I/O planing out question

So I've been playing w/ our Crownline's trim & I've got the wake looking probably as good as it can get w/o any after-market weight. What should I start adding for after-market stuff to get the bow plained out? Does the foil thing mess w/ the shape of the wake any?

Get the foil, i don't think it messes witht he wake, and it makes you plain 100% better. This is the one i had on my outboard but i never had any weight in it.

http://www.boatersworld.com/product/361090012msk.htm

A foil probably won't mess up the wake.

When I had an i/o the foil was fine.

I removed it and tried smarttabs trim tabs.

Planed fast, but washed out the wake badly.

get the foil, and juice the throttle at first (without killing the rider) to get through the bow rise as fast as possible, then let off. Getting a new prop, 19 pitch or lower will help to plane off faster too. Put any aftermarket weight in the center/front for starters.

what I do with mine is start off with the trim all the way down and once you plane out then adjust the trim to the right setting.. for me its 1/4 up... then if the rider falls, i put the trim back down for the next start

Isaac, I actually do the same thing. For some reason though I can't seem to keep the bow down. I might have to put some weight up there, but I'd prefer to use the foil if it's going to work. We had one on our bass boat but I can't remember if it helped keeping it planed out or if it was for the starts.

(Message edited by carcrz on May 14, 2007)

With the foil you will:
Start faster,
plane at slower speeds,
have better speed control,
run better in a storm,
Wonder why the manufacturers don't put them on.

I have found the Stingray brand to be very good. It makes a nice step, works very well, and my 7 year old son thinks it's cool.

ok so I'm not sure about the foil. #1 what motor do you have , #2 what size is your boat? I find keep the drive all the way down. once on plane which doesnt take me long, i trim up a little and ride

Question for all foilers:

Does it decrease the wake size??? At least by my logic it should as it lifts the boat out of the water therefore displacing less water. Am I wrong? If I am, why?

I'm with you Slamminp , my understanding is it is advertised and does everything a wakeboarder doesn't want. Helps the boat plane- well you do want some sort of plane but not full on as your best wake is going to be with the a$$ sunk in the water a bit.
For some the advantages might be if your underpowered you can get on plane easier but if you have enough power and the right prop (not necessarily the prop merc or volvo thinks is right since we wakeboard most of the time). If I ran full throttle I would be bouncing off the rev-limiter but my holeshot would rival many d or v drives(probably not loaded though). Should be pure physics, foil lifts rear like an airplane wing therefore creating less displacement--bad for boarding.
I think many people dont run enough weight in the front due to the design of the boat. Say you have 4 people, well the driver is in the back and the rider is behind the boat so this leaves 2 people that ride near the driver so they can chat...wheres the balance of weight for the bow? You need at least a 300 lb sac up front now. If I didnt board I would be all over a wake plate, took it off my first boat due to boarding.

I can make a bigger and better wake with a foil than without. Maybe it's different with other boats but my I/O was 18' relatively narrow deep V with 170 hp. I did not add weight other than people.
At slow wakeboard speeds my hull was borderline on plane and would not hold speed even with a very experienced hand on the throttle. With the foil it would hold any speed easily from idle on. Hence a more consistent wake for anyone riding.
The wake on my boat can be bigger with my Stingray foil because I can trim up 1/4 and push the stern down yet still hold speed. The wake became steeper and the weight balance in the boat was less critical to get both sides clean. (Well fairly clean)
At slower speeds you get wake because the hull is pushing water and not planing. When you can orient the boat the way you want you can control the wake. If the hull is bow up it is not as designed to run through the water and basically just pushes a mess. With the foil the boat is oriented correctly but still not out of the water. You get a wake and it's a reasonable shape. There can be a great deal of lift from a hydrofoil attached to the outdrive but what you need to remember is the leverage that is applied by the lift coming well behind the transom. Without having to lift the hull out of the water you can flatten the ride so bow rise is very much like an inboard.

For Rick, I haven't seen the 180 but my brother-in-law has an '05 Four Winns 190 and my old 1980 Grew would make a better wake for his 16 year old son, but only with the foil on. I have recently run '06 models in the 20-22' range of Rinker, Cobalt, Regal, Glastron, Malibu(Canadian), and SeaRay. Some with single props and some with double props. I would have put it on before I left the dealer on all but the Cobalt with a Bravo III and I would have tried one on it after I got used to the boat, if I had bought and I/O again. (By the way, I liked the Regal best, for me)
I put mine on several years ago and can honestly say that I have never seen a bigger performance improvement in a boat. And It's cheap. $50-$100, which is less than I paid for mine a few years ago.

Added a Hydro Foil (Stinger Sr.) to my I/O this past year, it was THE BEST 50.00 I have spent ony boat. Everything that has been said by Art is right on the money. I own a 21' foot searay.

The foil may technically decrease the wake but what does it matter if you can't keep on plane and prevent porpoising without it? If having issues for those two reasons, you'll probably get a net increase in usable wake size.

If you tow with an I/O, a foil is pretty much a must. It may be debatable whether it decreases wake size. I do not think it does, but it will improve the shape of your wake and more importantly get your boat on plane and get you a better pull. A foil a low pitch prop, some sacs, and a tower and you should be set for wakeboarding,

The only negative with foils is that they can decrease top end speed a few MPH. Not that this is a concern for wakeboarding, but suspect that is why manufacturers don't put them on standard. For the average consumer Vmax sells.

which foil are you guys using?

I have just recently started looking into foils.... But I'm a little leary of "drilling" some mounting holes in the outboard unit... I saw that Stingray has one that bolts on, but it's in the $120 range.... Please, let's hear some more input on the subject....

I have the $50 black stingray, and it is a remarkable difference in planing. Yes it is physics, you get on plane faster....but if you trim the outdrive up a bit, think about what that does. That's right, it points that foil at a downward angle, therefore sinking the transom lower to displace more water. Essentially acts as ballast, but I do agree with adding more weight to the bow.

We had a few problems with our foil. 1) Because of the change it water flow it would make the engine cavitate very easily. 2) It changed the steering characteristics so bad that it would plow during turns.

We removed it when we sold the boat and were amazed how agile the boat was without it. Quicker steering and almost no cavitation.

It was a Stingray as well.

T-Rev, that's good input. Every boat is different and on mine it had the opposite affect. I took off the trim adjustment and put a flat zinc plate on mine after installing it and it cavitaed less than before. (But mine never cavitated much anyway)
At full throttle the steering was heavier when it was trimmed for speed.

what does cavitated mean?

Air gets in around the prop and causes it to spin faster. It happens on hard corners and sometimes in rough water. You have to drop throttle until the prop can be surrounded by water again.
An air cavity gets stuck at the prop blade.

cavitation feels like a clutch slipping or auto trans slipping. I think i will try the four blade 19p prop and see how it runs then go to the foil and see how that does. wish me luck. I will let you all know how it goes

Just do it

gotcha.. I was experiencing cavitation alot untill I got my 4 blade 18p prop.. that was the best thing I have done to my boat.. it planes so quick and jumps out of the hole

Dont forget perfect pass for your I/O as this is definately the best add on I have personally purchased and installed. It will keep a boat on plane at speeds NO human can and maintain speed better then all but the very best drivers. Good luck and I think the prop will make a large improvement.