The Shinnster is made of paulownia wood whereas the Axis New Wave has a PVC foam core so I think you'd probably need to reenforce the it (but maybe an expert could weigh in).
My Manta has arrived but I havent yet DAMMIT!!! so I'll post a review when I get my hot little hands on it
^^^ Yes please Coops pretty interested, particularly build quality, stuff like stiffness of wing & mast joints to fuselage when bolted up. Also keen of course to hear how your first rides go. Pics would be good too.
Just finished building a custom hydrofoil board, I wanted it to be around 3-3.5 kg when finished with out traction pad or straps so used polystyrene blank with stringer, used four layers of carbon two top two bottom with a 4 layer overlap for the rails, also tri-weave glass over the deck area with three layers of carbon at 45 degrees off set where foot pads will be. I use vacuum bagging to keep resin to cloth ratio ideal and minimise weight. Resin use was epoxy. All up cost were near $800 in materials, there are many stages to making a board and good preparation for each stage is essential, also you will need to have a room with ideal temperature control for this time of year (winter WA). The indent in the board is for a SpeedPuck - Velocitek gps.
Nice work, very professional. I can't figure out how you have spent $800 worth of material though. Do you include the GPS in it?
Keen to know where you buy the straps from.
No gps not included, Carbon 4 sq m , resin, glass fibre tri weave, blank, peel ply, bagging consumables it all adds up when you want carbon and low weight then you got paint and finish, deck pad binding anchors and straps. Straps are from TKF.
No gps not included, Carbon 4 sq m , resin, glass fibre tri weave, blank, peel ply, bagging consumables it all adds up when you want carbon and low weight then you got paint and finish, deck pad binding anchors and straps. Straps are from TKF.
Wow that's a lot. I am finishing a strapless pocket board (120 x 46 x 3), also vac bagged it with Fiberglass, carbon patches, divinycell boxes, full NL20 wrap and it cost me just short of $250. Adding 6 straps anchor would cost barely an extra $50. Not counting the hours spent though.....
How much is the tri-weave per meter? Is it a 1200mm wide cloth? Quite keen to try it on the next board.
I have to say I am impressed by the result of the laminate with corecork NL20. I have bought it in bulk as I have a few projects to come so if you are keen to try out on another board, just pm me.
Tri weave is not that much but 4m carbon is $340 it would be cheaper in bulk but I only wanted 4 m, blank is $150
I knew there was a use for these kitchen appliances!! Perfect for little jobs. Mast under vacuum, only fuselage to go :)
I knew there was a use for these kitchen appliances!! Perfect for little jobs. Mast under vacuum, only fuselage to go :)
Haha, that is one funny use of a kitchen vacuum sealer there. Purpose of vacuum bagging in that case is more to have a "clamp-like system" across the piece and get a better resin-cloth ratio (I am still learning but that's why I would use vac bagging for). Not sure how much vacuum you are getting there, but I doubt it is clamping the part at all.
If you look closely you will see resin bleed through the perforated film, it will only do that when adequate pressure is applied, I used a light weight peel ply, so not to remove too much resin, having been a boatbuilder working in composites for over 30 years I can guarantee you there is plenty of pressure for the job at hand.
Lol,
I knew there was a use for these kitchen appliances!! Perfect for little jobs. Mast under vacuum, only fuselage to go :)
Lol, that's ingenious! Did you do a foam core? How long is that mast?
I'm going 1m for the mast, I used 2 layers of 5mm balsa for the core with 2 100gm high modulus carbon in the middle, outer laminate is 2 oz Innegra, 100gm high modulus carbon at 45 degrees,(so 2 layers) 1 x 300 gm carbon at 0 degrees followed by a further 2 oz Innegra and a 4 oz S Glass. This will give me a 14mm foil. After fairing and joining top plate and fuselage junction I shall wrap in a 4 oz carbon twill and a 2 oz glass, that will give me a final dimension of 15mm, give or take!! Thats the theory, but I shall reassess stiffness and torsional rigidity after taking the vacuum bag off.
Big respect to you guys building your own.. I know I have neither the skills or the patience. Otherwise I'd be right on it
Cab offering on sale now - complete Foilfish copy or is that just my eyes?
greenhatkiteboarding.com/
85cm mast is fairly short, some say harder to ride. PU wings, look to have a slight curve. Box section fuse welded to Mast. Claim to be 'lighter than other aluminium options on the market" without providing weights.
I'm guessing Liquid Force is about to leave them one step behind ...
I'm going 1m for the mast, I used 2 layers of 5mm balsa for the core with 2 100gm high modulus carbon in the middle, outer laminate is 2 oz Innegra, 100gm high modulus carbon at 45 degrees,(so 2 layers) 1 x 300 gm carbon at 0 degrees followed by a further 2 oz Innegra and a 4 oz S Glass. This will give me a 14mm foil. After fairing and joining top plate and fuselage junction I shall wrap in a 4 oz carbon twill and a 2 oz glass, that will give me a final dimension of 15mm, give or take!! Thats the theory, but I shall reassess stiffness and torsional rigidity after taking the vacuum bag off.
Could you tell us the estimated cost ? Also, what material are you going to use for the plate?
Cost will be approximately $450, thats using high modulus carbon, so I could have done it a little cheaper. Base will be solid glass laminated onto the mast, much like the Lift foil. Having done this one I will attempt to make a cheap one, not using exotics and compare performance and cost, interesting little project.
Love the designer notes thanks Smithy.
I can see the differences over LF emerging -
-the wings being 'mini TT' construction style.
- welded fuse - less screwing and no water ingress
- titanium screws
- 3 footstrap position
The whole lot seems really bombproof which would be good considering there photos on forums of at least 2 LF wings that have disintegrated, they aren't all that strong, with just soft foam cores by the look.
I will be interested to see what speeds it can do - the snub nosed box section fuse looks pretty slow & draggy.
I would also like to see them release the weights - can't claim lightness without the figures to back it up.
Smithy - no mention in those 2 vids of the 2nd wing option? Do you have any other info?
I saw this comment which isn't promising:
"I rode it a week ago in Indo. Its heavy as **** and welding was letting water sip thru. It was not a production version yet, so it maybe bettter once finished. It was very stable once foiling."
Are titanium, aluminum, and salt water a good mix for galvanic corrosion? They are far apart in anodic index.
Smithy - no mention in those 2 vids of the 2nd wing option? Do you have any other info?
In the first video there is a quick mention that the foil wings can be changed to a race wing option, but there is no other reference anywhere else that I can see... I liked the theory that the low twin tip type volume helps sink the rail for starting...
To me the board construction, wing option (to be confirmed) and potential price of around $2k is very appealing...
OK, I must have missed that mention of the race wing. LF have also promised faster wings and not delivered yet - long wait for some! Yes, it's appealing to me too - currently it seems like a better LF than the LF. I like the point that it's a rig you can travel with, without a 2nd thought about damage.
I'm just worried about weight and speed. If it clears those hurdles I'm all for it, however I have serious doubts at the moment.
I thought the 'sink the rail' line seemed like a dodgy justification for a heavy setup - but I also thought "what do I know?"
I think unfortunately that between the falling dollar, and end of pre-order pricing, plus the new board model, Alpinfoil has climbed out of my price range at over $3,000 in the hand. Another $750 + postage to upgrade to the speed wing ("sport") later. Having said that, Damien is a good guy to deal with and has sent me various drool-worthy pics. The quality is obvious, not to mention 32.9kts with the speed wing is right up there for any foil let alone aluminium.
this is the galvanic isolators / adjustment shims
Assembly
nice covers with everything
More board porn
If I could go back in time at this point, I'd probably jump on a pre-order!!
Dave you been at this for abit now.... make up your mind and let us know how your new foil goes or pop down to the post office and pick up a diary for your wish list buy/expense daily journal. Or start a blog