MacGregorSailors.com

Will an outboard hydrofoil protect the Mac 26 S/D/C rudder?

This guy uses a Whale Tail hydrofoil on a 26D I have a Mac 26S and 8hp which gets me up to almost 9 mph (sometimes).

I worry about the stresses a foil may put on my transom (the foils trying to lift the boat) or would that matter if your only doing 7 mph
On the lake/river where I "sail" the motor is always down -- for now while I learn.

Thanks,
Eddy

I would ask what are you trying to protect it from?


Those hydrofoils are used for 2 purposes on motors. First is to help keep the bow down. The torque from the prop will lift the bow and if there is enough torque the boat can flip over. Not so much of an issue with larger heavier sailboats, but surely an issue with a dinghy or a small aluminum fishing boat.

The second thing is it protects the prop from all sorts of things. Your fishing line…kinda… your feet, the dock, and other things that would hit the foil before the prop.


Since you don’t have a prop on your rudder (you don’t do you?) the second objective of the foil won’t really come into play. The first objective is prolly a mute point as well as an 8hp engine really isn’t going to get these boats to dig in hard, and the hull really won’t get up on much of a plane anyway.

I can’t see it really being much of a help. I don’t know for a fact, as I have never tested this with my own boat, or a model boat, but I would imagine that the foil would cause issues with the performance of the rudder while heeled over. I look at America’s Cup boats (older ones that had wet hulls) and they never had anything like that, so if it were something to improve performance, I would imagine they would use it.

Just my thoughts on the matter…

On a Mac 26S if the motor and rudder are down the two will meet with much damage to the rudder.

Macgregor once said about sailing that the motor always wins. That’s why as a newbie on a lake/river

I want the motor down and running while sailing. On a river, it’s tacks per minute rather than tacks per day.

Have you seen any foils that can be snap-on rather than needing drilling?

Eddy

So if you are looking to just protect the rudder from hitting the prop, and since thrust seems to be something you want, I would look into putting a nozzle like a kort nozzle type device on the motor. It will increase thrust, and it will also prevent the prop from hitting the rudder and making tooth picks out of it.

I originally looked at various prop guards but they were all $$$ and needed drilling.

I will end up there when the motor runs out of warranty and looks.

My first time out the SailPro died and I ended up beached.

The fishermen who pulled me off the beach were amazed that it floated in inches of wake.

Now I feel good about going anywhere on the lake (sort of) if the motor is down and running.

Hopefully, my skill will improve so that I can river sail like these guys. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lReTd6V33MM

Thanks for the goof-pause. Those little "yachts" are kinda cool and cheery, in a small town parade with little weaving Shriner cars kinda way. It might be fun to bang together something goofy like that in the back yard from plans or a kit. I could also see a solo cruiser type tugging one of those along as a mooring dinghy if they're reasonably stable. But one of the commenters claimed they cost like $5,000 to $6,000? That's where my smile vanishes.

The thing that got me is the sail area, speed, and maneuverability – no need for an outboard. Why wouldn’t some of that scale up to a 26’ mac?

Eddy

Those boats are very light and don't take much wind to make them move like that. The available power from the wind is going to go up in a fairly linear fashion as the sail area is increased but the hydraulic forces on the hull that the sails have to overcome will go up faster as the wetted surface is increased. If you scaled the boat up to give it a similar light wind performance and maneuverability it would not look anything like a MacGregor and you would not want to take it out in anything more than a light wind and flat water.

ibEddy2u wrote: ↑Fri Jun 18, 2021 11:24 pm The thing that got me is the sail area, speed, and maneuverability – no need for an outboard. Why wouldn’t some of that scale up to a 26’ mac?

Eddy

If you know your boat, you can sail in those tight spaces without a motor. If you really know what you're doing, you can sail in tight places without a motor while demonstrating your furling boom.