Foil weights

[Edge19]

I just was wondering what sort of weights different foils are coming in at. Just Foil wings, strut and fuselage.

Any one know what theirs come in at? This can include home builds. I know the Moses is light as the wings are basically a carbon skin with a black hard carbony foamy stuff inside. Light but fragile as my good friend found out, well he did hit a rock to be fair lol. But at the same time showing that light can be strong enough to deliver!

Thanks

[SparD]

My Spotz 2014 weighs around 2.1 kg.
It is pretty solid I guess. The other day I hit at around 25 knots a buoy that was 50 cm below the surface and the foil had no damage at all !

[Edge19]

Thanks sparD,

Ouch ! Glad you and foil are ok! and what a relief when you got back to her to find she was all in one piece. I suppose there is a balance between strength and weight. Personally I think I would prefer more weight and strength. Could be nothing worse than striking an object and losing a part of your loved one.

The one I'm building will probably be about 2.5kg ish I've used some synthetic fibres internally to reduce the carbons fragile nature. Want to be on the safer side but not silly heavy safety.

Thanks again

[Hawaiis]

My wooden foil weight 2.55 kg and it floats

[ChristoffM]

I would not sacrifice stiffness for weight ever. For me stiffness is far more important than weight. But it is quite nice to have a light weight foil if it is still able to achieve the required mechanical properties.

My old aluminium T-bar was almost 4kg, plus another 1kg for the G10 wings making it almost 5kg without the board! It is a great foil to ride with especially in waves and chop despite the weight.

My new carbon T-bar is half this at 2kg, plus 1kg wings give me a total of about 3kg for the complete foil. This is about the weight of the 2013 Spotz if I remember correct. I think 3kg is very reasonable for a total foil weight.

I heard Horue has a hydrofoil that only weighs 1.5kg! And from the videos it does not seem to suffer a lack of stiffness.

[Edge19]

Thanks Hawaii and christoff,
Once your up and riding the aluminium foil do you notice the weight difference between the two? You obviously like the feeling of the solid feel on the metal foil.

Cheers

Nice little vid Hawaii

Ps

Oh , yeah what length s your struts about 85cm? I've made my strut /fuse two pieces and95cm so a bit more carbon etc I'll weigh what I have so far will more like be just over 3kg with wings.! Not to horrendous then.

[Peter_Frank]

Agree with Christoff, stiffness (and strength, not the same) is by far the most important factor, always before weight IMO.

Finding a structure that satisfies both can be done to some smaller extent though, but often a little or much more expensive

Even if your foil weighs 5 or 6kg, it will work fine though
(But like everything heavy on your feet, feel heavy when jumping/spinning)

A 95cm mast is a good length for overall riding in different conditions IMO.

Shorter is only for specific purposes like flat water or light wind (so light that there is no chop) I would say.

PF

[Edge19]

Hi PF, thanks for your reply.

For a first build and the unknown outcome of eventual strength/flex once it's all put together, more is definitely better than less.

Oh well, I'll see how it turns out, no going back now .
I'll let you know how she turns out.

Many thanks for your replies

[ChristoffM]

For me, no, I cannot feel the weight difference one riding. The total weight of the light foil (3kg) plus board weight (4kg) = 7kg. An extra 2kg for the aluminium is not a very large percentage, although 9kg total mass is quite a lot to carry on the ground!

The wing tuning settings have a much stronger effect, and I cannot say that I notice the differences in weight while riding.

[gmb13]

For me, no, I cannot feel the weight difference one riding. The total weight of the light foil (3kg) plus board weight (4kg) = 7kg. An extra 2kg for the aluminium is not a very large percentage, although 9kg total mass is quite a lot to carry on the ground!

The wing tuning settings have a much stronger effect, and I cannot say that I notice the differences in weight while riding.

I don't understand your math. 2 Kg is still over 20% of your whole rig (9kg). That is a pretty big percentage.

However saying that. It makes very little difference for normal riding.

What I have noticed is, that a light foil, will have less swing weight. This is most noticeable in Jumps. But you will also notice it a bit in how fast the foil reacts to you inputs. A heavier foil reacts a mit slower to your inputs. Its not a lot, but still noticeable even at 500 grams difference.

--
Gunnar