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Pontoon Hydrofoil

Dino said:
I don't know anything about the warranty, I'm the second owner of the boat. I bought the hydrofoil. We just got it installed and I haven't tried it with watersports. If you keep the motor trimmed down the foil doesn't come into play. It turns mostly the same, as the pontoons are still in the water. I haven't had any issues with weeds, I do steer around them. I think you could just back up, like you do to clear weeds off you engine. We got it on the same day that we left the lake house, so not a lot of hours on it yet. We will be back late July, will know more then. The wife is used to my different crazy ideas about things, but she said I did good on this one! Lol. It has lots of adjustment and if you wanted to take it off it's only 4 bolts. I don't see us ever taking it off.
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thanks for the info! keep us posted, the more documented experiences the better! I'll be interested to hear your experiences after re-propping and your fuel burn...
 
Does anyone remember the old Misty Harbor pontoons?
Their tubes were rectangular with an inverted V on the bottom, essentially forcing the boat to ride up on top of the water instead of plowing through it. We had one on our lake and they pulled skiers with a 115. I imagine there was a compromise in ride quality?
 
Bill N said:
Does anyone remember the old Misty Harbor pontoons?
Their tubes were rectangular with an inverted V on the bottom, essentially forcing the boat to ride up on top of the water instead of plowing through it. We had one on our lake and they pulled skiers with a 115. I imagine there was a compromise in ride quality?
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Did they recently go out of business?!?
 
Dino said:
I don't know anything about the warranty, I'm the second owner of the boat. I bought the hydrofoil. We just got it installed and I haven't tried it with watersports. If you keep the motor trimmed down the foil doesn't come into play. It turns mostly the same, as the pontoons are still in the water. I haven't had any issues with weeds, I do steer around them. I think you could just back up, like you do to clear weeds off you engine. We got it on the same day that we left the lake house, so not a lot of hours on it yet. We will be back late July, will know more then. The wife is used to my different crazy ideas about things, but she said I did good on this one! Lol. It has lots of adjustment and if you wanted to take it off it's only 4 bolts. I don't see us ever taking it off.
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Dino
Thank you for your report. As I said above in the 9th reply “this is a tough crowd for new ideas” (unless it has a Bennington warrantee). Not everyone here is negative or maybe jealous. There are some here who truly want to hear more from you as you gain more experience. Please keep us posted.
 
It's all good. I can understand the warranty thing. Just sounded like everyone's curious and thought I would share. Our trip back to the lake house has been pushed back a week or so. I will post again when we return to the lake house in August. Thanks.
 
Has anyone installed hydrofin’s hydrofoils on there tritoon?
They recently came out with a tritoon version
 

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Rocketman356 said:
Has anyone installed hydrofin’s hydrofoils on there tritoon?
They recently came out with a tritoon version
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seems like no... generally, the consensus is that it will void the lifetime warranty on the toons, hence pretty risky. A number of folks seem pretty interested, myself included, but I don't operate at speed very much (mostly no wake), hence limited benefit on my local lakes. If i was running offshore more, I might take the risk for the tradeoff of better ride and fuel burn.

Since it isn't a manufacturer recommended/approved hull modification, and this is a manufacturer sponsored board, you may not get as many responses as you like, though the company seems to be pretty small and limited in number of installs still....
 
i would imagine very little benefit in speed with the hydrofin on a tri-toon w/ lifting strakes. The strakes on my 23l are quite large, cutting out sections of lifting strakes to install the hydrofins doesnt seem like a great idea, in one of hydrofins videos it looke like they cut out the last 8ft of lifting strake ?. I think these foils work amazing on underpowered twin log boats. even when you go to hydrofins website they say most boats see about 5-10% speed increase with 20-30% possible. my 23l does 46mph with 250 sho, 4k to install hydrofins for a possible 2-5 mph just isnt worth it. if i could see 8-12 mph increase like the twin logs see i would seriously consider them.

as for the vara-foil, they dont even show one mounted to a tri-toon. even though they seem less impressive than the hydro-fins, i could see this set-up workig better on a tri-toon with strakes, and not voiding your log warranties.
 
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I think the benefit is probably more about efficiency and ride comfort than top speed even though lots of talk about speed comes up…

It’s awfully fishy to me that reviews of before and after experience from actual customers is almost impossible to find, just like with the Sharrow props…. If the Sharrow was as good as they say, it wouldn’t be in the hands of consumers…. It’d be worth a billion or more to the navy, and commercial shipping. ‍:confused:
 
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on 2 log boats i think the benefits can be tremendous. i see very little real world experience with any of the hydrofoils on tri-toons. very little actual owner experience and feedback. when i originally heard the possiblity of 30% increase i was in, after checking out hydrofins website and seing that most boats gain between 5 and 10% speed, just not worth it. boat does 46 now, i was hoping for 55 with a hydrofoil doesnt look possible.
 
chris288 said:
on 2 log boats i think the benefits can be tremendous. i see very little real world experience with any of the hydrofoils on tri-toons. very little actual owner experience and feedback. when i originally heard the possiblity of 30% increase i was in, after checking out hydrofins website and seing that most boats gain between 5 and 10% speed, just not worth it. boat does 46 now, i was hoping for 55 with a hydrofoil doesnt look possible.
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Honestly, I wouldn’t wanna get a 2 log boat going that fast for fear of the structural repercussions. Definitely wasn’t designed for that type of stress.
 
my friends ranger 200c with 90 merc. does 23 with 1 or 2 people, any more than that and your doing 17 mph at 5800, a hydrofoil would help his situation tremendously. not so much with my 23l with 250. ive been researching about getting a foil or possibly getting it flashed for 335hp for some additional speed.
 
jcr159 said:
I think the benefit is probably more about efficiency and ride comfort than top speed even though lots of talk about speed comes up…

It’s awfully fishy to me that reviews of before and after experience from actual customers is almost impossible to find, just like with the Sharrow props…. If the Sharrow was as good as they say, it wouldn’t be in the hands of consumers…. It’d be worth a billion or more to the navy, and commercial shipping. ‍:confused:
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Agreed, the proof is always in the pudding - why the dearth of actual verified purchasers out there if the benefits and value are such a slam dunk?

Sharrow is becoming a joke with all their seemingly doctored and paid Boattest reviews. If money were no object they may find a niche somewhere in the boating world but for the average shallow-water rec boater it's been a tough sell for a reason.

A hydrofoil for a pontoon is similar IMO - I've never seen one in the wild and if they're so great why aren't OEMs offering them? You're probably limited in how shallow you can run (no trips to the sandbar), too easily collect sticks, logs, grass and trash, are too fragile or outright dangerous at speed when striking objects, too hard to trailer, require more maintenance, actually add more drag and are less efficient when off-plane, can't handle larger waves, harder to control pitch and may eliminate the ability to adjust trim on the outboard, etc. etc.

While you may solve for one problem you create 20 others. But for those that advocate for and actually utilize it on their own boats, more power to them. It just hasn't and doesn't make sense for 99% of everyone else.
 
chris288 said:
my friends ranger 200c with 90 merc. does 23 with 1 or 2 people, any more than that and your doing 17 mph at 5800, a hydrofoil would help his situation tremendously. not so much with my 23l with 250. ive been researching about getting a foil or possibly getting it flashed for 335hp for some additional speed.
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If you have to add speed, between the two options the reflash is the way to go IMO. Way too many positive reviews out there with the Nizpro tune and besides it being cheaper than a foil you only potentially void your outboard warranty vs a foil voiding your entire hull warranty. Not to mention resale etc.

You just have to have access to high-test fuel. I was real close to pulling the trigger and may still do it, but having 89/90 year-round could be an issue as I'm slipped and adding octane booster is not recommended by Nizpro. But the 4.2L is a strong block and can already handle 300+, the 250 is just a detuned engine.
 
Potomacbassin’ said:
Agreed, the proof is always in the pudding - why the dearth of actual verified purchasers out there if the benefits and value are such a slam dunk?

Sharrow is becoming a joke with all their seemingly doctored and paid Boattest reviews. If money were no object they may find a niche somewhere in the boating world but for the average shallow-water rec boater it's been a tough sell for a reason.

A hydrofoil for a pontoon is similar IMO - I've never seen one in the wild and if they're so great why aren't OEMs offering them? You're probably limited in how shallow you can run (no trips to the sandbar), too easily collect sticks, logs, grass and trash, are too fragile or outright dangerous at speed when striking objects, too hard to trailer, require more maintenance, actually add more drag and are less efficient when off-plane, can't handle larger waves, harder to control pitch and may eliminate the ability to adjust trim on the outboard, etc. etc.

While you may solve for one problem you create 20 others. But for those that advocate for and actually utilize it on their own boats, more power to them. It just hasn't and doesn't make sense for 99% of everyone else.
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Sharrow is the one in particular that baffles me and comes across as snake oil... Not many SKU's or prop designs needed... target 200-250 hp motors, and make a few, pack a yamaha and mercury hub adapter... take them to any given lake for a day/weekend and sit at the ramp and offer to do before/after swaps for folks to get testimonials. record and post said testimonials... use a few select Influencers even..

Watch sales roll in.. especially from bass boat guys...
 
if these things were the best thing since sliced bread, i think we would hearing from more customers
 
Potomacbassin’ said:
If you have to add speed, between the two options the reflash is the way to go IMO. Way too many positive reviews out there with the Nizpro tune and besides it being cheaper than a foil you only potentially void your outboard warranty vs a foil voiding your entire hull warranty. Not to mention resale etc.

You just have to have access to high-test fuel. I was real close to pulling the trigger and may still do it, but having 89/90 year-round could be an issue as I'm slipped and adding octane booster is not recommended by Nizpro. But the 4.2L is a strong block and can already handle 300+, the 250 is just a detuned engine.
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the nizpro for the 250sho is an 89 octane tune.
 
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