Barab Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Hi All, Beautiful weather at the moment here on the Hawksbury. Long story short...ish...As my very old Nautiglass 150 sits low at the back in the water, I heard through all the "experts" at work....that a hydrofoil would solve the issue...raise the stern and lower the bow ! Of course I goggled all the gossip, cost and sizes etc and found a huge dilemma. Do I really need one ? I bought one from e-bay $40 (40hp motor) and tried it out. Just me in boat with three young kids. All seemed fine then I noticed steering v heavy....ok because now I'm turning the foil mounted on the motor not just the motor so it heavier so to speak in the water. Next thing I listened to the engine and it seemed to be struggling more.....couldn't explain that as these foils are meant to save fuel! It seemed to plane quicker but for some reason It didn't seem right, didn 't seem as comfy/safe. Another issue was stability. I found going through wash (head on and not fast) that the foil really cut into the wave and jolted the boat. As I have kids that scared me a bit...and them too...😅 So there you go...yes up on plane, not as stable, used more fuel, strain on motor. I was thinking also that outboard manufacturers don't really want add ons on their precision outboards anyway.....or maybe they do. I took hydrofoil off and might try another model perhaps as suggested....maybe thats the answer but I can t really afford to buy the all till one suits...he..he.. Any ideas, advice, did I mount upside down ?????? Appreciate responses...understandably maybe = some foils probably work on some hulls/motors and not others. Thanks Barab...😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Hi Welcome aboard. Huett Marine is just up the road. Great guys if you really get stuck. But hang on a expert on the Forum is bound to see your problem and fix it. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barab Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Cheers Rebel.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingfishbig Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 We need more detail eg what HP is your outboard? How big is the boat? What is the make and model of the foil? Perhaps it is too big for your boat and provides too much lift but we have no way of knowing without some details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) This is my thread from 2016. I didn't get one & then wasn't forced to drilling holes into my motor to fit which I think will decrease its resale value dramatically? I just worked on getting my weight distribution more forward to suit the functionality of my hull. That being said I go solo in my 13.9ft ally tinny most of the time so it made sense to just move as much weight as possible forward. The boat never had a problem with steering & turns on a dime at all planing speeds so I didn't want to mess with that! Edited February 7, 2019 by kingie chaser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barab Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Thank you guys for the chat. Sorry, it is an old Fibreglass Nautiglass 15ft with a 40hp outboard. It is for a bit of fun on the water with the kids, fishing etc.....can't afford anything else and I loved fitting it out myself. I bought a BLA foil to suit 40hp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barab Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Think you made the right choice Kingie...👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickmarlin62 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 First off your underpowered second i would gues that your motor height is wrong and when travelling the foil is underwater instead of on the surface check these first go from there.. Rick 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Agree with above, sounds like the engine is mounted to low. Personaly I don't like outboard foils at all, especially when you get caught in rough conditions offshore side on. I've bought boats with them which have handled like dogs untill these things were removed. A better option in my opinion are auto trim tabs which simply work of a gas filled shock absorber and are fixed to the boat. Most outboards are fitted to low by manufactures simply because they steer and handle better even with poor trim settings, however once people become more familiar with their boats they can normally raise the engine to improve handling. This images shows there's no real right mounting height, but more how different heights work for different applications. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barab Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Thanks Rick/JonD. Appreciate all the feedback. Motor is positioned by qual Yamaha mechanic (well known in the area, won t embarrass him) the 40hp is a little shy but still mange to get up on a plane and get good speed....fast enough for me and the kids. Maybe foil little low...will look into...motor, power, trim all ok just hull design I am thinking now...... Thanks Lads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 If you feel the engine might not be reaching full rpm and a little slow on take off, simply dropping down in prop pitch will help that. Yamaha aluminium props are very reasonable in my opinion and might be worth looking into. With each boat I've owned I always have a spare prop, especially for when I holiday away with my boat to remote areas. I tend to have one that suits my usual light load application and another smaller pitch one for carrying heavier loads. I also use a solas prop lock to stop thieves removing the prop ( happened with a 4 blade stainless), the prop lock makes swapping props extremely quick ( around 1 minute). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishop Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 4 hours ago, JonD said: If you feel the engine might not be reaching full rpm and a little slow on take off, simply dropping down in prop pitch will help that. Yamaha aluminium props are very reasonable in my opinion and might be worth looking into. With each boat I've owned I always have a spare prop, especially for when I holiday away with my boat to remote areas. I tend to have one that suits my usual light load application and another smaller pitch one for carrying heavier loads. I also use a solas prop lock to stop thieves removing the prop ( happened with a 4 blade stainless), the prop lock makes swapping props extremely quick ( around 1 minute). Nice might look into those prop locks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rozza_b Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Personally i found that the hydrofoil has made a huge difference to my boat, i have lost about 1-2 knots of top speed but the response of the boat is far better now, i did find it took a bit of getting used to though as it changed the way the boat handled & reacted and had to play with the trim to find the sweet spot again, ill be leaving mine on for now. It took me a while to get to this point though, changed props a number of times, moved all the weight round and finally got to what i felt was a good response still wasnt 100% happy but it was good enough for me, but with adding a live bait tank i needed to do something to help me get out of the hole so went ahead with it. If i could have afforded trim tabs i probably would have gone down that route or just repowered to a 70 it was a cheap option and has done exactly what i need it for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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