www.iFourWinns.com

I agree.. the Engineers at Volvo etc obviously understand their product well enough. If it was such a great performance enhancing device, all i/o's would come with it, as standard equipment.

_________________
2008 H180 3.0L Volvo/Penta

I suppose its possible, but also possible those issues would have happened anyway as your previous boat got older. Like I said, I have one on my current boat and used one on my previous boat without issues. I've searched for incidents, but haven't found any other than a few cases of the hydrofoil breaking off and taking pieces of the stearn drive fin(s) with it. These cases seem small in number compared to the number of people using them. Seems like to me that since the hydrofoil is in most cases made of plastic and held on by a couple of screws it would break before anything else, but I could be wrong.

I understand the part that if VP or Merc thought the drive should have a hydrofoil they would have put one on there. However, not every boat needs a hydrofoil and they make these drives for a lot of different boats and applications. My boat, being a 5.0 SX drive on a heavy boat has difficulty getting on plane with a lot of folks on board and suffers from prop washout. The hydrofoil has almost elimated these problems, but if the same 5.0 SX drive were on a smaller boat like a 190 or if there were say two 5.0 SX drives with trim tabs on a cruiser, than a hydrofoil probably wouldn't be necesary. These are examples of course, but hopefully you understand what I'm saying...

_________________
2008 FW F204 - 5.0 VP "Stand On It"
Former Boat: Larson 186 LXI - 4.3 VP

It lifts all the weight of the boat and passengers by the outdrive.

_________________

I installed the Nauticus SX Smart Tabs on my boat a couple weeks ago and really couldn't be happier, so far. I've had the boat out twice since installation and there is a real difference in handling for the better. Tracking at slow/no wake is GREATLY improved to where I can shift into foward with no additional throttle, point the boat where I want to go, and let go of the wheel. No need for constant corrections. My miniumum plane speed went from about 20mph to 15mph. Top speed slightly increased and the boat handles chop and wakes much better.

The down side? You have to drill holes in the back of your boat, control in reverse is less responsive and requires more input for the same response, and as stated before the wake is not as skier, boarder, tuber friendly. Durability will continue to be monitored but so far so good. The boat tends to rotate around the transom in a turn instead of the transom "sliding around the corner" if you can picture what I mean. That isn't really a bad thing but thought I should mention it.

I did alot of research on the 'net before buying these things. Really couldn't find any negative comments from anyone who actually used them. Everything I read said mostly the same thing I just did in this post. Its rare for a simple product such as this to work as well as it does. I've also heard that customer service is excellent. I'd buy them again if needed.

What boat do you have? Got any pics?

*edit - ok, '88 Horizon 200. Nice flat transom on those, perfect for installing the Nauticus tabs. Still like to see some pics

_________________
2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

Its a 1988 Horizon 200 with a 230HP 305 Chevy. I will try to get a few pictures today.