Re: Does a Hydrofoil make sense on a Pontoon?
Just curious if having a hydrofoil would have any benefit to a pontoon? Perhaps this has already been discussed?
From my own experience, definitely!
The whole reason I ended up on this site is from my search to find out if I could get the kit that my dad had on his 24-foot pontoon boat when I was a kid (back in the '80s). I wouldn't want a pontoon boat without it.
The pontoons had welded aluminum triangle "wings" on each side of each pontoon, running all the way back. With a 90 HP motor, we could pull two skiers or one of those multi-person tubes. It acted like a standard pontoon boat until it hit a certain speed and then it would suddenly jump out of the water and skip along like a bass boat. The only down side was that you felt every little bump as though someone was using a sledge-hammer under the seats, so it was better to run through smooth water.
I've looked for a few years and haven't found anything like it, just some kind of third pontoon add-on in the middle. I thought I remembered my dad saying that it was called a "go-fast kit" that was installed by a custom boat shop somewhere in metro Phoenix. Whoever did it, did a great job, since the aluminum welds looked perfect. I really wish I had that boat now.
