Whale Tail, What's Your Thoughts?
- Thread starter TomG
- Start date
Striper Slayer
Active Member
I have one on my 19' bass boat. Took it off one summer to see if it made a difference. Next time I went out I thought my boat was broke becaue it tool so much longer to plane. Put it back on and it is still there. My opinion is they are worth it!
Gem Morris
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
My first boat was a small 16 foot I/O open bow with a four-cylinder engine. It dramastically helped. 
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Sampson767
Member
I have one on my 186 fish n ski with 4.3 I/O, it came on the boat. The boat planes much faster then the other 4.3 I/O's I've had so I'm sold and would recommend it. I have just the standard 4 hole.
Not sure about the effectiveness of it in Maytag though, I still had to go nose up 10-13mph just off plane when I was there in June. I would've been battered to pieces at speed. But my boat is smaller too
Not sure about the effectiveness of it in Maytag though, I still had to go nose up 10-13mph just off plane when I was there in June. I would've been battered to pieces at speed. But my boat is smaller too
upthecreek
Active Member
I have heard it mentioned that they add stress to the outdrive and transom. Dont know if that is the case, or to what degree. We have one on a Bayliner 215 with a 5 liter and the difference is substantial. Whole different boat with it on.
Maverick5207
Well-Known Member
That was a great question. I don't have one on my boat. Got a 115 hp Johnson on an 18 ft Crestliner. Any recommendations?
upthecreek
Active Member
They help a lot on little boats too. On a little 14 foot aluminum v hull with a 35 Johnson tiller with no trim, the tendency was to ride bow high even on plane cause of the weight in the back. Motor, me, fuel, etc. Whale tail helps it out of the hole, and it rides level just like it was sitting on the trailer. Tracks and steers better and cuts thru the chop instead of slapping thru it. Again, if there is a down-side to them I havent experienced it yet
Long ago we had an older ranger that when we went to powell would need someone to sit upfront to get up on plane when we were fully loaded going out with gas and supplies. Whale tail fixed that problem and we never looked back. If you consider this a negative it seemed to drop our overall speed a few mph and didn't really notice a change in fuel economy that was advertised. In my opinion the boat handled waves better and getting on plane so quickly was a nice bonus for visibility and safety. We never took it off and overall were happy we made the change, I only wished we had added it earlier.
upthecreek
Active Member
I carry and use 3 different pitch props for backups and different applications. 21,19,17. I think the whale tail helps them all. Clearly not all boats are the same and YMMV.
Ryan
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Pretty sure everyone switched to surfing…..j
I’ve heard the same thing others mentioned about stress on the out drive. That said, I had one on my folks 21’ Larson years ago. It porpoised terribly with the high five prop before we added it. The whale tail completely smoothed out the ride in that boat.
I also added one to my under powered 16’ Lund with a 60 HP Merc. It made it significantly easier to get on plane.
FishnFly
Active Member
I have a 21ft. Ranger 621 VS with a 300hp Merc Verado.
It is miles above any other boat I’ve ever had. I absolutely love it!
Because of the size of the motor I get on plane super quickly but I’ve noticed the speed it takes to get on plane is 19-21mph. And then it rockets through 30mph if I’m not on top of it.
So with regard to towing young skiers (I installed a high quality aftermarket tripod ski pylon) I’ve found the speeds they feel the most comfortable are slower than it takes to get on plane. Therefore I have a large wake for them to navigate.
I’ve also noticed the prop cavitates and/or slips at higher speed tight turns. It’s better if I’m trimmed down all the way but it still revs up in the turn.
Was thinking of adding a whale tale to combat both of these issues? Just not sure it’s necessary, worth it and now after reading this thread am concerned it may not be good for the engine.
As always, thank you for your advice.
It is miles above any other boat I’ve ever had. I absolutely love it!
Because of the size of the motor I get on plane super quickly but I’ve noticed the speed it takes to get on plane is 19-21mph. And then it rockets through 30mph if I’m not on top of it.
So with regard to towing young skiers (I installed a high quality aftermarket tripod ski pylon) I’ve found the speeds they feel the most comfortable are slower than it takes to get on plane. Therefore I have a large wake for them to navigate.
I’ve also noticed the prop cavitates and/or slips at higher speed tight turns. It’s better if I’m trimmed down all the way but it still revs up in the turn.
Was thinking of adding a whale tale to combat both of these issues? Just not sure it’s necessary, worth it and now after reading this thread am concerned it may not be good for the engine.
As always, thank you for your advice.
We have had one (ours is the stringray classic) on our 20' runabout for more than 15 years, broke one and the difference was substantial, boat planes much faster (14 mph with 18 without) and porpoising is nonexistent with it on. Had it break a few years ago and immediately bought a new one. Well worth the 1-2 mph you lose on the top end.
bobco
Well-Known Member
i really don't think it hurts anything, had it on my 1994 merc for 15 years no problems, gives you a slower plane speed for water sports. a lot of the newer big fiberglass boats are going to trim tabs as well, more money but hell if you got a 621 no issue lol....