Trojan Boat Forum

This is slightly off topic from a Trojan although I assume many if not all of you have a tender of some sort. I have a 12ft Achilles hard bottom inflatable, center console with a 30hp 2 stroke, its super fast and fun to play with, I take it 15 miles out and more on a regular basis. I'm looking for opinions and reviews and the people here have been very intelligent and helpful. The reviews im reading on hydrofoils/whale tail vary on application. I'm reading lots of various reviews and the claim to fame is that they help with porpoising and help plane off faster and at lower rpms, everyone suggest smart tabs and so on but that's not really a option on a inflatable. Im looking to keep the bow from jumping in addition to looking to gain top speed which this will not really do, I;m going to try some different props but maybe i should start here and then go for higher speeds, im reaching speeds in the high 30's currently

I've used them on small stearn heavy craft (I think I was the reason it was stearn heavy) that were a little under-powered. They help raise the back of the boat, thrusting the bow down, helping you get on plane faster. The drawback is that they do so at the expense of top speed. I think the reason is two part 1) more drag below the water line 3) you are always pushing the bow down... if you trim up once on plane to counter-act the effect of the foil, you are directing the thrust energy in a direction that is not 100% forward. If you want more speed AND a better hole shot, I think the only answer is more HP.

the more im reading and learning seems to tell that they can create drag once underway, depending on situations, my dingy doesn't have electric trim unfortunately and due to emissions they don't really make any more 2 strokes much over 30hp do they? The weight of the new four strokes is incredibly higher. I'm thinking the only only way to tell is see if my cavitation plate shows or not while planned off, ill defiantly need a second person to steer, the boat is light and fast and too scary to lean over at 36 mph to look down alone. Out of the hole I have tons of power but the bow bounces all over, often times if felt like I could flip it over from a stand still if I just got on it. Theirs a dingy Poker Run coming soon and I want to race in it, im going to figure this out and see how I do

The dinghy I really want isn't yet available in the US. Check out OC Tenders at OCTenders.com. Very well designed and fast. Scary fast with only 15hp.
The hull is 9'11" and weighs only 92 lbs. Unlike RIBs, the entire footprint of the hull is usable space. Pricing is 4500NZ, which is $2940 US...cheaper than many 10 foot RIBs. This design should put RIBs out of business , IMO.

See for yourself.