Recently purchased a Caravelle 1750 FS with 135 Merc and Alpha One outdrive.
Saw the post about porpoising, and have a question.

My boat has power tilt/trim, with which I seem to be able to remove "most"
of the up-down motion by adjusting... Also on this boat was a "whale tail"
(hydrofoil?) mounted on the outdrive. A friend suggested I remove it 1) to
increase top speed (42 MPH with wife and kids is fast enough for now), and
2) to see if the porpoising went away.

Any experience regarding my friends comments? He does NOT own a boat, but
has grown up around them...

On Sat, 3 Jul 2004 02:28:21 -0500, "Panther1"
wrote:

Recently purchased a Caravelle 1750 FS with 135 Merc and Alpha One outdrive.
Saw the post about porpoising, and have a question.

My boat has power tilt/trim, with which I seem to be able to remove "most"
of the up-down motion by adjusting... Also on this boat was a "whale tail"
(hydrofoil?) mounted on the outdrive. A friend suggested I remove it 1) to
increase top speed (42 MPH with wife and kids is fast enough for now), and
2) to see if the porpoising went away.

Any experience regarding my friends comments? He does NOT own a boat, but
has grown up around them...

Removing the hydrofoil will probably make the porpoising worse.
Installing trim tabs would be your best bet for eliminating the
porpoising.
John C.

I agree with John. They also help you get on plane a lot quicker and take
very little away from your top speed.

--
Bill
Chesapeake, Va


"JohnC" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 3 Jul 2004 02:28:21 -0500, "Panther1"
wrote:

Recently purchased a Caravelle 1750 FS with 135 Merc and Alpha One
outdrive.
Saw the post about porpoising, and have a question.

My boat has power tilt/trim, with which I seem to be able to remove
"most"
of the up-down motion by adjusting... Also on this boat was a "whale
tail"
(hydrofoil?) mounted on the outdrive. A friend suggested I remove it 1)
to
increase top speed (42 MPH with wife and kids is fast enough for now),
and
2) to see if the porpoising went away.

Any experience regarding my friends comments? He does NOT own a boat, but
has grown up around them...

Removing the hydrofoil will probably make the porpoising worse.
Installing trim tabs would be your best bet for eliminating the
porpoising.
John C.

Far as I can tell, someone wrote:
42 MPH with wife and kids is fast enough for now), and
2) to see if the porpoising went away

without it you'll do 43 -44, and porpoise worse.

The hydrofoil can cause porpoise under certain conditions: Running near
wide open and trimming out the foil will try to push the bow down but the
prop will try to lift it.
However, chances are removing will only make it worse.
Try moving weight to the rear and try a 4 blade prop.

--
Tony
my boats at http://t.thomas.home.mchsi.com

"Panther1" wrote in message
...
Recently purchased a Caravelle 1750 FS with 135 Merc and Alpha One
outdrive.
Saw the post about porpoising, and have a question.

My boat has power tilt/trim, with which I seem to be able to remove "most"
of the up-down motion by adjusting... Also on this boat was a "whale tail"
(hydrofoil?) mounted on the outdrive. A friend suggested I remove it 1) to
increase top speed (42 MPH with wife and kids is fast enough for now), and
2) to see if the porpoising went away.

Any experience regarding my friends comments? He does NOT own a boat, but
has grown up around them...