Has anyone tried using an eFoil (DIY or bought) as a tow boogie, controlling it with the remote while you foil behind it on a small pump foil or kite foil board?
These are the only two setups I could find:
Has anyone here tried this, or come across other setups online?
The main things I’m trying to find more solutions for:
Where and how to secure the tow line to the eFoil. Mast, or a custom bracket? Securing it to mast increases the risk of the line getting wrapped around the propeller
How to keep the eFoil from pitching up when the line pulls. I thought about flipping the back wing on it’s head and running like this (gong v2 setup)
I tried this earlier in the summer with a 100L Fliteboard with a DIY setup using a Gong V2 mast and 65161 motor. Took off the wing and stab, threaded a stainless eye-bolt into one of the threads on the back of the fuselage where the stab mounts. Then ran the tow rope through the eye-bolt and tied to the foot of the mast. This kept the rope away from the prop and having rope tension low down mostly kept the nose down.
Easy to set up but I don’t recommend it . It was briefly fun when I managed to get up the first few times but I just could not steer the board using the tow rope. eFoils just aren’t made to plane on the water and track straight. The board wanted to go to the right and I ended up going in circles. The angle of the tow rope is not pleasant when tied to the bottom of the mast like I had and you can feel all the drag from the rope as you move around on foil. The floating rope also did get tangled with the prop twice while I was in the water trying to get organized.
I tried several years ago when my skills were low on a Waydoo, did it easy on my 80L wing board, and also was sucessful on my 35L prone board but it took a lot of patience and skill. I now have a DIY tow boogie and it’s so much easier to get up and also to control (esp with Steering ability). Here is a video on the 80l wingboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfNqEzeicPI
I took the wings off and secured an aluminium pipe (bike seat post) using the rear wing screw holes to keep the rope (2x surf leashes) low and also to keep it away from the prop, the leash is just tied to the fuselage.
I want to attach the rope somewhere above the motor and add a buoyancy device on the rope in the first 15 cm cause I don’t have a prop guard (3 broke off already, I gave up on them)
The other problem I can see is steering it. I think that attaching a 50 cm metal bar/plate to the mast, right above the motor, and attaching the rope to the back of if should give me more leverage when trying to turn it while foiling. I’ve seen many tow boogies use something similar and I assume it’s for the same purpose
