Quandary on Hydrofoils or trim tabs ???????????

Rooster 27509

Forum on Trim Tabs, Hydrofoils ( June 13,2004)

Talk about putting a guy into a quandary. One person talks about kites another about bad turns and then it’s the dorky look. Then we have the thought of hydrofoils act more to lift the stern and allow the bow to go down. With the tim tabs act more to push the bow down without raising the stern out of the water as much.

I have the 22 ft.model with twin Yamaha 40s and was thinking about putting on the hydrofoils. This I was hoping would improve handling and save on fuel too.

Anyone using hydrofoils on twin 40s and if so are they doing what you thing they should?

Jim Confused

flapbreaker · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:17 pm Post subject:

What kind of handling problems do c-dory's have? Since I don't yet have one I'm just curious as I've heard this a few times now.

Sneaks · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 4:09 pm Post subject:

Jeeze, Flapbreaker, IMHO there are no serious handling problems that can be traced to C-Dory design flaws, only whiny skipper problems. Sure your boat's gonna be a handful when you're trying to dock or load a trailer in a stiff cross wind. Ain't no different than any other 22 ft. boat with a big cabin. Try doing it on a 50 ft. boat with a single screw some time and you'll never complain again. I agree. The C22 is a snooty little boat with it's nose always in the air. Judicious loading helps, hydrofoils help and so do trim tabs. I think DaNag does all three, but he's got his Nerdness to maintain, don'tchaknow.

Keep in mind that the C-Dory is truly an all purpose boat and most anything all purpose can and will be fine tuned for a single purpose, and that single purpose is a little different for each C-Dory owner. What's great is that it's so damn easy to fine tune!

Sea Wolf · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:39 pm Post subject:

Flapbreaker-

I can't exactly tell from your post. Did you read this discussion?

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=327&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Joe.

TyBoo · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:53 pm Post subject:

All I know is that B~C put foils on his twin 40s, and then the next year took them off and installed trim tabs. He's happy now.

flapbreaker · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 6:05 pm Post subject:

I only asked the question because the original poster wanted to "improve handling". I was curious what was wrong with the handling of a c-dory. I don't think I claimed that there were any.

Rooster 27509 · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:03 pm Post subject:

Blessing go out to all that defended the C-Dory against my comment saying “I was hoping to improve handling”. WHAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID WAS IMPROVE THE RIDE IN ROUGH WATER.

I LOVE my C-Dory and God forbid should something bad ever happen to this one I would get another.

Flapbreaker
if your looking for a great boat that can get you out on the big water or small lake and back safe the C-Dory can do just that. If I didn’t feel good about the Catch-22 we would have never taken the Alaska trip which was quit magnificent.
(check in Documents Catch 22 goes to Alaska) for our trip

Jenny B
if it were not for whiny or more accurate persnickety skippers they wouldn’t sell any of these fine little boats. Whiny may not be a good description of someone that skippers a C- Dory, but I can see how a person can come to that conclusion .
I don’t see asking a question as “whiny” and I’m sure you don’t either. Rose

Sea Wolf
no I didn’t see the post you pointed out thanks I’ll need to rethink putting hydrofoils on the twin 40s. May not have enough space between the two.

TyBoo / B~C
This is for B~C what is it that you didn’t like about the hydrofoils that would make you take them off and install the trim tabs.

thanks to one and all
Jim Beer

C-Green · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:00 pm Post subject: my experience

Two years ago I installed Honda hydrofoils (the split SST ones) and was very happy with the way they pushed the bow down in chop. I have a CD-22 with Honda 40's. My remaining problem was lateral balance ( one helmsmen to port and 3 passengers to starboard in cabin) and the hydrofoils wouldn't correct the imbalance. Last spring I installed 9"wide X 12" long Lenco edge tabs (ones with the cyllinders attachilng at rear edge). They work great to correct the imbalance at 20 mph and OK at 15 mph. I plan to enlarge them for slower speeds where I often operate. I feel there was a slight fuel savings with them because when I would be cruising with the tabs up and trim the motors for fastest speed and then drop the tabs some (push the bow down) the GPS speed would alway increase. Forgot to mention that the trim tabs alone were not satisfactory in pushing the bow down ( usually going slower in choppy conditions and slow is where I think bigger tab would be better) so I reinstalled the inner halves of the hydrofoils (I had wishfully removed them - all four halves - at trim tab installation in hopes for gaining speed and fuel economy) and the combo of tabs and half foils gets the bow down enough. The outer halves conflicted with the trilm tabs and are for sale. Am thinking about Permatrim to replace the half hydrofoils but will muck with enlarging the tabs fist - one step at a time and check results before the next step. Also, I run 4 bladed props which I understand have less rake which helps lift the stern ( or pull it down less which might be more accurate description).

DodgeRam · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:44 pm Post subject:

After 94 hours on my C- Dory I am coming to the conclusion that this boat is like all the women in my life. First you really have to know and understand every thing about them, once you do you find out that it is not that bad to handle different situations. You first take your time be patient , if somethings don't work the way you were use to do with different hulls , try a different approach . Try to control your speed, some times slower is a lot more productive when things gets a little rocky out there. Put her legs or leg up or down at different angles, try to trim ( tabs ) at the same time, use throttles , I guarantee you will find her soft spots . It worked for me after 94 hours and 6 months of trials and errors. Gary SEA RAM THE DODGE MAN.

B~C · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 11:50 pm Post subject:

hey ho there, yup I installed the hydrafoils (actually they where Doel Fins) and liked them, but like C-Green, removed them in the quest for better lateral balance and effeciency. I installed the Bennet's and can now trim up the boat and then tweek the engine trim max effeciency.

Big Mac · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:14 am Post subject: Twin Hondas with Permatrims

I am probably in the minority here but I could not resist putting in a plug for Permatrims. I too debated between trim tabs and Permatrims. I wanted mostly too have better lateral trim. I installed the Permatrims last year and have been very happy with them. No adverse handling and just the slightest adjustment on the trim tab switch on my Hondas and lateral trim is no problem. I recently took a trip from LaConner to Anacortes with 4 adults on board and had no trouble keeping the Mary Ellen in proper trim. Their is a great web site for Permatrim, you might want to check it out. I looked at the Honda SST hydrofins and much preferred the Permatrims. Their are some pictures of the Permatrims in the Mary Ellen photo album. Happy Boating, Big Mac.