Any feed back on these?
I have a SlingShot coming and interested in this as it would mean I can use 3 of my boards without feeling scared of damaging fin boxes.
Green foam makes contact with bottom of the board and Tuttle/power box shape is attached via board fin bolt holes. Plate on foil attaches to plate on board. Boom!
Yes i used one last year on a 122L Starboard Go, it was a great setup. I have since moved on to a shorter board. I had no issues. There's a bit more setup and breakdown than with a dedicated foilboard especially if you sail saltwater, but thtat is it. I used the Tuttle box version with a leash around the mast for safety. The fin box showed zero signs of compromise, the plate did its job well.
Select to expand quoteWindbot said..
Yes i used one last year on a 122L Starboard Go, it was a great setup. I have since moved on to a shorter board. I had no issues. There's a bit more setup and breakdown than with a dedicated foilboard especially if you sail saltwater, but thtat is it. I used the Tuttle box version with a leash around the mast for safety. The fin box showed zero signs of compromise, the plate did its job well.
Thanks Windbot. Are you still using it? Are you on SS?
I have one that I use with an ancient formula board with the deep tuttle finbox way too far aft compared to foil boards.
The Power Plate:
(1) allows for large fore and aft adjustment of the foil for a finbox that is in a fixed position
(2) spreads the cantilevering load so that there is less danger of a failed finbox (cheap insurance for existing "fin" boards)
(3) has tops available for deep tuttle, regular tuttle, and powerbox finboxes
(4) is very easy to leash; just run some kiteline from an unused hole in the plate up to a rear footstrap
The only downsides:
(5) adds some weight, but you don't notice this when you get flying
(6) available only for Slingshot-style masts
it is nice that some other foil brands have little flanges on their tops to accurately seat the foil top in the finbox and to spread the load, but none of them comes even close to the 60 sq in of load spread offered by the Powerplate.
Select to expand quoteBSN101 said..Windbot said..
Yes i used one last year on a 122L Starboard Go, it was a great setup. I have since moved on to a shorter board. I had no issues. There's a bit more setup and breakdown than with a dedicated foilboard especially if you sail saltwater, but thtat is it. I used the Tuttle box version with a leash around the mast for safety. The fin box showed zero signs of compromise, the plate did its job well.
Thanks Windbot. Are you still using it? Are you on SS?
Not anymore. I decided I liked windfoiling so much that I wanted to get a dedicated windfoil board so I could enjoy it even more. I now have a Wizard 125L but have barely used it as there has been so little wind here lately. I have no regrets whatsoever about the PowerPlate setup, it let me get into this niche sport within a niche sport when there were no used board options on the market.
Sounds like a good option for me. Now, does anyone have one that they don't need any longer and want to sell ( before I buy new) for use with SS.
In my experience they can be tough to find used as they usually sell used with a board. I hope you find one!
The hole pattern in the Powerplate was changed from last your to this year. The 2019 plate now "Now fits Naish Foils hole alignment plus others", according to chinooksailing.com/products/powerplate-windsurf-foil-plate-coming-soon (seems they never updated the page address; they definitely have been shipping the 2019 Powerplate, I got one from them).
The 2018 plate has a hole pattern that does not work for the 2019 Slingshot pedestal. But the 2019 plate works great.
Shortly after my last post, I went out to start on putting a foil box into my board that I had used with the Powerplate. To my surprise, I discovered some damage from the front edge of the power plate:
The board was used only ~ 4 times for foiling. The other board (a Skate 90 TE) was used perhaps 10 times, and has no sign of damage.
One tip that we have ignored so far was to use very long screws and huge washers so that the washer can be on top of the board, rather than on the plastic of the powerbox.
The Skate 110 that has the damage is of a bit unusual construction. It's supposed to be glass, but there's definitely a layer of carbon in there that was not listed in the specs. The board is also lighter and stiffer than a supposedly identical replacement that I got a few years later (or at least it was lighter before I used it to practice nose and delam repairs
).
Used P plate on 3 diff boards.
Never tightened that much as plate floats on pads.
Plate is good but probably gives most of its benefit close to the area close to and above/below fin box.
as you increase plate area you start transferring load to unsupported skin.
I agree force is less.
but because you go further from the fulcrum point the load point is focused on the forward edge of the plate( cause it moves in the longest arc ) and thus is focused on possibly the weakest area of skin on the board.
But keep testing for me to alleviate my concerns.
I'm using a powerplate/powerbox adapter on a Kona Carbone longboard, with an infinity 84 wing on the 61cm mast. Plate works perfectly and there are so far no signs of wear to the board although there's an awful lot of board sticking out the front once I'm flying, and I'm a 105kg heavyweight. I haven't jumped it, obviously, but have taken some hard spills without incident. I do have a Deep Tuttle adapter also but my formula board has been reinforced so I haven't been using the powerplate on that setup, just the SS DT head. Powerplate is heavy but you don't notice on the water, just while schlepping the rig around.
Never could tighten the screws so the alu comes near the hull. Always a gap of at least 1mm.
Select to expand quoteLeeD said..
Never could tighten the screws so the alu comes near the hull. Always a gap of at least 1mm.
That's always going to be an issue with boards with a lot of rocker. It's easy to use an old fin-cover to make a shim for the leading edge - similar to what you'd do to fair-out the entry of a weed-fin.
Damage on my board was at the front edge of my plate. The spacer plastic on the Powerplate was compressed for most of the plate, but less so in front. The entire assembly must have tilted forward to cause the damage. That seems quite possible with the single screw, even after tightening it the recommended 12-16 full turns. Note that the damage is not from running aground while slogging - that would have impacted the back edge, which has no sign of damage.
Something was weird with this board's construction, anyway. It's supposed to be biax glass, but has a carbon layer on top. It also seems to have a double sandwich layer in the back - here's a view from the side after taking the fin box out:
Looks like thin carbon, glass, a grey PVC layer, a beige PVC layer, and then the core. The damage is superficial, like just the think carbon layer broke and the glass is just dented.
Anyway, adding a shim to the leading edge like suggested by Awalkspoiled is probably a good idea.
I used PPlate on F-162 for over 35 days and on 40" flat slalom board and the front n back of the plate was always floating off the board due to the green eva foam pad.
Now I won't use it for my 110 Skate.
We need to make sure the top adapter of the plate (deep tuttle, tuttle, or powerbox) is FULLY seated inside the finbox. If it is not fully seated, the plate will tend to float and can damage the board if it moves. Yes, the green EVA foam is important. You want that plate to be really snug against the bottom of the board. REALLY snug. ZERO movement. A little bit of compression of the EVA foam.
So, before screwing the top adapter to the plate, first install it by itself into the finbox to make sure it FULLY seats and that you have the proper length of fin screws to hold it tight.
I use a power plate on an old L6 formula board in Florida. Deep tuttle. Since the stock finbox position is too far aft for most foils, the power plate serves very nicely to move it 3" forward. On that board this is the only macro balance adjustment since the footstraps are in fixed positions. (Yes, you also have fine-tune adjustment in the mast track.)
