Foils

PAR,purely out of interest,would you cut them off because of the extra drag?
I was under the impression that at high speed they would act as stiffeners to reduce flex.

 

Yeah i only just noticed them !! The leading edges need to be nicely faired and rounded to eliminate as much drag as possible !! Theres not many ponies to play with and every little will help at the end of the day, specially with slower hulls !!
take note of all the little things and the big things will take care of themselves over time !!.

 

At the speeds you'll be traveling at, it's not much of a big deal. You could add a fairing to the fronts of them, but I wouldn't bother with an 18 HP outboard powering her. With more power, or more importantly as speeds increase these will cause issues, as the force of their resistance increases as the square of speed (double the speed and get 4 times the resistance from those pads). You'll be lucky to see 20 - 22 knots with that rig, so not as much a concern and they probably do help stiffen the bottom considerably.

If you want, put a nose on them. A nice one will be about 8" long (assumes they are about 3" - 3.5" wide now) with an elliptical shape, not too sharp, but more then the rounded, though blunt shapes they have now. You will not notice any speed difference with the noses, compared to a non-nosed pad, but in the future, a bigger motor will appreciate it.

 

Thanks PAR,I appreciate the info,This is a great site.