Designing planer boards is a hobby I am hooked on and wanted to share my ideas and developments. I sell BulletBobber and DualFin planers that flip direction but realized many folks just want small user friendly planers that can equal the performance of large heavy boards.
Anyhow, I'm testing wings and tails on small custom molded foam planer boards. I had the foam bodies molded in China in 4 sizes. I am drilling the hole and cutting the slot and inserting different shape wings and tails in the slot. I cut the shapes out of a milk jug. The foam bodies I'm testing are 3" long.
This is a close up of P3 pulling a lure larger then itself. The wing kept the attack angle stable at speeds from 0.2 to 2.0 mph. The furl off the keel hits the wing harder the faster you go keeping it stable. Forgive me for struggling to explain how it works, I'm still trying to mechanically rationalize my observations and put them into words!
Here are P3 and P5 planing way out to the side with large lures.
I also figured out how to attach a fin to a BulletBobber
It worked great for trolling from shore by walking and I caught several Bass and many bluegills.
Paul - For more info visit
http://www.bulletbobber.com/inworks.html