Postby Foil » Mon Jan 14, 2019 7:07 pm
Moses 330 rear stab wing was tested by me today, 13-14 knts, 9mtr kite,small waves, side onshore wind and the nice thing was the sun was out with blue skys, so the mood was good.
This morning before I hit the beach I measured the trim angle on the 330 wing compared with the standard Onda rear wing, using my trusty digital angle gauge mounted on top of my trusty vernier caliper,
secured the Moses Onda complete fuse with wings attached to my work bench, and clipped on the caliper and digital gauge to the rear standard wing and set the gauge at Zero,
ready to compare the 330 wing trim angle
if that reads Zero when screwed in place it should be good to go, the hole spacing is exactly the same, the profile is not quite right but the screws fix it firmly in place without any distortion leaving a tiny gap front and rear, which is better than it being pinched and curled up which would not be good.
Ok, the first news is the trim angle is slightly out, 0.7 degree difference,
this is acting up, so this means the rear stab which normally pushes down, will push down less, so this will result in less lift from the front wing, or that's what I understand, but with this information whizzing around my brain I head off and hit the water.
I left the base plate in its normal 633 Onda setting.
and here is what I found.
The lift was dramatically reduced, to get off the water surface I had to move my feet back a little and press down hard on my rear foot, and bear off downwind,
but as soon as I headed the board upwind the front would dive with me trying to catch it before contacting the water on my 101 mast,
the board would feel very loose and maintaining a stable pitch angle was very hard to do, I turned onto toe side looping the kite to promote speed and lift, but I had to bear off and work the kite for more speed to maintain level flight.
clumsy foot switches were rewarded with the rear of the board diving more quickly than I was used to,and as a result I only managed two foot switches,in two hours,
but the upside of falling in a lot is my body dragging skills have improved,
stability was very much compromised at all points of sailing.
So that was my first experience.
Before I try again later this week I will place a thin washer between the 330 stabiliser wing (front hole) and the Onda fuselage, to gain back the lost trim angle
if this is not enough then I will move the base plate forward a little to increase lift.
So the short answer is yes, you can use the 330 stabiliser,
but the reduction in lift is alarming.
However this can be fixed as above.
The pitch stability and general stability is something that will take some getting used to, and maybe it will then feel more suited to those occasions when the 633 lift becomes a problem, like when overpowered, or waves are big,fast and short between peaks resulting in an unpleasant challenging ride.