Does A Hydrofoil/Planing Fins Increase The Height Of The Wake?

[tybouff]

Greetings,

I am a wakeboarder and I am wondering how I can improve the size of my wake? I have a 19ft Bayliner Cobra with a 150 hp Force outboard. The boat throws a decent wake when I trim the engine up, but I want more. Would adding a hydrofoil or planing fins increase the size of the wake? What other things could I do besides using fat sacks (no room in the boat)? Thanks in advance for your tips and advice. Regards,

 

[86 century]

Re: Does A Hydrofoil/Planing Fins Increase The Height Of The Wake?

The fin will ad surface area the boat will ride higher making the wake smaller.

About the only way to make the wake bigger is more weight.
The heavier the boat it displaces more bigger wake.


Malibu boats have a wedge that swings down kinda like a hydrofoil working in reverse(pulling down instead of lifting)seams to work ok maybe a bit hard to do on an outboard ride.

 

[Silly Seville]

Re: Does A Hydrofoil/Planing Fins Increase The Height Of The Wake?

86 Century is absolutely correct. For a boat to make a "Yo Dude, surf's up!" wake, it must have its transom dug deep into the water. This is contrary to the way most boats are designed to operate. Sucks gas, makes visibility poor, and makes everyone around you miserable! (Except jet fleas!) As you already know, a wakeboard boat is laden with giant waterbags to make it sit ridiculously low in the water to churn up a wake. That is why dedicated wakeboarding boats need huge engines to get the damn thing out of the hole and up to a decent speed for watersports. Your Bayliner was never designed for this type of activity. I would recommend the proper boat if you want to be a serious boarder...or just be happy with your current rig. You're not going to turn that thing into a Moomba with fins, fatsacks or anything else.

 

[capecodtodd]

Re: Does A Hydrofoil/Planing Fins Increase The Height Of The Wake?

I used to have the same issue with my boat when I wanted to kneeboard and catch big air but I couldn't afford anything fancy to make the boat heavier besides a fatsack...... which is another word for friend! LOL if you have the room toss another friend in the boat and depending on the size of him or her you could be adding another 150-250+ lbs to your boat.
Have them sit in the back and you will notice the bigger wake.

 

[tybouff]

Re: Does A Hydrofoil/Planing Fins Increase The Height Of The Wake?

Thanks everyone for your advice! I guess I will just have to be happy with what I have and save up for a $30,000 boat. Regards,