Hi,
After my first rides with my new Slingshot H4 Foil behind a boat on sea water and rinsing it with freshwater, i discoverd that there where still saltwater marks on the wing at the fuselage area.
Meanwhile i have rinsed it three times with freshwater and still i get salty marks.
My fuselages allready started corroding.
Is that a defect or usual?
Are these SS wings hollow?
I could detect small cracks at the back of the wing left and right of the fuselage.
Alex
I have the H4 AlexF for about 6 months now. I've not had mine corrode like your photos show. Did you rinse or "blast rinse" after use? I use a pretty high pressure hose and jam it right into that rearwing/fuselage.
Maybe there is a high(er) salt content where you are using? Strange....if it persists you could consider coating that general area in bomb proof marine anticorrosive? I actually do put a little bit around the fuselage at each end where the front wing slots into. Im 99% sure wings are solid. I am no expert yet though.....
By getting a large enough container filling it with very hot water but not near boiling. Immerse wing and see if bubbles come out anywhere.
that will sort out of your wing is hollow and cracked or porous.
Just carry a cordless drill in your car and take apart and wash it , let dry & reassemble. Make sure you put some tef-grease on those bolts . What makes the SS different to other Ali rigs is the fuselage fits inside the wing , most just screw on the top so makes it almost impossible to get all the salt out just by rinsing it and that's why it seems to be leaking , it's salt ozzing from around the fuselage as it grows. I had a SS for a couple of months testing and I would pull apart after weekend sessions and it was fine. The wings are built like tanks it won't be leaking. Blast rinsing like Steve said is much better then just a hose off.
I guess i have discovered the cause of the leaking by rinsing it and putting it in the sun to heat it up. The wing startet to leak even inside the fuselage housing, but also apparently at the cutout for the mast. Its all allong a small crack/line what i guess is a bonding seam.
This would mean they build the wings by building an upper and lower half of the wing and glue these togethter, leaving some hollow areas at the bonding surfaces that soak water when the bonding seam is not watertight.
Alex
Can you log a warranty case mate.
There was an Quality Control issue with a single batch of H4 wings that were cracking open and absorbing and leaking water. This issue has long been addressed and the new batches don't have any issues.
slingshotaustralia.com.au/pages/warranty
Meanwhile i sold the 2018 Fsurf + H4 and got a 2019 FSurf with the Infinity 76 wing, but that was too small for small wave SUP foiling with my 90kg, so now i got a Infinity 84.
These new wings are lighter and seem to have a foam core, covered with a outer carbon shell.
Does anybody know if the outer shell should be bond to the core all around the wing or if on the downside of the wing right in the middle of the left and right wing surface a hollow space between outer shell and core is nothing unusual with the new wings?
For me it feels like a delimated board that i had some years ago, but maybe it has to be that way.
I couldn't remember this on the 76 (sold now) but on the 84 it's obvious.
Alex
For those of you who cannot get a replacement wing & wondering how to stop the leak.
I have discovered that mine is leaking also. Its an exact copy of the H4 wing I got on ebay besides its colour.
After a surf I rinse it in fresh water.
I then stood it on its nose against a wall in the sun & I could see water leaking into the fuselarge housing close to its nose. Almost half a glass of water came out.
I then got some marine grade silastic that is capable of bonding to wet & greasy surfaces. It also takes ages to cure but bonds well.
I then formed a blob of it with wet fingers & stuck it lightly on the end of a long piece of thin dowel & lowered it into the fuselarge housing, spun the stick until it fell off. Then got some lithium spray & sprayed the end of the fuselarge that inserts into the wing & rammed it in twice to squash the silicane hoping it squeezes into the hole or crack. pulled the fuselarge out & sprayed again before ramming it in again. Don't continuously ram the fuselarge in without spraying as the silastic will stick the end of the fuselarge & make a mess.
Make sure not to much silastic is applied otherwise the bolt holes will not line up. I had to remove some with the dowel so when inserting the fuselarge I would only have to pull the fuselarge back by about 3mm for the holes to line up. then left it overnight before re inserting the fuselarge. Tested it & no more leaking. Yay!
There were also like two elongated holes in the housing a bit further forward of the mast hole from the manufacturing process that are much harder to get to which was a concern when I discovered them the next day but they were not the cause.
