Hydrofoil canoe

I just purchased a 16' cedar strip canoe from the early seventies as a starting point, so I guess I'm committed to this silly idea I've been toying with...

I've got my eye on this for a motor:
Flipsky Brushless Motor 65220 6000W Round With Thread Shaft Integrated ESC Waterproof Underwater Thruster electric boat thruster for ROV RC Boat /Jet boards /Outboard motor / Drive boat jet https://flipsky.net/collections/water-propulsion-thruster/products/flipsky-brushless-motor-65220-6000w-round-with-thread-shaft-integrated-esc-waterproof-underwater-thruster-electric-boat-thruster-for-rov-rc-boat-jet-boards-outboard-motor-drive-boat-jet

The plan is to reinforce the bottom of the canoe, and attach mounting plates. It will be configurable as an ordinary canoe, as a canoe with a thruster mounted underneath, or with hydrofoils and the thruster.

At this stage it's just an idea, and a 50+ year old canoe.

 

If you have one thruster, where do you attach it in both conditions foils and without foils?

 

My thoughts were to have a rear foil that can have the thruster slotted into it, and both as a unified unit attach to the same mounting point as just the thruster on its own would use.

The real challenge in my mind is stability when on foil. Active or passive? Active seems way more daunting on its face, but I suspect might prove easier in the long run.

I'm also here for general advice on the overall project. For example, Kevlar vs carbon vs S-glass vs E-glass... What's worth it, and where? Better still, what haven't I even thought of in the first place?

 

To expound on my brief answer above, the thruster would need to be mounted lower when on foil to still stay below the water line, and mounting it on the foil somehow seems simplest.

The thought was to have 2 slotted plates like what come with the motor kit I linked to, and mount one at either end, so I can move the motor for either being solo or having two people in the canoe. I was also thinking those two slots could be used for mounting foils as well, but suspect I might need the front foil mounted further back, and would need four mounting plates on the canoe, and one more on the rear foil assembly itself.

 

To quote Baeckmo:
"I suggest reading basic literature on foils; start with "Hydrofoils" by R. Vellinga, ISBN nr 9780982236116, it has a decent list of references as well."

 

Then I suggest you look at the hydrodynamics of a canoe, and see how it is ill suited for the role you envisage...for starters.

 

You need to do a weight to power ratio calculation before anything else. However, if you start with a motor, then the rest of the design has to fit the available power, which means the canoe is out. The batteries will add a lot of weight too.