I recently wrote about a repair to the transom of an old 14ft. aluminum boat, and wondered if a hydrofoil would reduce the strain from the '56 15hp Johnson I want to put on it. Well, it doesn't matter any more, as I have made a decision about the hydrofoil.
I need it. I need something, anyway - and I have the hydrofoil here. This video convinced me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0rIwfBbWQo&feature=channel_page
This depicts a test run of a mostly-restored 12ft. Gamefisher, with a 18hp. Johnson attached. Details can be found in the Restoration forum. The thing is, it shows all the things I don't want my boat to do when I'm in it by myself. The bow goes unnervingly high before the boat gets up to planing speed, and the driver has little, if any view of the water ahead of him. Once planing speed is reached, the boat porpoises its way across the water at high speeds, which has to be hard on both the boat and contents. There would be almost no control if caught out when the wind came up and you had to go into the wind to get where you needed to go. It can be fun for a little while for your boat to act like that, but it's anything but safe.
Now, admittedly my 14 footer with a 15 isn't as overpowered as this 12 footer with an 18, but the same thing is gonna happen unless I do something. It happened some before, with just a 9.5hp - it would be much worse with a 15. When I'm in my boat alone, the weight balance is necessarily in the back. Unless I put a couple of hundred pounds of ballast in the front, it can't be avoided. That isn't practical for me, so I must have another solution. There seems to be only two - trim tabs, or a hydrofoil. If I had a larger boat and motor, trim tabs would definitely be the way to go, but it would be an added expense, a bigger one than even a new hydrofoil would be. The hydrofoil works best on small boats and motors - like mine. It's also free, as I've had one on my 9.5 for years.
So, I'm taking the Stingray Jr. off my 9.5, and putting it on the 15. If it's too much for the repaired transom, I'll just have to put the 15 on my other boat - the one that's more uncomfortable when two want to fish from it, and put the '54 10hp from that boat, that also has a hydrofoil, on this one. But I think it's gonna work just fine with the 15.
I need it. I need something, anyway - and I have the hydrofoil here. This video convinced me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0rIwfBbWQo&feature=channel_page
This depicts a test run of a mostly-restored 12ft. Gamefisher, with a 18hp. Johnson attached. Details can be found in the Restoration forum. The thing is, it shows all the things I don't want my boat to do when I'm in it by myself. The bow goes unnervingly high before the boat gets up to planing speed, and the driver has little, if any view of the water ahead of him. Once planing speed is reached, the boat porpoises its way across the water at high speeds, which has to be hard on both the boat and contents. There would be almost no control if caught out when the wind came up and you had to go into the wind to get where you needed to go. It can be fun for a little while for your boat to act like that, but it's anything but safe.
Now, admittedly my 14 footer with a 15 isn't as overpowered as this 12 footer with an 18, but the same thing is gonna happen unless I do something. It happened some before, with just a 9.5hp - it would be much worse with a 15. When I'm in my boat alone, the weight balance is necessarily in the back. Unless I put a couple of hundred pounds of ballast in the front, it can't be avoided. That isn't practical for me, so I must have another solution. There seems to be only two - trim tabs, or a hydrofoil. If I had a larger boat and motor, trim tabs would definitely be the way to go, but it would be an added expense, a bigger one than even a new hydrofoil would be. The hydrofoil works best on small boats and motors - like mine. It's also free, as I've had one on my 9.5 for years.
So, I'm taking the Stingray Jr. off my 9.5, and putting it on the 15. If it's too much for the repaired transom, I'll just have to put the 15 on my other boat - the one that's more uncomfortable when two want to fish from it, and put the '54 10hp from that boat, that also has a hydrofoil, on this one. But I think it's gonna work just fine with the 15.
