I'm thinking of making a nose protector. Have all the parts needed shown in the pics. I will drill a hole in the rubber blocks, insert the blocks over the screw and tighten with the wing nut. I will bore out a shallow wider hole to accombinate the size of the wing nut. What are your thoughts on this?
I would order a surfbent if I where you. I've had some serious crashes and no damage at all.
If not copy the form so to a bigger area of the nose is protected and the force will be distributed over a larger area. I'm pretty sure you will end up denting you deck this way.
1. Leverage: forces on the rubber will be very high. Must distribute over the largest possible area and absorb some or things will break.
2. Mast flex: if you look at how much a mast can bend when landing a back loop, the distance between the mast and the nose does not seem that safe.
Nose protectors actually mounted on the nose of the board avoid or reduce both issues.
I guess to correct my original post, I ment to make a device to protect the nose. Now in those pics, the mast is sitting about 7 inches off the nose. Those rubber blocks are for lift kits on trucks, so they are supper strong with not much give. My worry was if the mast were to come down hard on the blocks, would that crush the deck under the blocks or is the mast track going to prevent that situation from happening? Also I have to put a lot of force on the mast to make it touch the nose. Given the situation on water, would the nose be forced to go under the water when the mast hits those blocks before the mast would hit the nose?
Both can work, but both can also fail if the fall is hard enough. The safest solution I've seen is Grayson's self-made protector (www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34421). It's big enough to absorb anything. Not sure if the dialer is long enough for this to work, though.
Also, nose repairs are pretty easy, and can be re-done as often as needed, so I would not worry too much.
Try the pool noodle donut around the mast, and/or across the front of the board. Maybe some screws to hold the nose pool noodle with velcro, or glue a split noodle around the front.
I am on my third noodle in a year, still crashing while having fun learning to foil.
Have racked up a $10 bill for noodles, no broken board nose as yet.
Also put a rubber/plastic tube inside the noodle to give a bit more strength.
Yes, bands are velcro, they also get weaker with age and wear, so if you use contact cement, likely will have to repeat to replace the velcro straps. Maybe cement some kind of flat loop to board and thread the velcro through the loop.
Somewhere I saw a video that shows a pool noodle in the shape of a ring around the mast base. Get a noodle, glue the ends together to form a ring, and just set it on the board. Maybe a little contact cement to keep it from moving around during sailing.
It looks interesting. I have no idea how effective it is at keeping the sail mast off the nose of the board during a catapult. I have not tried it myself.
It's all finished! There is a clear vinyl tube inside the noodle for added protection. The noodle is attached with 4 Velcro straps threaded through 4 bowline knots that are JB Welded to The board. The whole noodle feels very stable and solid on the board. Total weight of the protection is 1 pound
Great work!
I wish you many hours of crash-less foiling.
However, it's good to have the protection in the unlucky event...
I am unable to tell any weight difference of the board with the pool noodle and tube on or off.
Also weighed the pool noodle and tube. With a semi scientific approach of standing on a digital scale without the pool noodle and tube, then with. The reading was the same, to the decimal place. So I think my combo weighs less than 1/10 of a pound.
Hope this helps.
You guys are correct!! Just talked to Wyatt earlier and he told me the exact same thing. I won't notice a difference of noodle weight.
I can't wait to get foiling!!! About 1 more month to go, weather permitting and I'm off for my first foiling experience! I just hope I won't have any equipment failure like I'm hearing from several here. I will be on fresh water only and will disassemble the foil after every session.