Hydrofoill

[Seabolt]

Does a hydrofoil speed every boat up no matter the engine size?  Common sense would tell me yes since they displace the water out instead of allowing any to escape up.  But I'm not sure.

[Wayne P.]

They don't help at all with speed as they add drag. Their purpose is to get the hull on plane faster and allow for slower on-plane travel for heavy stern boats. With porposing prone hulls, they almost eliminate it.

[Long Mike]

I can't speak for other boats but I gained about 3 mph when I installed Dol-Fins on my 60 hp Tracker.  The difference in hole shot was amazing.

[NBR]

They help with hole shot. I don't see anyway they could help with speed unless maybe you do a better job of trimming out the motor. A bunch of people trim out too far. The rooster tail shouldn't be higher than the engine cowl. Depends some on the boat but often the foil is out of the water after planning and trimming out.

Mine is called a Leading Edge. It is a piece of aluminum with the trailing edge tipped down a bit. Works just fine and I'd buy another.

[bassassasin260]

i made some home made trim tabs on my 14 ft john boat. it has a 25hp 2 stroke so its a littler bit weighed down in the back. the tabs made a HUGE difference. those hydrofoils look stupid, make yourself or buy some trim tabs... and i didn't loose any speed withe the tabs, it toped out at 30mph with 3 people, and i could cruise just myself at about 25mpg at about half throttle and the boat didn't porpos at all and it used to do it really bad to the point were i couldn't run past 15mph with just myself in the boat.

[Seabolt]

I'm in a club in my area that has outings on electric only water.  Top speed is barely 7.5 MPH with 60volt (and some72) electric motors. If I can get an extra .5 MPH it'sworth it here.  These boats don't plane they plow.

That's why I was wondering if it would help my situation.

[Wayne P.]

In your case all you would get is extra drag and go slower. About the only thing you can do is reduce drag by maybe raising the motor on the transom as much as you can, reduce the amount of weight you carry and balance the load so the boat is not nose heavy.