Re: Hydrofoil's are they any good
Bill P;<br /><br />I am truly appreciative that you have taken the time to address many of the concerns that potential customers must have. Why? Because it gives me, first hand, the issues that I may otherwise not think to cover. No Bull! Thanks!<br /><br />First, Our company is not large enough to spend much money on advertising and if you check the magazines it will be apparent. I won't debate the motivation behind editorials, but I will concede that editors are looking for products that can benefit the consumer ( that is their purpose) and if they think it won't they simply ignore it altogether. They are not supposed to be a consumer watch group.<br /><br />Next; I am aware of most of the other "automatic' tabs, simply because we needed to address them when we applied for the patent. Olson was one that used a coil spring, and ultimately failed for some very good reasons which you correctly addressed. Smart Tabs (by the way I personally dislike the name) are different in a number of ways which produce significantly different results. I will address that for you in a second.<br /><br />The issue of actual size or surface area has two points. There are a number of foils that are quite large, and will provide more lift. However; Trim tabs, when deployed, attack the water more aggressively in the early stages of acceleration. We provide a total five different tab sizes and designs which are proportionate to the boat size.<br /><br />With regard to hydraulic or electric helm controlled tabs, you are correct when you say that you will have more attitude control. This is exactly why we have not made larger tabs for the larger boats. <br /><br />Let me give you our point of view! <br /><br />Reason #1: As the boat gets longer in length they usually get wider. The wider the boat the more difficult it is to control port to starboard attitude. To the degree that in some situations you may find it necessary to deploy one tab completely while bringing the other all the way up. We can not do this, and therefore will not make tabs for larger boats. <br /><br />The smaller, narrower, and lighter boats are easier to control (port to starboard) and we do this very well by maintaining a regulated pressure. However, if you have a 450 Lb. cousin with two cases of beer who insist on sitting on the far port side, hydraulic or electric tabs will correct the list better if the tab plate is large enough.<br /><br />#2) We find that the smaller boat owner uses his boat differently than the owner of a 25 to 30 foot boat. These smaller boats are not destination boats, they are fun sport boats. Consequently the driver has more to do, such as watching the skier behind him or holding the rod while trolling. The active / automatic feature of Smart Tabs is a distinct advantage.<br /><br />#3 They are safe! When manually controlled trim tabs are used on a 30 ft sedan with twin inboards, the potential for severe handling problems from misuse is less. For example: this 11,000 Lb.. boat will likely have a cruising speed of 22 to 25 MPH. It's heavy, it draws a lot of water, and it is slow. If someone make the mistake of deploying one trim tab (when not necessary) the boat will list hard and steer hard to the list side. Drinks will go on the floor, and it will be uncomfortable, but easy enough to correct without a crisis.<br /><br />Apply the same situation to a 19 ft boat that weighs in at 2500 lb., and runs 40 mph+. You have a very different story. People can go into the water in a flash. How likely is it, well when your towing the skier and/or allowing the 7 yr. old to help "drive" the boat, the odds go up.<br />Besides cost this is one of the biggest reasons the small boat manufacturer refrains from offering manual trim tabs on these smaller boats.<br /><br />What makes our product new or different? How do Smart Tabs differ from the Olsen spring loaded product or the plastic plate that flexes?<br /><br />In both cases the Olsen and Tempo products increase in resistance to compression (or flexing) the more they are compressed. Obviously you can design a special shaped coil spring to be linear in resistance to compression, but they did not.<br />The effect was that the lift pressure increased the faster the boat went - exactly what you do not want. Once the boat is on plane the pressure should be reduced. <br /><br />Additionally; There was no way to control the resistance ( pressure ), "what you got is what you get". It was too much for some boats, not enough for others, and on occasions ( depending on load) OK for some.<br /><br />And lastly, the Olson tabs reacted instantly to every change in water pressure. Not good, especially if the boat leaves the water and the tabs slam down and create breaks on reentry.<br /><br />How do we address this?<br /><br />The nitrogen gas actuator comes in varying pressures and we match them to the predicted load they are likely to lift. <br /><br />Next the pressure can be regulated (adjusted) by the customer to fine tune it to his boat. Example. a torque list can be eliminated by increasing the pressure on the port side and reducing the pressure on the starboard side.<br /><br />And finally, the pressure is reduced once the tabs are up and the boat is on plane at running speeds. Here is how! The actuator has no spring, it is filed with nitrogen gas and a small amount of lubricant. Both have a function. The pressure in regulated by the transfer of gasses from one side of the piston to the other through a small valve. By regulating the size of the valve hole, the resistance (load required) to compression is more (the valve can also act as a restrictor) than the load required to maintain the compressed state (position). In short what happens is that as the boat is accelerating to plane the tabs are held down with more force than when the are up (retracted) and the boat is cruising on plane.<br /><br />The oil is used for both internal lubrication and to dampen the movement so that it does not react to every minor change in water pressure. <br /><br />This control of the pressure allows for more lift at slow speeds, and a regulated lift at cruising speeds. Since the pressure at cruise speeds is reduced and regulated, the bow down issue is not an issue in either flat or following seas. With the tilt trim on the motor, the bow angle can still be changes because the pressure of the tabs is controlled to a lower level.<br /><br />One side note: Tracking through waves or wakes at an angle is also improved because the plates will control the attitude (automatically) port to starboard as well as bow to stern.<br /><br />Again Thank You for the opportunity to address concerns that May not have been addressed.
