Beware, Stingray Hydrofoil.....

[roozterdvx]

Previous owner had installed a Stingray hydrofoil. I'm not a fan of these things but didn't feel the need to remove it until...
I found a crack in the anti-cav. plate and after further inspection, a chunk of the plate was completely broken off on one side, and only held on by the hydrofoil bolt that went through it, and bent up on the other side due to the force applied!
I removed the foil , prepped and welded the section of plate back on, and then reinforced the anti-cav. plate with a piece of 1/4" thick x 1" wide aluminum bar bolted on using the holes for the hydrofoil.
The boat has hyd. trim tabs, and although it got on plane a little quicker with the foil, I don't understand why the P/O installed the POS foil.

 

[gss036]

Re: Beware, Stingray Hydrofoil.....

I don't think that had much to do with the brand of hydrofoil, but the fact that somewhere along the line the boat probably ran over a rather large object and the hydroil was hit at it came free from under the hull. Just my take, I have run a Stingray for the last 18 years on my boat. There is a couple of dings in it and I know they came from small piece of wood that you don't see when traveling in choppy water.

 

[Bigjohn1]

Re: Beware, Stingray Hydrofoil.....

By the looks of your boat picture, it appears your boat is a c/c fishing boat. You know then how these foils can help greatly at being able to troll at lower speeds and remain on plane at these lower speeds, thereby saving fuel. In some applications, these foil devices work really well, it just depends on what type of boating you do. Some will say things like,

?If outboards needed these devices, the manufacturers would have bolted them on at the factory of shaped the skeg differently.? This type of one-size-fits-all thinking is narrow-minded; some types of boating can benefit greatly from foil devices, and in other applications, they are a waste of time and can even hinder performance to a small extent.

 

[JB]

Re: Beware, Stingray Hydrofoil.....

Two piece hydrofoils place a lot of stress on the antiventilation plate.

Rigid, one piece foils are much safer. Example, SE Sport 300.

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Beware, Stingray Hydrofoil.....

QC will love this post. Good point about the two piece foil. I never thought about that before.

 

[BillP]

Re: Beware, Stingray Hydrofoil.....

Somebody probably used it as a boarding ladder. Getting struck by lightning is way more of a problem than fins breaking motors.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Beware, Stingray Hydrofoil.....

I always thought that the AV plate was not designed to be a "wing" and therefore never considered a whale's tail. If I wanted to remain on plane down at 9-10 mph, I'd use trim tabs screwed/bolted to the transom.

However......this is the first time I read where someone had a structural problem as a result of using them; but I don't get around and hear things much.

Mark