Hydrafoil or not???

[Bohunter]

Anyone have any experience with hydrafoils? Are they worth the effort?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Are they worth the effort?

Nope,....

Hull mounted Tabs are Much, Much Better...

 

[dieselcat]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

IMO,it depends on what type of boat you are going to use it on?i have a 17 ft aluminum bass boat with an outboard motor. and the motor mounted 1n's work good for it,it allowed me to trim my motor up a little higher than before i put the stablizer on without hopping.i tried trim tabs before on another aluminum bass boat,which was a bass tracker and all the tabs did was make the front of the boat dig into the water to much.the tabs i bought where rated for 15-18 ft boat if i remember right and mine was a 16ft.anyway,this is just my experience not facts..Hope this helps

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Get'm QC

 

[Ret USN CPO]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

I've had both a whale tail and smart tabs. The whale tail made handling of my boat very unstable, almost to the extent that it was dangerous. I have since installed the smart tabs and I love them. They have really changed the handling and performance of my boat. Of course I would guess that a lot of which you use would depend on your particular application. A little more info on your boat would be helpful.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Trim tab explaination


look at it this way. if you want to lift the stern of your boat, do you lift from the center top, (that is what foils do) or do you lift from the sides and the bottom of the transom. foils add extreme pressure on the transom mount of the motor, which it was not designed to handle, making steering harder, more wear and tear.

tabs lift where the lift is suppose to be. at the bottom of the transom.

what is smart about Smart Tabs, is they are self adjustable, it you like gadgets to mess with and maintain, get some bennett or lenco tabs

 

[drewmitch44]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Not

 

[45Auto]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

I'd say it depends on the boat. I don't claim to know the hydrodynamics of every hull/motor/weight combo out there. But I CAN tell you that it worked for me.

I had an 18' Bayliner with a 120HP outboard. A hydrofoil on that boat was the best thing I ever did. It made it pop onto plane immediately instead of struggling to plane, and it could hold plane at much lower speed, which was nice for the younger kids on wakeboards, skis, etc. Had no handling issues whatsoever with it. Worked great for the 7 years I owned the boat, still working great for the guy that bought it. Hydrofoil has been on it 9 years now.

Never tried the Smarttabs but everyone seems real happy with them.

I wouldn't worry about excess load on the transom. When the hydrofoil is in the water the boat is going slow, below planing speed, so it can only generate a little lift, much less than the transom sees without a hydrofoil and the boat on full plane. Once it's on plane the hydrofoil should be on the surface and not generating any load at all.

Worst thing that will happen is that you don't like it, you sell it for half what you paid for it, and you have 4 holes in your cavitation plate to fill with epoxy and paint.

 

[QC]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Get'm QC

LOL . . . I'm mellowing some, so I'll leave this one

I will mention that it sounds like the OPs original experience may have been Smart Tabs and I am guessing the rams were too high of pressure (intended for bigger boat) This points out the oft noted problem with Smart Tabs vs. Helm Adjustable, is that you cannot get them out of the way easily when you want/need to. However, the thought of helm adjustables on a 17 foot aluminum boat seems a little silly . . .

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Since this question comes up every week there should be a sticky with "Facts" for each one. Tabs and fins (foils) are totally different products designed to do different things, comparing them is unfair to both.

I don't love or hate either one, they're just tools to help the performance of a boat "if needed", if you don't need what either one may offer then it will be a waste of money and may hurt performance.

Both need to be set up correctly to be of any value, the bolt it on and go crowd (most boaters) will not be getting all they can out of either one, and again, performance may be worse than without it.

The issues that most boaters are looking for help with are better served by tabs, people frequently think the two products (tools) are interchangeable, they aren't, no more than a hammer and crescent wrench are interchangeable.

 

[rs2k]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Come on now, who here hasn't used a crescent wrench as a hammer?

 

[QC]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

a crescent wrench

Are you referring to an open end adjustable wrench? If so, that's a damn good hammer. Especially the flat side . . .

 

[180shabah]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

the larger ones make good prybars too...

 

[blouderback]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

You get what you payfor. Hydrofoils are only about $49, and they are worth it. I put one on an 18 footer with a Mercrusier 3.0L, and it defintely imporved hole shot and allowed me to plane at slower speeds. I had no ill effects.

 

[Jdeagro]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Dieselcat;
I think OC is correct, you must have had our Smart Tabs and any one of four things could have caused your bow down attitude. First understand that excessive stern lift drives the bow down.
1) You may have had a set with actuators that were too much for your boat.
2) you may have had the adjustment set for too much pressure.
3) you may have not trimmed the motor out enough.
4) you may have had a hydrofoil on the motor in addition to the Smart Tabs. this is a real No-No.

In any event, if the boat seems to run bow down, or is not a fast as it was before installing Smart Tabs, it simply means that you are lifting the stern too much when on plain. any one of the above or combination whould cause this. It should be correctable in a few minutes. If you have actuators that a too much more than you need we will exchange them.

In closing, never hesitate to call us!

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Are you referring to an open end adjustable wrench? If so, that's a damn good hammer. Especially the flat side . . .

Yes, and that's what I was getting at. It will work as a hammer and in my hands the result is about the same with either one (broken things). The problem is people buying the crescent wrench thinking its supposed to be used as a hammer, then complaining it doesn't work as a well as a real hammer. The idea is to use each tool for it's intended use.

 

[180shabah]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

...Hydrofoils are only about $49, and they are worth it...

...'till the stern lifts in a turn.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

...'till the stern lifts in a turn.

This only happens on some hull/motor/outdrive or O/B combos and is a sign of poor settup or wrong style fin. It's not a universal rule that applies to all applications.

It's no different than what Dieselcat said, saying tabs pushed the bow down so they don't work well, it's all in the set up.

 

[Cap'n Pugwash]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Are you referring to an open end adjustable wrench? If so, that's a damn good hammer. Especially the flat side . . .

Metric adjustables are better than imperial adjustables. Now if I could just find some adjustable allens.

 

[QC]

Re: Hydrafoil or not???

Metric adjustables are better than imperial adjustables.

Define better . . . I find them fairly similar at hammering. Oddly enough, I have noticed a slight benefit to using a Metric Adjustable on Imperial nails, but pretty dern close.