Canadian Yachting June 2023 - 30

Shot by Jason Minor using his cell phone (!) you can barely see the Hydrofin vertical
supports where the water is breaking but you clearly see the two tubes lifting well out of the
water at high speed.
Jason Minor kneels in the gravel launch
ramp to adjust the angle of the forward fins
they just installed on the Bellagio pontoon.
into turns more like the way a vee-bottom
does.
Overall, the boat steered better with the
Hydrofins installed, and accelerated better.
On the Bellagio, we saw the top speed rise
from about 27-MPH before the Hydrofins
were installed to 36-MPH after and later
with trim changes, 38-MPH. Jason Minor
has installed Hydrofins on many pontoons
now and although every boat is different,
he said that at average speeds, the boat
would experience 30-40% better fuel
economy.
This drone shot shows a two-tube pontoon at speed, carving a sweeping turn with little spray
thanks to the Hydrofin installation.
You are probably aware that there
are both two-tube and three-tube pontoon
boats. The three-tube models tend
to behave like a vee-bottom boat, riding
high, banking into turns and as long as
they have sufficient power, the triple models
are pretty fast.
Two-tube pontoons were the original
pontoon design and typically, these are
not fast, they lean out on the turns and
push a lot of water around as they go. Top
speeds of 20 to 25-MPH are typical and
it takes a lot of power to go much faster,
unless the pontoon has foils!
Jason and Kyler had arrived the day
before and installed the Hydrofin system.
Jason Minor's invention was developed
by the noted firm of Morelli & Melvin
Engineering with their knowledge and
experience on America's Cup boats. The
Hydrofin foils are impressively simple
and not at all like the huge foils of
America's Cup boats. On the two-tube
Bellagio pontoon, they were simply not
visible in the water and they were barely
noticeable when the boat was up in the
air on the marina forklift. Most owners
would likely pay no attention to them at
all in day-to-day use.
But with the Hydrofin foils freshly
installed, you could feel the Bellagio
lift and pick-up speed as we passed the
20-MPH mark. Later, after a few adjustments
were made, Chris saw 38 mph on
the GPS. That's a remarkable speed for
a big two-tube pontoon with just 115
HP. There was very little side-spray and
with the Hydrofin foils, the boat banked
30 CANADIAN YACHTING | JUNE 2023
Imagine a two-tube pontoon owner
with a medium horsepower outboard that
struggles to reach 25-MPH maximum,
gaining 8 to 10-MPH in top speed while
using less fuel. With Hydrofins that pontoon
could even pull a water-skier or plan
off a bigger load.
The Hydrofin foils are reasonably
priced too - around $4,000 USD installed.
If you have reasonable DIY skills, you
can install them yourself. They include
instructions and a range of simple adjustments
to help you dial-in the best results.
I recall some years ago, looking at the
early America's Cup boats with their
huge, ungainly foils and thinking, how
will this ever benefit ordinary family boating?
Well, now I know.
SHOPHYDROFIN.COM

http://www.SHOPHYDROFIN.COM

Canadian Yachting June 2023

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