hydrofoil ?

MIKEY*2007 · Nov 10, 2011

I have a 14 ft ski boat V hull with a 90 johnson on it it jumps up out the hole quite well and goes great till 3/4 throtle stearing wise but at wot she is almost a mack truk to turn I have a plastic hydrofoil fin (whitch is surposed to make steering easy) on motor why is steering so hard at WOT it is brand new steering and all loose and free I have trim on motor but makes no difference to stiffness by lowering or raising power trim any ideas also moving anode fin on motor does not help so put back to

centre, 20" shaft on 20" transom hanks in advance for any help.

Frank Acampora · Nov 10, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

G'day mate! Interesting to see numbers on the back half of the boat---but you Aussies are on the wrong half of the world anyway! LOL

Anyway, it is common for outboards to steer heavily at a particular speed and usually, trimming out will help this. But you already tried that. So: Have you tried raising the engine on the transom? Usually you can go at least an inch higher than the bottom before she starts to ventilate and that may help some. You would wnt to do it in stages and raise the engine until it starts to ventilate on turns but not on the straight. Then, in turns you trim in to stop ventilation.
The other options are expensive: No feedback helm or hydraulic steering and they may not help either.

Faztbullet · Nov 10, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

Take the "fins" off, that style are good for snapping cavation plate off..

chriscraft254 · Nov 10, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

Take the "fins" off and see if it still turns bad, then report back and let us know. Hydrofoils if still in the water while turning can cause the boat to basically plow into the turn. There not very good at adding performance steering to any rig, they are mainly for lift of the stern.

MIKEY*2007 · Nov 12, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

Thanks guys and yeah Frank we stand on our heads down under lol!!,seriously thou I try without fins first and see should not need them with this hp and power trim cheers.

JimS123 · Nov 12, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

Faztbullet said:
Take the "fins" off, that style are good for snapping cavation plate off..

Actually, there have been 8,453,296 fins sold and so far only 4 have snapped the anti-ventilation plates off. All four used brand "X", and the installers installed them incorrectly.

"That particular style" is the best made, and the least likely to pose problems because of its well engineered design.

halfmoa · Nov 12, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

JimS123 said:
Actually, there have been 8,453,296 fins sold and so far only 4 have snapped the anti-ventilation plates off. All four used brand "X", and the installers installed them incorrectly.

"That particular style" is the best made, and the least likely to pose problems because of its well engineered design.

Care to site a source on your stats?

chriscraft254 · Nov 12, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

JimS123 said:
Actually, there have been 8,453,296 fins sold and so far only 4 have snapped the anti-ventilation plates off. All four used brand "X", and the installers installed them incorrectly.

"That particular style" is the best made, and the least likely to pose problems because of its well engineered design.

Yeah, there were about 8 million thrown away. Haha:facepalm:

halfmoa · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

chriscraft254 said:
Yeah, there were about 8 million thrown away. Haha:facepalm:

LOL Every time I go through the 12 foot boating section at Walmart I can't help but notice all the hydro fin boxes are opened, poorly re packaged and taped shut. Pretty good indicator of how those fit I suppose. Universal!

79Merc80 · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

Interesting halfmoa:

The Wal Mart I work at doesn't have them on boxes, they are in a clear plastic container, hanging on 2 pegs. Which style is in a box?

Craig

halfmoa · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

I'd have to double check and get back to ya on that. I'm sure I saw they were "universal" though...can't imaging why something "universal" wouldn't fit.:facepalm:

Frank Acampora · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

We went through this in another earlier post: It isn't the Wal-Mart. It is The Wal-Marks as in: " Honey, I'm goin down to The Wal-Marks. Ya need anythin?"

joewithaboat · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

I grew up skiing behind boats that always had some type of fin, hydrofoil, etc. Some one piece some two, some on o/b some i/o. I don't see anyway in the world you could break a cavitation plate. Unless it already had a defect in it. I say this because we also used them as steps to enter the boat. At the time i weighed 220lbs. Maybe on a small o/b i guess???

All that being said now that Smart tabs are around i will probably never use any type of fins/foils again. I'm not a foil hater, they work OK, especially for the money. Smart Tabs are just better IMHO.

JimS123 · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

Ignore my TIC comment and develop your own statistics. Go to any marina, boatyard or summer campsite that has a lot of "trailer boats". Count the number of fins on OBs and I/Os - see what the percentage is. Look at those with kickers or cuddies in particular, in other words, transom heavy boats.

Tempo and Attwood (maybe even Perko as well, I don't remember) marketed trim tabs back in the 1980's - just after the first hydrofoil patent was issued. In case you haven't looked at a marine catalog or looked at their web sites recently, they don't sell them any more. Smartabs seems to be a better mousetrap, so my guess is they will be around for awhile. And of course, Bennett tabs make any boat better!

My point is that the consumer directs the marketplace. If tabs broke off AF plates all the time and they didn't live up to their claims (at least most of the time), they wouldn't have stayed in business for over 30 years.

Back into a dock post and hit it with your Smartab and I bet part of your transom might break off too.....LOL.

halfmoa · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

JimS123 said:
Ignore my TIC comment and develop your own statistics. Go to any marina, boatyard or summer campsite that has a lot of "trailer boats". Count the number of fins on OBs and I/Os - see what the percentage is. Look at those with kickers or cuddies in particular, in other words, transom heavy boats.

Tempo and Attwood (maybe even Perko as well, I don't remember) marketed trim tabs back in the 1980's - just after the first hydrofoil patent was issued. In case you haven't looked at a marine catalog or looked at their web sites recently, they don't sell them any more. Smartabs seems to be a better mousetrap, so my guess is they will be around for awhile. And of course, Bennett tabs make any boat better!

My point is that the consumer directs the marketplace. If tabs broke off AF plates all the time and they didn't live up to their claims (at least most of the time), they wouldn't have stayed in business for over 30 years.

Back into a dock post and hit it with your Smartab and I bet part of your transom might break off too.....LOL.

I was just givin' ya a hard time...and wondered it there was some sort of "purchase vs discard" official number there. I see them mounted from time to time and those guys really like them. It's a lot harder to see the guys who drilled into their cav plate and wished they didnt!

JimS123 · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

halfmoa said:
It's a lot harder to see the guys who drilled into their cav plate and wished they didnt!

I've had DoelFins on 7 boats now. One has stood the test of time for 28 seasons and 1200+ hours. Only took them off of one boat, and that was a little tinny that was way overpowered. I didn't need it thru the first 3 motors I had on her, then tried to correct a problem only to find out that the root cause was the size of the motor.

The other six (4 of which we still own) have benefitted tremendously. How do you say "sliced bread".

The holes I drilled into that one motor didn't bother me a bit. But if I had drilled the 12 tab holes in my transom and didn't seal them right and my transom rotted.....well then I would be the one wishin.

halfmoa · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

Well....secretly....I've been wondering if I wouldn't benefit from a hydrofoil too!

The foil/smart tab argument is almost as bad as Ford/Chevy/Mopar!

Speed is money...how fast do you want to go??!!??!!

chriscraft254 · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

[/QUOTE] The holes I drilled into that one motor didn't bother me a bit. But if I had drilled the 12 tab holes in my transom and didn't seal them right and my transom rotted.....well then I would be the one wishin.[/QUOTE]

Damn, I better run out and get a foil quik, maybe it will help my boat get on plane fast when it starts to sink from all the holes I've drilled in my transom.

Two under water lights - 6 holes
Two transducers - 4 holes
Two smart tabs w/brackets - 22 holes
One speedo pitot - 3 holes
One outdrive - 1 very large hole
4 swim platform brackets - 24 holes

For those keeping count, thats a total of 60 holes in my transom. I'm really concerned, JimS, can you tell me how to properly fill those holes so my transom doesn't fall off? :facepalm:

Good thing I got those smart tabs, because compared to a hydrofoil my boat will ride higher out of the water, keeping it a little drier,lol

ondarvr · Nov 13, 2011

Re: hydrofoil ?

The foil may or may not have anything to do with your stiff steering, take it off and see, might take 5 minutes.

As for whether you may benefit from a foil, that's only maybe, you need to set it up correctly for it to even have a chance of working though.

hydrofoil ?

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