hydro / laser foils

[eotbmg]

Hi.
I own a honda 30 hp and are looking to getting it on the plane a bit quicker, what are the pros and cons of the laser or hydro foils.? Are there steering issues? How do they work? The boat is a 4.35 sea jay. As you can tell i am a dummy when it comes to this sort of information.
Thanks for your help
Ben

[Mac_Attack]

Well steering wise it doesn't make alot of difference.
But you will tend to notice the front won't flare up as much when you fit the foil it really helped my 3.6m ;D
Cheers Nick 8-)

[Luc]

Also look at Permatrims.

Luc

[Smithy]

Ben is your boat a barra punt type boat or a dinghy/Top Ender (Nomad?) sort?

If you want the most lift and it is a punt you can go for a Stingray. On dinghys and deep V hulls Stingrays can give some vices. I am not a fan of SE Sports. They work for some but are the same price as a Stingray yet don't develop much lift. I have seen them fitted to cats successfully and they don't give any vices I know about.

I like the Lazilas brand foils for Ved boats. The bonus is they are the cheapest around. Only $40. If you don't like them, take them off! You are just left with 4 holes in your cav plate then. These are the upward sloping foils. For $40 you can't got wrong. They don't have any vices. Once on clean plane the wing tips are high and dry so have minimal effect on the boat.

I am not familiar with the Laser or Hydro foils if that is there brand names. There are a million and one out there. Tigersharks are another name I remember. 1 piece or 2 piece it doesn't really matter though my Stringray survived years of running through trees on my Stessl but it lived in a shed and all of them seem a bit susceptable to UV damage and getting brittle with bits cracking off. Actually if you are putting it on a Honda they seem to have the weakest cav plates for putting them onto so be careful and if you wipe a foil off on a tree top at Monduran or somewhere you might damage the metal.

The Permatrims have a good reputation and are Aussie made out of alloy but are more expensive than some I have talked about.

All foils might knock a knot or two off your top speed but that is compensated for by superior handling in some situations. There won't be any steering issues. It isn't power trim and tilt I am guessing? If you have ever driven a PTT tiller steer you would have felt the steering weight change with trim angle but if you are fixed on a pin you are going to be none the wiser if your trim tab is adjusted right.