I think they also claimed it could slice bread and cure cancer.
--Dave S.
On 2/6/08 5:49 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The purpose of the Dole Fin was to assist a power boat to plane. I would be
> useless on a displacement craft's outboard.
>
> Capt. David Hoyt
>
> In a message dated 2/6/2008 3:04:40 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>> YES!!! The Dol-Fin...I remember the teeny ads in the back of mags like
>> Small Boat Journal!!!
>>
>> I can still see little half-tones of the beasts in my mind, burned into
>> my brain like
>> neurological fossils from some graceful, simpler time of Phil Bolger
>> designs and
>> Edey & Duff gunkholers.
>>
>> Wait...did I just use the word "graceful" in the same sentence with
>> "Phil Bolger?"
>>
>> tf
>> no fatty knees
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> David Shugarts wrote:
>>> >
>>> > There is a certain unavoidable dichotomy about this. I cannot see how a
>>> > racing sailor would want it, but a cruising sailor would probably really
>>> > like it (depending on his waters). We grow a lot of marine flora and
>>> fauna
>>> > here in Connecticut, and I wouldn't want it, whether racing or cruising.
>>> But
>>> > wherever it could be kept clean, it would make a serious difference in
>>> > thrust, at a cost in drag (especially under sail).
>>> >
>>> > Similarly, there is an even simpler device said to give certain
>>> beneficial
>>> > effects to an outboard. Back around 1987, I was editor of Powerboat
>>> Reports
>>> > and we decided to test a device called the Dol-fin. I don't know whether
>>> it
>>> > is still available. Essentially, it is like adding stylish wingtips to
>>> your
>>> > anti-cavitation plate. There were various claims of fuel efficiency,
>>> speed
>>> > and control, I believe. As I recall (20 years ago now) there was no
>>> > appreciable difference in any parameter when we tested it in real-life
>>> > conditions. You were trading off some well-understood aerodynamic (er,
>>> > hydrodynamic) benefits versus wetted surface (wetted surface always means
>>> > drag).
>>> >
>>> > --Dave S.
>>> >
>>
>
>
>
>
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>
