Kiteforum.com

The lack of a chicken strap (5th strap in the middle rear area) is a serious shortcoming of the board. What were they thinking? A lot of people use the chicken strap going downwind and most other race boards can accommodate one.

I guess I am still upset that my fins fit so poorly. Did anyone else have this problem or was mine just unusual. I do know that other race boards produced at the Cobra factory have Tuttle fins fitting perfectly. This picture shows how it arrived. I expected better.

In fairness, overall I like the way the board rides.

CG

cglazier wrote:The lack of a chicken strap (5th strap in the middle rear area) is a serious shortcoming of the board. What were they thinking? A lot of people use the chicken strap going downwind and most other race boards can accommodate one.

I guess I am still upset that my fins fit so poorly. Did anyone else have this problem or was mine just unusual. I do know that other race boards produced at the Cobra factory have Tuttle fins fitting perfectly. This picture shows how it arrived. I expected better.

In fairness, overall I like the way the board rides.

CG

wow! that is bad

You can remedy this by padding the top of the fin with something like thin rope, something that gives a little, don't put anything sharp or too hard on top as it will damage the inside of the fin box.

Anyone know of a strap that can be mounted on the tuttle box holes? I would like a center strap on my 2012 North LTD as well.

cglazier wrote: I guess I am still upset that my fins fit so poorly. Did anyone else have this problem or was mine just unusual. I do know that other race boards produced at the Cobra factory have Tuttle fins fitting perfectly. This picture shows how it arrived. I expected better.

In fairness, overall I like the way the board rides.

CG

I am not sure this is bad quality.
Talking to some old windsurfer guys it is standard to have to trim the fins
Something that most people coming from a kite and twin tip or dingy sailing will never had to do and know nothing about, so the board and fin companies should be teaching us how to use their product.

I talked to rista after getting my fins for my new 2013 north and the recommendation was:
Cut a thin piece of plastic or aluminium can (he said mylar but who has that in their shed) about 12mm wide by about 30mm long.
Place in the back edge of the fin box as you are putting the fin in.
If you look this part of the fin box is tapered and the thicker the material the less the fin goes down into the box cavity.

Do the screws up and see how it looks
If still no good put more plastic till you get them flush or recessed a bit

While yours look a bit on the bad side I think for people that have used these types of fins for along time this sort of setup appears to be normal procedure

I am familiar with shimming Tuttle fins. I have done this for many years starting with my old Windsurfing boards. However, with the North race board I tried four layers of beer can aluminum and found them insufficient. Clearly this was too big a job for for shims.

I have since 'painted' the inside of each fin box with epoxy. It took several thin layers of epoxy with sanding between coats. I used a protractor at each step to carefully ensure the fin cant angle was 3 degrees. Now my fin boxes fit any Tuttle fin correctly.

I am still trying to think of how to add a chicken strap in the middle rear area of the board. I think I will try adhesive based 'surface mount' footstrap anchors that are made by NSI for surfboards.
..unless anyone has a better idea.

On a more positive note, the board rides really nicely. (This is the fourth race board I have owned.)

Chris Glazier

OK, I took my own advice and put an NSI surface mount insert on the rear of the board. I replaced the front screw on the rear fin with a 3 inch (75mm) one. This allows me to mount a chicken strap. I haven't ridden it yet, but it should work.

CG

I had wondered if the footstraps were something which could not be changed but it seems to be allowed.

http://www.internationalkiteboarding.or ... pretations

I can understand mis-matching of fins when fitting someone else's fins to a board, but fitting North fins to a North board? - I'd be asking for money back or for them to fix it (by supplying fins that matched the board) if the fins didn't fit right.

ronnie wrote:I had wondered if the footstraps were something which could not be changed but it seems to be allowed.

http://www.internationalkiteboarding.or ... pretations

I can understand mis-matching of fins when fitting someone else's fins to a board, but fitting North fins to a North board? - I'd be asking for money back or for them to fix it (by supplying fins that matched the board) if the fins didn't fit right.

Adding a strap in this way is allowed by the rules as there is no actual modification of the board and it can be done my any end-user.

--
Gunnar

cglazier wrote:I am familiar with shimming Tuttle fins. I have done this for many years starting with my old Windsurfing boards. However, with the North race board I tried four layers of beer can aluminum and found them insufficient. Clearly this was too big a job for for shims.

I have since 'painted' the inside of each fin box with epoxy. It took several thin layers of epoxy with sanding between coats. I used a protractor at each step to carefully ensure the fin cant angle was 3 degrees. Now my fin boxes fit any Tuttle fin correctly.

I am still trying to think of how to add a chicken strap in the middle rear area of the board. I think I will try adhesive based 'surface mount' footstrap anchors that are made by NSI for surfboards.
..unless anyone has a better idea.

On a more positive note, the board rides really nicely. (This is the fourth race board I have owned.)

Chris Glazier

Do you have a link to a webshop that sells them by any chance? would love a set

I have no idea what they are called, so can't even google them
Cheers,
Fred

FrederikS wrote:Do you have a link to a webshop that sells them by any chance? would love a set

http://www.northshoreinc.com/store/pc/v ... ategory=12

and thanks to Ronnie and Gunnar for clarifying the rules.. it never occurred to me that this might be a violation.

CG