Hello,
A few years ago, I designed a motor for my paddle (link below). It was a fun project but I never really used it, it wasn’t practical to carry around and especially difficult to turn.
Last September, I bought a foil board on sale. It’s an inflatable board, so attaching the batteries will be tricky. I choose a large volume (135l) to be sure that the batteries are out of the water.
I kept nearly the same design as the paddle but I added a foil.Its purpose is not to make me fly, but to compensate for the weight of the motor and batteries. I put a bit of negative drift to make the board turn easily. I did some FEM calculations, it should push 150N @20km but that’s very theoretical
The foil is very short (46cm). It is made of three parts. In the centrale part there are 3 carbones rod (2x Ø6 and 1x Ø3). LAter I will add the gf around
The motor was completely dismantled and filled with epoxy.
On top, I installed a small turbine with a seal (in tpu) to pump water from the lake. It’s very efficient and probably unnecessary
The fin is made up of two parts. The tube for the cooling passes through it.
It’s fixed by 3x M5x 140 and reinforced by 3 aluminum tubes (Ø5/7.5). The screws goes through the tubes. I made it with the parts I had on hand. M5x140s are hard to find. In the future, I may replace it with an M4 threaded rod with nuts on each side and a carbon tube.
The nuts are gluing in place. Then I can unscrew the foil for transportation.
Next time I will align the holes for the bottom and top side and on the foil side I will use wood inserts (that I installed for the other side)
Almost finish the bottom side. I still need to laminate with gf the foil but i am not sure how to handle it properly. ( I have all the materials but not the pratice)
Sadly, the board is not usable for eFoil in my experience… the mast plate is poorly connected to the rest of the board. This makes it almost impossible to foil with a 70cm mast, as the foil starts oscillating immediately after takeoff However, if you want anymore information on how I mounted the electronics I am happy to share more details!
Hello,
Thank you for your comment. A few days ago, when I bolted my system, I realized that the board was not very rigid. With a simple finger, I can move my motor sideways (~1cm)…
I have a 6-foot board, but I think the problem will be the same, if not worse. Maybe it can be a good tow boogie ?!?
I already have an idea in mind for the battery. I like your solution but I have the impression that the battery is too close to the water for my taste.
Do you have a link for the boxes? I’m using tupperware at the moment…
Thank you for your videos on youtube. For the moment I’m using lipos but if I see a future for my project I’ll follow your guide.
However, if you want anymore information on how I mounted the electronics I am happy to share more details!