I have been riding a Taaroa Joy with a standard Tuttle box for over a year now with no problems. Several of my friends have the same. We ride boards made by Mikes Lab, Taaroa, Roberts and other competent companies.
Just look at the connection between your mast and fuselage (which takes comparable forces) if you doubt that a standard Tuttle box is strong enough.
The original poster here just had a very poorly made board..
CG
guess it depends what you are doing. We boost a ton. I also disagree that the connection between fuse and mast are comparable. They are not because the lever moment of the mast is the same but the wing can only hold back against the forces so much....and the fuse is small and dense and hard (for the most case). The board on the other hand has a over 140 lb human torquing on it against that 1 meter lever...into yes, a solid fixture... embedded in foam skinned with an exoskeleton of fiber and epoxy. The union between the exoskeleton and the box open up, flex and eventually loosen. Water seeps into the board as well. There is no comparison to a plate that spreads load over 4 mounting points and a plate. The other issue I see is a huge variability in how good the union is on the tuttle variants...for people that have to take them apart each session further increase the risk of a poor fit, movement while riding and eventual failures.
Just my observations in our use case. Floating along with cloud kites or racing and just sitting between races I think they are fine. If you are doing more aggressive stuff like boosting and freestyle....just a matter of time.
My J Shapes is designed for freeriding. The manufacturer says to boost all I want. I do. The deep tuttle box in the board is fine for that. I've got a couple of hundred hours on it.
Gunnar states in the video that the spotz connection is not the same dimension as the Delta connection...
Yeah, I think he is mistaken about the Delta, which is understandable because they're really not popular outside of the US east coast that I know of. Spotz and delta are definitely interchangeable. I've owned three delta boards, two delta foils, and a spotz 2. They're all the same box.
Gunnar states in the video that the spotz connection is not the same dimension as the Delta connection...
Yeah, I think he is mistaken about the Delta, which is understandable because they're really not popular outside of the US east coast that I know of. Spotz and delta are definitely interchangeable. I've owned three delta boards, two delta foils, and a spotz 2. They're all the same box.
Fundamentally the box install on that board is shit.
That’s the reason for the failure, the box should have been encased in pvc hard foam to transfer the loading as a bare minimum, secondly there is nothing in the way of a bond to the top surface of the board
The top of the Tuttle box and it’s pvc case should be bonded to the top skin of the board so that it can’t move and flex the core.
The bond of the imitation carbon to the face of the box is suspect as there is no sign of any kind of bod or material, it’s like it peeled off with no adhesive, either the box was dirty (greasey) or it wasn’t keyed before lamination.
Really shitty job, and I have to say that whoever did the box instal needs to put it right or contribute to getting someone that knows what they are doing to put it right
Really shitty job, and I have to say that whoever did the box instal needs to put it right or contribute to getting someone that knows what they are doing to put it right
If this is the board I think it is, this was a super cheap means to an end that someone threw together 3 years ago on a $300 clearance slingshot board for someone to learn to foil on for a few months. Agree, that's not a well built board, but I think it was really just quickly (and poorly) thrown together to get someone through a single race event and was later sold second hand for very little money because it was still working.
Thanks for the help all. I found a guy somewhat near me that builds boards and he is going to slap in a robust and larger box surrounded by high density foam for a reasonable cost. Gonna try that and see how she holds up before looking at new boards. Also, I'm gonna try a few boards out as the months progress to see what I like and dislike.
I was speaking to a guy from Lake Geneva, Switzerland, on holiday here in Fuerteventura, and he mentioned some of the guys who sail on the lake have resorted to drilling thier mast near the board connection and attaching a leash to the board, I asked him why, and it is due to failures of the Tuttle type connection, he was not sure which brand, but thinks it may be a French brand as most of the guys there buy from France as its so near to them, he did not know anything about this forum and this thread.
It makes you think, one screw, two,or the much stronger 4 point connection.