I didn’t know how to use the quote feature until now, part of my learning process. This is me learning to walk. The quote text including the previous content as well but makes it better. It helps me to reply when i quote it and i like when people quote me in their thorough reply. Thanks for the message. Thanks for wishing me luck. It does not seem likely at this time because of the many dead ends I have found so far. One day, i hope to update this thread with a conclusive and valuable complete installation tutorial to benefit others
Do you want it to be $1000 because thats all you can afford, or do you want it to be $1000 because you think that is the price that the market will bare?
If you are on a budget, best bang for your buck is a longer DIY (mid length) board for prone or wing.
To pump for more than 10mins try DIY a beta foil.
The problem with an assist for pumping is that it introduces drag and weight, which reduces your pump efficiency. So you add more weight to compensate, until you end up with an efoil. Kinda like trying to get a rocket to orbit.
Copy a build from this group, and start changing things until you get something that you want. Be prepared to spend $3000.
But after reading your posts what you want is a Tow Boogie. Maybe a very small one.
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Because i think that’s what the market will respond to, we are limited by price to power, so reduce power because we don’t need much when on foil and pumping.
I made like 10 boards, board design based on seaplane hull design seems best.
Yea, i am looking to try to expert aka lowest power first.
I have my eye on a 350W kit, looks perfect except it needs a mast mount pod or adapter and folding propeller. I need it to be optimized for 15mph cruising speed while i generate most of the power by pumping.
I tried CAD once to design 3d printed parts.
The best kit still seems like the $900 kit from michobby but i need to determine the ready to go battery box to buy for the 8s3p battery. If they had a full tutorial i would have bought it already.
I take a look at the 6374 80kv 130a waterproof esc kit already posted, it is only missing the motor mount pod which i found a link for already, and lastly, the battery box link, then i will order kit and box after.
I would rather spend $1,000 on a decent kit, than $400 on a complete but with the design not optimized for foil assist.
Well the conclusion of this thread is basically. The michobby kit is so incomplete and there is such little support, that it is not able to be purchased with confidence by beginner diyers like myself. So i have been looking for a better option or instructions. Anyways this foil assist kit on alibaba looks pretty amazing, at least in the form factor. The price is about $3,000+$350 shipping unless purchased in bulk, than it goes down to about $1,900. 2024 Latest Universal Remote Control Folding Propeller Electric Hydrofoil Boost Assist Foil Drive Set - Buy Foil Drive Set foil Drive foil Assist stoke Foil Drive folding Foil Propeler Plus Remote hydrofoil Product on Alibaba.com
Also if you are serious about purchasing, use my link (i removed it) so i can get credit for the referal and so i can buy more foil stuff
I would change the subject of this thread to “How to push my referral link”
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I bought the 6374 michobby kit but returned it because of lack of instructions, parts, and support. Maybe change rttn to trll, jk, no worries. If i ever find a good foil assist kit i will probably make new thread and delete this thread but this is my journey and so far it has not been smooth.
Flitelab has the right idea, not enough power to get up on its own but enough to assist. It does not assist while on foil but that is ok. Compromises have to be made to get the price down to $1k
This device was designed for prone surfing, not to reach a certain price point through compromise.
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Right, comprising power seems doable though, just enough to boost into waves, no to get up on flat water. And motor kicks off when on foil so battery is super small. A few suppliers are looking into it.
The battery is not small, its a 14S2P pack I think. There is definitely no compromise from fliteboard.
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This kit seems to be able to replicate the flitelab form factor, motor mounted in the board, i wonder if anyone has done this yet.
Most people join here to ask a “how to” question amd then usually give back to the forum knowledge that they have acquired that would be helpful to someone else.
After several weeks you have with no actual experience of your own lectured everyone about how the suppliers need to change and/or push back on forum members who tried to help you. Culminating recently in suggesting we use your referral link so you get free or discounted items.
After reading your rambling posts I have decided to add you to my “Ignored” list so no need for you to reply to this as I won’t see it.
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Right, the only thing I have contributed is demonstrating the lack of complete installation support for the Michobby kit, this is not the outcome I was hoping for.
This thread is not centralized on referral links, I posted anything relevant to the journey of finding a $1k faux drive which I thought was the michobby kit but because of lack of complete instructions, it has evolved into just the pursuit of any $1k kit that will work. I believe a $1k kit will inspire many people but $2k turns people off and is often overpowered.
I agree that this is not as helpful as I was hoping, it appears it will take much longer for this thread to culminate into something useful. I anticipate that I will eventually be able to demonstrate a kit and I will try to make it inspiring by making it a complete installation tutorial video for beginners like me.
How to install michobby foil assist diy kit? Answer, I still don’t know, this should be concerning for the suppliers because it limits their market. Suppliers want people like me to try to make support videos and demonstration videos, they also want to know what products the market is demanding such as smaller motor and battery for reduced price, they also want to know what questions we have and the challenges we face which this thread has demonstrated. I have contacted about 20 suppliers about developing complete instructions and complete kits and new products to address these issues. Ebikes and efoils used to be very expensive than they dropped in price, I suspect the same will happen for these $2k kits so I will just wait until there is a kit that I would endorse and it might take months or years.
I dont know if I can delete this entire thread but once I have a product that I would endorse than I would delete this thread and start a new more helpful thread.
The only help this thread can do is to show what challenges will arise if you seek help and to possibly inspire better instruction videos and new product configurations.
This kit was sent to me as well. It looks like all complete kits specifically for foil assist are about $2k right now and as far as I can tell there are only about 3, one linked above, the other from michobby, and lastly from alieexpress. These all represent great progress in development and can get you on foil on flat water with the right board and foil. I am eager to try a kit that has the theoretical minimal power and batttery size so that it can’t get you on foil in flat water, but only give you a boost into unbroken waves, or assist pumping after a dockstart. When energy requirements are only focused on only being on foil, energy requirements dramatically drop.
Interesting breakdown of theoretical power needed:
-Humans can generate about 150W by paddling a surfboard,
-about 1000W are needed to get on foil with no human or wave power,
-to stay on foil about 350W are needed with no human power
-to catch an unbroken swell with no human power is about 600W
-to catch a unbroken swell with human paddle power about 450W needed
-if i can pump the foil for 1 minute and that takes 350W of human power but as I get tired i can only generate 100W, I only need 250W to stay on foil and extend my time to 10 minutes
-for 250W for 10 minutes I would need 42Wh, 2170 cells in 1S3P for 12.6V and 12ah
-600W for 10 minutes would be 100Wh 3S2P 12.6V 8ah
-a kit with either one of these parameters, with an optimized form factor for foil assist and a speed of about 15mph, would be something i would buy and test if it could be $1k so I will estimate the price below.
-A kit optimized for 600W with a 3S2P battery would likely cost around $800 to $1,250, compared to the $2,000 price of a 3,000W kit with an 8S3P battery
-For a kit optimized for 250W with a 3S1P battery, the cost would be lower due to the smaller motor, fewer battery cells, and a lower-power ESC. The estimated cost could be around $500 to $800, compared to the $2,000 price of a 3,000W kit with an 8S3P battery
there are a few developers running these ideas through their R&D, fingers crossed!
if you have any personal experience as to the wattage needed please comment
Foil assists are starting to become the pest of the line up.
A barrier to entry, either by way of high price or high level of skill to DIY i think is a good thing.
If they were a 1/10 the price more people would buy them without having the financial incentive to be a good ambassador. When it gets banned at their local they have only lost $1000, not $10,000.
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@Foilguy …how do i get to the "ignore"button??..or how can i include myself from seeing rhis thread in future??
K
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I have not seen many in the line up. The beauty would be in making long forgotten places, new meccas. There is this one place near me that has always been shore break, the ocean ate a lot of sand over the years and now it has 1 mile long rolling swell, it is always empty. Hoping to shred it very soon. One of the suppliers i spoke with said if i order 1000 they will sell it for $1,500 and it is the best form factor just like the gen2. I will see what i can do, maybe I will setup pre-orders until we get 1000. There are other suppliers who are very thankful for my feedback and their R&D is working on making something fun and affordable.
Scroll to the bottom of the thread, click the bell icon and select mute. I am also learning to use foil.zone and I have had a lot of questions.
