Laughingman wrote:Thanks Bwd and Johnny
Here is the foil I am looking at.
http://skyski.com/store/ripper-foilboard.html
Johnny, could you take a minute and review what they are selling here? I can get a complete unit for $1300.
How do you think they are making these and at a weight of 10lbs do you think this would be cumbersome in the water?
FYI I did catch the spelling correction. Thanks
The site indicated all components shaft wings and fusilage are NC machined from billet 6061 -T6 aluminium. It's definitely a wing..... not a plate.
6061 T6 actually has very comparable stiffness to carbon. Possibly better depending on the lay-up. The heat treated designation of T6 means it's pretty hard, and for the most part not recommended for forming or bending. So if you smoke this foil it's probably done... you won't likely be able to bend it back without it breaking. and any welding bits back together will screw up the initial heat treatment and stiffness of the part making it prone to noodle like behaviour or further failure.
The maker appears to have spared little expense and shows very serious pride in their work as evident by the mirrored polished finish......this is a beautiful piece....all that work...... they could've made some beautiful molds.......
My main concern for this part is not in it's build but the fact that you are using it outside of it's original intended application. That is for light wind kite boarding vs. being pulled by a boat.
When pulled by a boat, efficiency doesn't really matter, you can
literally have a "boat load" of drag and the boats motor by definition will pull it. Ever tried a wake board behind your kite.....they are TOTAL power whores. But at 25 mph behind a boat they have the ability to carve hard and nice steep rocker lines for ramping off the wake and landing smoothly. Great boards, but utter rubbish for kiting....until you hit that nuking 6m day.....
Foils like wings are designed to work in certain speed ranges. As you get into lower speeds for light wind riding you may end up needing higher angles of attack to get the lift you need to ride "on foil," If it's outside of the design speed range of the wing, the angle of attack may be too high and the flow will separate and the foil won't ever lift you the way you want it to at the drag limited speed your kite is able to produce in light wind. It will be little more than a surfboard with a big anchor attached to it.
If you know someone who is using these successfully behind a kite in light wind then giverrr, but if you are blazing a new trail, I wouldn't bet 1300 bucks on it....best talk to the maker, ask em what speeds it works BEST at.
I can't comment on the weight and it's impact to it's ride as I don't ride foils..... 10lbs doesn't seem excessive, many production kite surfboards are approaching this weight. and are still ridable, (albeit a little turdlike in my opinion) but it's a lift generating device, weight should take care of itself whereas the presence of a big fin with a submerged aircraft in water will limit your ability to turn and huck the board around more than the weight anyway
The fish floater analogy someone used may be an issue in light wind. normally you can easily use the kite to pull you up onto a flat board, However if there's so little wind that you are going to be the only guy riding, (hence the desire for a foil) there may not be enough wind to easily yank you up.