hydro foil

[BroadwayBill]

Originally Posted by BW

Outboards do not have the ability to change gears like a vehicle, so yes the prop is the most important part of the setup. Every motor/boat combination is different so you have to adjust for whatever you are running. Many people are upset when they buy a boat and it doesn't perform well due to the wrong prop being put on by a dealer. You need to have the correct prop on for your application first. If you have trouble planing, porpoising, etc. than a hydrofoil may help. The majority of guys posting are running smaller boats with smaller HP, so that is probably the market for the hydrofoil. My point earlier is that I would be a little more than upset to by a $50K Ranger with a four stroke and have to put a hydrofoil on it because the motor doesn't perform as well........

BW,

I cant really say that I can place blame for the issue that I had with my boat. You see I wasn't upset with the performance of the 4 stroke motor on my boat in general. I thought my hole shot was descent with a full load and live well and my top speed was about 54-55 with full load. The problem I had was with porpoising at slower speeds without any trim in the motor. Obviously a result of the weight dispersion in the boat and it was worse with a full live well. Is that the fault of the heavier motor or of the design flaw from Ranger that were not accommodating for the extra weight of the newer 4 stroke motors at that time? I have talked with guys who ran the same exact setup and they had bad problems with their hole shot. You would think that each boat that the manufacture makes would perform identically. I was told that because each Ranger has the fiberglass blow on by a human that you may notice different weight dispersion based on the amount of spray applied. I can really tell running my boat now with the hydrofoil that the back of my boat rides much higher at full tilt. I think if I wanted to I could probably re-prop at this point and reach speeds that run with many two strokes that I fish with but I am not that mad at the fish anymore that I need the extra speed.

Thanks for your comments earlier as well.
Hope you have a great year on the water.

Bill

[BW]

I think Yamaha is making leaps and bounds in the market now! I am curious to see how the new offshore motors turn out? They are getting just as light as the 2 strokes now and with the benefit of a four stroke. I think with their hand in the other powersports like motorcycles and snowmobiles, they have had an advantage in getting their four strokes ahead of the rest of the market.

Glad your boat is running better now anyway! Good luck fishing.....went out today and the water is way cold for this time of year!! Oh well, a day on the water is better than a day at work!!

[Superfishman186]

Got to test out the cobra edge foil i put on this Saturday at Lake Mi and
Now the trim actually has an effect, I can raise and lower the bow at will, before the foil I would look at the smartcraft trim screen to make sure the motor was trimming because it had no effect on the boat. I can plane down to about 15 now, before 21-22. I now can travel at speeds between no wake and planning without being blinded by the bow up in the air. My top speed didn't go down I was actually able to just hit 46 now, so maybe a 1mph increase. At top speed and high trim the foil/plate is still under maybe an inch so I guess i could move it up but I'm not in a hurry since I have no more handling problems. Best $69 ever spent. It seems from the info I have read on here and by talking to others that a foil will mostly help boats that are overall light but have relatively heavy sterns, It seems boats like that just need a larger cave plate to help control the unbalanced boat, Just like a bigger airplane needs bigger wings, a lighter airplane needs smaller wings. I don't see a reason not to have one.

[stanlh]

Why do some see adding a hydrofoil as a bandaid? I used one on my old boat, crestliner v170 phantom with evinrude 120 and 13x19 prop, the set up the dealer put together, and the boat worked great with it. got on plain faster and handled better. No prop change was going to produce that result and adding trim tabs vs. a hydrofoil was a no brainer, hydrofoil is much cheaper.
Why do they work? I am not an engineer, but it occurs to me the proximity of the hydrofoil surfaces in relation to the propeller have something to do with it. They work.

[EyeKing]

I put one on. My 02 starcatft superfisherman 176. Handle like a completely different boat. I could go much faster into the walleye chop than I could without it. Rode a lot smoother. In my case it was night and day differece. Only lost about 2mph top end. But gained a far better ride. My buddy made mine.

[staylor]

Originally Posted by EyeKing

I put one on. My 02 starcatft superfisherman 176. Handle like a completely different boat. I could go much faster into the walleye chop than I could without it. Rode a lot smoother. In my case it was night and day differece. Only lost about 2mph top end. But gained a far better ride. My buddy made mine.

In my case- '02 Superfisherman SF176-SC w/150 Opti I have the motor lifted 3 holes off the transom, so the SE300 foil I use is out of the water at speed. I did not lose top end- and probably have gained 1 mph or so with the foil. I bought the foil to reduce minimum planing speed- and I dropped this from 22-23 mph down to 16-17 mph. This greatly helps in rough water.
Doug

[Dave in Walker]

I put a edge on my 618T with the 90 Suzuki, lost 1 or 2 mph maybe, put plane way slower. I believe 18 foot glass tillers with 90's on them suffer from being underpowered with full loads. Top speed does not concern me, being on plane does

[KTurner]

Originally Posted by Dave in Walker

I put a edge on my 618T with the 90 Suzuki, lost 1 or 2 mph maybe, put plane way slower. I believe 18 foot glass tillers with 90's on them suffer from being underpowered with full loads. Top speed does not concern me, being on plane does

Dave - you might be painting with a rather broad brush above. My '04 618T powered with a 90 hp ETech with over 400 hours (one new starter) has no problem getting on plane and runs 33 - 36 GPS mph all day, every day.... Cross my fingers it continues....

As a general rule I think your statement is true but there are still exceptions....

Funny comment about training wheels. I owned one larger engine 4 stroke and until the technology advances I'll stick with ETech, Opti's and enjoy watching the advancement like Yammies, Off shore and Sho time and Mercs Verado technology.... Will be fun to see how the new 150 4 stroke Merc works out. The hype is great.

Now if only the coast guard rating formula would be re-assessed to see if the 18 ft tillers would be safe for a 115 hp or even 150 hp with power assist.

Good fishing!

[Dave in Walker]

KTurner, your right I was painting with a broad brush, mine will go 33 to 35 mph, stay on plane down to about 17 mph. I should have said generally speaking, etechs are lighter, how much I do not know. I have minor issues with porpoising, annoying but I can live with it. Maybe I should lose some weight!