would examine your prop situation also. Don't invest in the fins that don't require drilling as they fall off.

[Phil T]

Bass&WalleyeBoats ran a number of comparisons of hydrofoils over the years. All worked, the differences were actually minor. I've had, I think, three different brands, and the DoelFin I have now has proved to be the most durable. The other two brands became brittle and broke after 2 or 3 years. The DoelFin was also the cheapest, I bought it during a mid-summer sale at KMart for around $25 (years ago).

[staylor]

...and I've run one on my Starcraft since 2003. I went to the foils only after trying a bunch of props to make sure that I couldn't fix my 23 mph minimum planing speed any other way- a 150 Opti on a 17 footer is a lot of weight to drag around. With the SE foil planing speed came way down, to 17 mph which was a huge improvement. I gained 1/2 to 1 mph top speed with the foil- which enabled me to run at optimum trim at top end. Note that my motor is up 3 holes- propshaft centerline is about 4.5 inches below the bottom, so the foil is out of the water once on plane. If your motor is flat on the transom and the foil is big- like a Doel Fin, you may lose some speed.
Doug