New Duotone Echo Wing

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dejavu said..
DWF -- great video. Very helpful. Keep them coming!

Thank you. Glad I saw this video. What are your recommendations for hanging duotone echo's to dry? Can you hang them from the front - i hear this is a no-no for wings with center strut bladders as the bladder in the center strut can drop down. Not an issue with the echo I presume, but what about the leading edge bladder?

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jksmurf said..
I've done carbon booms for all of my 4, 5 and 6 m2 v2 Echo Wings now, love them and so does my wife who is a lot lighter than me.

Not considering the Slick just yet but was wondering if DWF was considering doing the same custom boom for it, whether it's even worth it given one boom fits all Slicks) ? If so a how to video for the new boom would be cool, although I've got a pretty good idea what to do now.

Making your own carbon booms for the Slick is straightforward. I got a some shafts from some broken SUP paddles, cut them to length and covered them in chinese heatshrink from Ebay.

I cut mine 3 cm too short due to some incorrect intelligence about the length prior to anyone getting the Duotone booms, so I have designed a 3D printed plug to go in the other end to make up the length.









The handle at the top of the paddle shaft seats into the pocket on the Slick like it was made for it, no chance of it coming out. I haven't weighed the booms, but they are way lighter than the standard aluminium Slick boom. Total cost was about $60 each.

The potential weakest point is the joint between the shaft and the handle at the top, you need to make sure this joint isn't going to separate and that the handle is strong enough to take the bending loads at that point. My handles were lightweight carbon, so I filled them with high density (80kg/m3) polyurethane expanding foam to strengthen them up, and bonded them in with Gorilla glue.

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jksmurf said..
You kept the original handle SUP handle - and it fits the Velcro'd slick pOcker on the wing without rotating at all?
How much lighter is the handle of the SUP compared to the headpiece of the original boom?
The heat shrink - is that EVA like boom grip?
Do you have any side by side photos of original vs made up boom?

SUP handle fits into sail pocket really well. Don't know the weight of the Duotone headpiece as I haven't removed it from the boom, but the SUP handle is super light.

Comparative weights of the two booms: Duotone Aluminium is 594 grams, SUP paddle is 370 grams. I haven't fitted the end plug in yet, that will add another 15 grams.

Boom grip is like a thin EVA, but it is heatshrink so doesn't need any adhesive.