Fear Group,
I have recently purchased a second hand 26ft long, 8ft wide boat which I am using as a dive boat for my business. The boat has a V shaped hull at the bow and a flat bottom at the stern. It has a new 200hp Yamaha engine.
We have noticed that even in relatively calm conditions the engine is cavitating badly (large increase in rpm with no increase in speed). We have tried raising and lowering the engine in the water to no effect (phyiscally re-drilling engine mounting holes, not just using the tilt). The engine is currently mounted as per Yamahas specifications but cavitation still continues.
We don't have any problems with purpoising but the boat will slide if we do sharp turns (I guess this is due to the flat bottom and we simply don't do sharp turns with customers on board anyway so this is not a big deal).
I was hoping that people with more knowledge of boat handling than I do can come up wih suggestions to solve the cavitation problem. At present I am unable to use the boat!
I have read about hydrofoils such as the Stingray and was wondering if this would help? I don't particularly want to drill holes in the cavitation plate of a new engine but it it is the only solution am happy to do it (I work on a tropical island so a warranty doesn't really mean that much to me!).
Any advice would be gratefully received.
I have recently purchased a second hand 26ft long, 8ft wide boat which I am using as a dive boat for my business. The boat has a V shaped hull at the bow and a flat bottom at the stern. It has a new 200hp Yamaha engine.
We have noticed that even in relatively calm conditions the engine is cavitating badly (large increase in rpm with no increase in speed). We have tried raising and lowering the engine in the water to no effect (phyiscally re-drilling engine mounting holes, not just using the tilt). The engine is currently mounted as per Yamahas specifications but cavitation still continues.
We don't have any problems with purpoising but the boat will slide if we do sharp turns (I guess this is due to the flat bottom and we simply don't do sharp turns with customers on board anyway so this is not a big deal).
I was hoping that people with more knowledge of boat handling than I do can come up wih suggestions to solve the cavitation problem. At present I am unable to use the boat!
I have read about hydrofoils such as the Stingray and was wondering if this would help? I don't particularly want to drill holes in the cavitation plate of a new engine but it it is the only solution am happy to do it (I work on a tropical island so a warranty doesn't really mean that much to me!).
Any advice would be gratefully received.
