Volga Hydrofoils Messageboard

Hi my fellow hydo foilers I have an Volga 70 I bought it after the world fair held in Vancover British Columbia In 1986 it originaly had a MD32 AQ270 with a Volvo 270 out drive and it's been through a few changes over the yrs some successful some not so the the 1 st one was after wearing out the to heavy and power short Volvo md32 was to put a Mazda rotary motor in this took the speed up to 70 mph and the back of the boat was cleanly out of the water twin 10 ft rooster tails from the props wash 2 thing was putting a dual prop on the 270 out drive it worked like a champ for about 1/2 mile it eliminated the prop torque completely and also corrected the steering problem witch at 70 only wanted to turn to the right ( direction of prop) but the 270 was not strong enuff for the dual prop and it broke off ( I sadly watched it pass me up in about 300 ft of water) 3rd change was the bravo one was to big and heavy for the small rotary motor and boat was slowed down to 50 mph back of the boat was lower in the water 4th fix dropped in a 350 hp 350 ci Mercury fi motor it was before I found the web site IHS and it very nearly killed me I later read that these craft become highly unstable at exseses 70 mph wish I had that info before i became air born at 110 mph boat sank in 25 ft of water motor trashed engine cover missing ( note I'm looking for a new engine cover in the parts listing aria) windshield gone I did get to note that though the speed was greater the boat rear of the boat was not nearly as high in the back ( as I watch videos all the boats look low in the ass end in comparison to what I was achieving with the Mazda and the 270 ) so now what to do one do
A couple options is to mount a out board bracket to the transom one possible advantage would be that one could put a engine jack on the bracket to rise and lower the outboard to maximize the prop draft being the key to optimal reduction of drag witch in my opinion is what this boat is all about the new outboard motors are very light for there hp what I'm not sure about is hanging weight that far back of the boat an unknown for me ( any input here would be very appreciated ) the other option that comes to mind is use of a new lighter z drive ( inboard/ outboard ) and try fitting one of the new light weight rotex drive currently being used in personal water craft ( once again looking for any input here ) thanks for reading through this long post I love this boat it is like no other boat I have had the opportunity to ride in I have hundreds of hrs at her helm one trip alone took me from Seattle Washington to Homer Alaska and back one day on the upper Columbia river I traveled over 1000 miles in one day @ 70 mph I've hit floating debree slid up on sand bar's and once even took Jack Cousteau for a short ride in trade for diesel and dinner ( I ate alone in the crew galley ) but it was tasty and they filled up my diesel tanks and off I went
If I could add any advice to any one thinking about restoring one of these well crafted and thought out vessels one of the original concepts was weight they did every thing they could to keep the weight down keeping this in mind when restoring is key in my opinion we have a wider range of materials at our desosal than they did back it the day as well as a better weight to horse power options to consider so if your not looking to keep it as original as possible ( and I undersand and value that approach) I believe that these boats can be vastly improved apon for a faster and more economical craft weight is critical in ones alterations have and fun enjoy the flight
Doug
Dougieloo@aol.com

Hi Doug!

You have a very interesting story to share! Thanks for it.

Would you happen to have any videos of the Volga doing 70mph? I am interested in what stability and handling is at high speeds. Have you had any issues with cavitation on the foils? Basically with enough lift at high speeds that should possibly cause some trouble.

Regards,

Jouko