hydrofoil or not

[TheBigGuy]

Very nice, glad to hear it worked out for you and solved your handling issues.

 

[sly_karma]

I've had a Stingray hydrofoil on my 19.5 Lund fibreglass with Johnson 140 for the past year. I'm removing it this weekend. The main reason for it was to keep the boat on plane at lower speeds, which in turn would give me improved fuel economy in snotty conditions. It does do that, but the payback is loss of top speed and reduced fuel economy at full plane. Previously I was getting a consistent 3.5-4.0 mpg in the cruising range 21-30 mph, WOT of 39-40 mph @ 5200 rpm. With the foil installed, that has reduced to 3.0-3.5 mpg and WOT is now 37-38 mph @ 5000 rpm. Most of the time I'm back at the dock if the conditions are lumpy, the only time the foil comes into play is my annual boating/camping trip up into one of the inlets where you can't always pick your weather. Saving some gas on a once a year trip that accounts for maybe 20% of my annual boating hours doesn't offset the losses for the rest of the time. I tried the hydrofoil as a less expensive option but I can see now that trim tabs are where i need to go.