Frank Kowalski of Safehaven Marine contacted FASTcc to investigate hydrofoil assistance on their Thunder Child crafts. FASTcc proposed to develop an optimised Hysucraft foil system consisting of a main foil slightly forward of the LCG position and a rear foil at the transom. As the Thunder Child already has Humphree interceptors for trim control at speed, an adjustable rear foil was not necessary. Such a foil system was designed and then built by FASTcc associated foil builder in South Africa. All parts were delivered by air including foils, struts, flanges, bolts, etc.
The installations were done by the experts at Safehaven Marine and initial trial runs indicated a vast improvement of the performance of the craft to which the comment from Frank was given as below:
- Safehaven Marine launched Jack Settons XSV20 (TCIII) on Saturday, 27 July 2019.
- All turned out well and they are very pleased with the performance, especially the effect of the hydrofoil.
The craft achieved 45kts which is a good result. - The craft got on the plane with a full fuel load very easily with no hump, and only needing 40% of engine load in transition.
- Seakeeping seems very impressive too.
- Watch the launch video
This style of craft is designed for extreme wave running and can run head-on into breaking waves without becoming unstable. A manoeuvre of this kind cannot be achieved by any usual monohull craft.
See video of craft in breaking waves
