Re: hydrofoil or not?
As Stachi says, it depends on the boat I suppose (read on for explanation). I have installed Stingray hydrofoils on 3 boats and as a matter of fact just came from the river after installing a Stingray on my 1988 Sea Ray Seville. I'll detail my experiences as best I can remember boat by boat.
1972 Starcraft Supersport 16' with Johnson 70 hp outboard (Aluminum V-hull). This boat performed OK without the foil but had a lot of bow rise and took a bit too long to get on plane especially when trying to tube or pull skiers. With the foil the time to plane was noticeably shorter and the bow rise was much less. On this boat I didn't really care about top speed loss/gain and didn't pay too much attention but I don't think the change was more that a couple mph.
1990 Smokercraft 16' simgle console with 60 hp Joohnson outboard. (Aluminum V-hull.) The hull shape of this boat was virtually identical to the Starcraft listed above and all the before/after description is identical except we never pulled a skier with this boat.
1988 Sea Ray Seville 16 bowrider with 115 hp Mariner outboard. (Fiberglass planing hull. Actual length is closer to 17'). This is the boat I just installed a Stingray on. The reason I installed it was because I have been having a problem pulling a tube with younger riders keeping the speed comfortable for them. I was always right on the verge of planing and the boat would constantly need lots of throttle attention as it would want to come off plane and the bow come up, etc. Knowing I was going to put one on I took the boat out by myself with a full tank of fuel and checked max speed without the foil. I got 52 mph on the boat speedometer. This morning I installed the Stingray foil and we took the boat out this afternoon. We used my buddies private ramp so before loading up the wife, kid, dog and extra stuff I took the boat out and agin checked top speed . The conditions were exactly thhe same as before including a full tank of fuel on both tests. With the foil I got 51 mph on the speedometer. Again, the bow rise was reduced and the boat stayed on plane at a much lower speed. As for handling, I would say it is even better than without the foil. While tubing, I noticed that when making sharp turns the boat stayed on plane much easier. With my son who like a moderate tubing speed, Before I would have to increase throttle or the boat would come off plane very quickly in the turn. Today, I would still lose some speed in the turn, but it stayed on plane all the way through without touching the throttle.
I experienced no handling problems with the foil on any of the 3 boats I have personally installed them on, and actually think the handling in the last case is better than before. I certainly didn't notice anything that was worse.
This is my personal experience with one brand/model hydrofoil (Stingray original) on 3 specific boats. Advers handling and other problems havee been reported here, but I personally have not experienced it. That is the reason for the "Isuppose" in the first paragraaph. Your experience may be different, but this is mine.
As Stachi said though. Since your boat already has one, run it and check some numbers, handling, etc with it on there and then remove it and try it without. This will enable you to make a decision based on YOUR experience. It is only 4 bolts to remove. It only took me 10 minutes to install one including drilling the holes. You could remove it in less time than that and try it.
Good luck.
