I have reluctantly been dragged from Tuttle to track foil mounts. My new downwind board has a US Foil Track with a single drop in slot at the rear end.
That means you can leave the nuts attached to the mast and just drop the front nuts through the holes, slide along, drop in the rear nuts, position, tighten and go. It's really quick and easy, possibly quicker than Tuttle (because a lot less screw turns needed), but a tiny bit fiddley.
There's no chance of losing the screws or the nuts and you don't have to fiddle with separate screws. I use a sheet of thick plastic under the mast while fitting to avoid any chance of scratching the board with the nuts. It's not necessary but I like preventing dumb things happening if at all possible.
I see that the Duotone Hybrid comes with the US Foil Track boxes, and the North Dropbox is similar. Hopefully this will become universal.
My older boards have a single drop in hole in the middle of the track. The track is not long enough to slide the mast far enough to allow the second set of nuts to drop in. It would be easy enough to cut an additional hole in the track to make room, using a Dremel and a cutting guide.
Has anybody modified their tracks by cutting extra drop slots? Anything I should be aware of before cutting holes in my foil track?
You restrict where you can use the mast as you have to not line up with your new holes.
I use these on my two boards and swap the mast really quickly.
zerotow.com.au/products/frustration-decreasers
I leave my nuts in (wow that sounds funny..) and use a piece of foam each side to block the nut so I never have to take them out or lose them, I can just slide the foam around if I want to make a big change in mast position, not quite as fast as 'drop in' but better than putting them in every time or losing them
Buy the nuts that are threaded for M8 and M6
use a grub screw in the 6mm hole to lock them in position then they don't move. If you can't find them, I have them in stock
don't cut an extra hole, there is bugger all material there at the best of times but on a factory board you could cut into a void and have exposed core.
Not a workable solution if you want to move your mast for the conditions.
Yes but a solution for those who worry about losing nuts, or speed of setup when they don't move them often
I know someone who did this for the tracks in his KT boards, seems to work well. Gong boards have this out of the box, they also sell replacement boxes with 2 slots: www.gong-galaxy.com/en/products/gong-us-double-entry-scs-boxes
... a factory board you could cut into a void and have exposed core.
Are you referring to operator error from cutting too far? That's possible, but avoidable.
Or the structure of the foil box having a void in the side of the track? ie. the inside of the top section of the track being hollow? That seems like an odd design choice to reduce material in the main load bearing part of the track,
Both but primarily the latter (risky). I see inside boards every day and there is almost always voids around all inserts incl tracks
fibreglass x1 wrapped around, puddle of resin n qcell mix then push the tracks in.
you'd only need to hit that part and u may have created a water to core path
also depends on what tracks - a US box style that's basically a bit of solid rectangle is very different to flanged style like chinook 16" which has no fat there to cut into
I know it could be done with care and moulding the square after cutting it but my reply was for anyone who later reads the thread and thinks router v tracks in any old fashion is ok
Mark - I think we all want to know - can you really stick your finger into your nose and out of your eyehole?!?