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Once the water pressure exceeds the actuator load rating (maximum lift) the trim plates move up to a horizontal position eliminating any drag.

Do not install a lifting hydrofoil on the cavitation plate of the outboard motor. These are airfoil shaped wings, offered in various sizes and shapes. Their purpose is to provide lift at the stern of the boat. This raises the stern and forces the bow down, allowing the boat to get up on a plane more quickly. If they do keep the boat level when coming up on a plane, the ballast tank may not drain completely when the boat is underway. You may think you have an empty tank, but you may not.

These hydrofoils create another problem when the boat turns or leans sideways while underway. The lift that they provide goes straight up the centerline of the outboard motor, adding a strong force to promote further leaning or capsize.

These devices can exert a large amount of force; enough to snap off the cavitation plate that is cast as part of the drive shaft housing. Avoid them

If you are caught in an electrical storm, dont touch anything that is metal, including the mast, shrouds, boom, lifelines, rudder, tiller or metal hardware. If possible, dont touch anything that is wet. Many experts recommend that a heavy gauge copper wire be securely fastened to one of the shrouds and allowed to hang in the water to carry off the electricity from a lightning strike.

Keep the crew weight aft, low in the boat, and centered from side to side. Keep the crew in the cockpit, sitting down. The rear of the hull is relatively flat, and the nose area has a deep V to allow the boat to slide through waves with less slamming. If there is a lot of crew weight forward, the flat part of the hull bottom, which normally provides the stability, is raised higher out of the water, and is less effective in providing sideways stability. With the crew weight forward, the nose is depressed. The deep V nose shape does not contribute much to stability. When excess weight is at the front of the boat, the less stable nose area is carrying more of the weight of the boat and crew, the boat becomes far more easily capsized. Keep weight off of the forward V berth when under way, and avoid storing heavy items under the V berth. Crew members on the foredeck or cabin top are far more likely to get bounced out of the boat than those in the cockpit or inside the cabin. Anyone on the cabin top will have a natural tendency to grab the mast or mast support wires if the boat tips. That puts a heavy load high on the mast and tends to lever the boat over. Keep the weight low. Obviously, it is best to have the crew positioned so the boat sits or rides level rather than leaning to one side or the other.

Incidentally, I have a a lifting hydrofoil on the cavitation plate of my outboard motor and like it.

Moe wrote:If you're going to use a motor hydrofoil mounted on the motor anti-ventilation plate, it becomes even more important to mount the motor up where the plate is at or above the bottom of the transom, if you don't do this, the plate will be submerged at higher speeds, with the following problems:

1. Greater increase in drag. There's some drag, even with the plate up with the water hitting the bottom of it. But submerged, there's much more.

2. Much more excessive bow lift when trimmed too far up past optimum. At higher speeds, this can cause porpoising.

3. Much more excessive bow down force when trimmed too far down past optimum. At higher speeds, this can cause "bow steering," which is the bow deflecting hard one way or another, often suddenly, and sometimes causing passengers to fall... and with an unballasted Mac, possibly roll the boat.

--
Moe

since it doesn't look like we'll get our X wet this year.