Hydrofield boat owners
Submitted by straith on Sat, 2021-01-16 00:51
Hi all,
Just wondering if there are any other hydrofield boat owners on fishwrecked??
Would love to chat about their experiences / opinions??
I know there is an australian owners group on facebook but im not on facebook.
Anyway hit me up if you own one.
Cheers
Image Upload:
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
Ok Crickets lol
Looks like I have a unique, no worries, will report on performance intermittently for any future potential owners.
Looking to upgrade the twin 2 stroke 90 mercs shortly.
If anyones interested in them hit me up.
Cheers
ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
The Ausfish forum will be of help
www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php/208668-Hydrofield-information it is largely Queensland based, the link is just one that came up in the forum when I did a search for Hydrofield. They have a niche following over there, I've hardly seen any over here. It's a good forum to join, I'm only on it for boating and electronics, it's quite active.
HTH
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
Cheers mate Ill have a
Cheers mate Ill have a stickybeak
Deckie
Posts: 1296
Date Joined: 03/04/09
Another.
There is one "Jaguar" just off Marmion Ave in Kallaroo. It can be seen from Marmion heading north...
Cheers & Stay safe
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
Thx Deckie!
I might pop past and knock on the door
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1322
Date Joined: 23/02/11
my dad bought one bradnew at
my dad bought one bradnew at the perth boat show in 1988 which was the first of the newer shape which had the stepped centre hull (like the model pictured), he sold it about 18m-2 years ago. For an 18 foot boat it had huge deck space and handled the seas like a much bigger boat. We went everywhere in that, exmouth, monte's, lacepede islands (off broome)
For a boat that size my only complaint was the forward access - getting the anchor up a pain- apart from that it was a gun
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
100% agree
Yeah agree completely re the anchor .. getting an auto drum anchorwinch ibstalled asap!
Hoping to give it some challenges over the coming months once ive finished customising it a bit.... needs some 21 century updates but I must say Im pretty excited to see how she handles.
SeperateKnob
Posts: 668
Date Joined: 28/11/16
Geez where do you put the
Geez where do you put the transducer on those hulls? Between the outboards?
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
The centre hull stops halfway...
Then steps up, part of an air lift system, lol dont ask me to explain as i dont really understand it myself.
The transducer sits right in the middle of that. Supposed to give an awesome reading even at high speed but ill let you know if its true, im getting my 9" garmin echomap uhd installed hopefully as soon as lockdown is over.
SeperateKnob
Posts: 668
Date Joined: 28/11/16
Looks like a good offshore
Looks like a good offshore hull. What are you looking to replace the twin mercs with?
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
Single150 yammy
Id love to just switch the 2 strokes for a pair of yammy or suzi 90's but .. $$$
SeperateKnob
Posts: 668
Date Joined: 28/11/16
Yeah fair cop twins are exxy.
Yeah fair cop twins are exxy. Single 150 yam should provide similar cruise and a little less top end but I’d say hole shot would be considerably less.
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
Ive read in eastern states
Ive read in eastern states forums guys reckon anywhere from 150 up to 225 for that boat.
225 Seems overkill to me as ive also read they arent a hull that benefits from more hp than is needed.
Apparently they have an optimum top speed and once you hit it doesnt matter what else you throw at it you dont get much more speed.
Ive had this one up to 38.7 knots with that big canopy up and trimmed up as far as i dared before my phone fell off the dash and i had to slow down to pick it up ( pre garmin purchase).
It gets a bit squirrelly at that speed and i must admit i chickened out not being very familiar with the boat.
They say its typical of hydrofields and once you learn to trust it its amazing.
Anyway im hoping 150 will be something akin to the 2x 90s, i could go 175 but then im into a significant motor upgrade and cost accordingly.
Hopefully it lives up to its reputation.
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1322
Date Joined: 23/02/11
re the air lift My dads (and
re the air lift
My dads (and this one should be the same) have two holes at the bow just below the rub strip - these allow air into a cavity wich runs down to the step - there are two holes there as well. This feature does a few things
1) breaks the drag caused by the step in the hull as at speed air is allowed to travel through the cavity and exit at the step (which is a low pressure area- so the air is actually drawn there)
2) creates a small flooding keel when at rest - not that you need extra stability in a tri-hull!
3) adds a dimension of safety in the event the centre hull keel is damaged in a grounding as the cavity effectively creates a liner to the centre hull
Point one above is a consideration when placing your transducer as at speed you will get bubbles goign past it in the centre - low speed not a problem
I reckon 150 would be enough, cant recall the last engine on my dads boat but think it that was enough! - lots of good memories come back to me after looking at the picture of you boat :-)
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1322
Date Joined: 23/02/11
re the air liftMy dads (and
double post
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
Cheers Pelagic!Yeah id heard
Cheers Pelagic!
Yeah id heard something similar, cant say i understand the physics behind it but hey as long as it works right?
Sounds like it was an old friend for you growing up?
As I said Im looking to pimp it up to 21st century a bit.
One of the things im used to having is a foam filled hull for peace of mind,
These have like a waffle pattern underfloor that can be customised into extra storage, kill tanks etc..
What are peoples thoughts about the doability of foam filling those compartments? Is it something other guys have done to older boats?
If so are we looking at guys like "gt fibreglass" again for something of that magnitude??
Any thoughts on this idea??
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1322
Date Joined: 23/02/11
yeah i loved that boat, my
yeah i loved that boat, my parents moved to K-town in 1994 (and still reside there) so for me the real adventures really started when i used to fly up and we would go to the monte's or just into the archipelago - for its size it really punched above its weight and for sleep overs nothing beats a multihull when you have tides that leave you high and dry!
Re the foam filled - i do recall my dads boat would always get water into the outside hulls -not a lot but when we got back there was always some that came out when bungs removed - he could never work out where it would come in but something to consider (in terms of foam type used) if you are going to foam fill
in terms of the physics -i am no expert but i think the principal is the same adopted by the catalina flying boats - stepped hull breaks drag (but also creates low pressure behind it) - the air stream from bow breaks or releases the low pressure which lowers the drag through the water therefor increasing efficiency - simples!
straith
Posts: 422
Date Joined: 25/11/13
Haha yeah ive got same issue
Haha yeah ive got same issue with water in left hull.
Ive replaced the bung housing in all bungs which seemed to help rhs hull but was driving with hatch open the other day into some chop and reckon i got some water in the cabin which i notice doesnt seem to have a bung outlet so maybe getting in from there somewhere?
Ive spoken to Scott from hydrofieldtrihulls in qld and he confirmed the outer hulls should be dry... having said that theyre equipped with bungs so... which is it? Lol
Its possible waters getting in from a rod holder/ canopy mount or somesuch.
Not a huge concern but Ive got time to work these bugs out.
Given its age its obviously got alot of old custom attachments and fittings which may be leaky.
I thought filling the outer hulls with foam might be the go leaving the underfloor compartments however I might be changing the ride of the boat doing that so then again maybe not lol.
Ive seen pix of other jaguars that have all their compartments utilised for storage and it looked awesome.
As we all know you can never have too much storage space right?!
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1322
Date Joined: 23/02/11
spot on with the storage - -
spot on with the storage - - never came in with rain only in the ocean and every bung configuration you can imagine was tried!
i reckon the water was coming in through the hull join under the rub strip - water being forced up there underway and leaking in slowly through gaps/crack etc in the join - was never an issue just used to bug dad!