Just in case “abuse” would go along with “repairs”… If not, I can delete this post…
Worst case scenario: the poorest and cheapest technical solution - 2 US rails barely stuck under the deck skin not encased in a higher foam density block.
Did you repair it or have it repaired ? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10000294716408.html
Yeah, there will be these. But also, Steamroller was early to the game and a lot of builders didn’t know what to do. Can’t criticize the Wright Brothers for no peanuts on their flights, right?
Also, this thread was started because we are going to do some tutorials about fixing and making your foil wings prettier. We may not need it or care, but it hurts resale if you are swapping gear.
Would love to hear how folks are filling gouges, I usuallt just use a bit of Solarez. I’ve been getting better about staying off the bottom after some serious groundings, but my gear still gets pretty scraped up at San O.
I’m actually interested in making more “Frankenfoil” fuselages to fit other gear together.
So far just using epoxy for anything under 1mm deep, works fine.
But I have milled glass fiber and chopped carbon if I run into anything too deep. As @Hdip (a frequent abuser) says, most small stuff can be wet sanded out with high grit paper (600-800) and for just a few seconds.
If you’re new to this, wait for the tutorial but if you can’t, tape off the clean part and use a block to take down anything that’s proud and a foam block for high grits. If you have a really messed up part or if you fill a scratch with epoxy, just start at 220 or 320, no lower and be careful and go slow.
I’ve never sanded anything for more than a few seconds unless it was a high level (proud above the surface) epoxy fill repair that I was taking down with a wood block. Anything under 220 can make a flat spot fast and take off too much. But in contrast, some 600-800 wet barely makes a dent. But again don’t sand long lol.
But important to note that this is red in color and is for tiny imperfections, not serious scratches. While you could fill them with this, it’s red. So you might want to use epoxy for more serious stuff.
But this is cool and has good info on the fact that only the first third or so needs to be smooth really. The Delta guy wins for good foil info online with very little product opinion added.
He talks about shimming baseplates in another video on that channel too. Might be interesting for people since it’s all the rage right now thanks to progression project’s review of the Kujira.
I’ve used two-part automotive body filler bondo for the big scratches and the bondo branded glazing compound for tiny stuff. Works great. With the two-part stuff, do your best to get it smoothed over when before it cures - its tougher to sand than the glazing compound. When it starts going off (which is very quick) it gets tough to apply smooth, so mix up another batch rather than try to make it work.
In speaking with a guy who knows hydrodynamics - the surface finish of the topside from the leading edge to about halfway back matters quite a bit to the drag. surface finish of the bottom side and the trailing edge doesn’t matter near as much apparently. He told me the better the surface finish, the better, so I go to 1500grit sandpaper on those parts.
All rocks all the time, in my local. Every session involves bottom grinding, without exception, usually when paddling back out or when pivoting to take off. With more skill in keeping wing high while riding, bottom strikes have lessened. But a couple spots have sneaky boulders … full stop in an instant, potential wing destruction.
I will have to see if I can dig out any of the nasty photos.
I have ridden slingshot and gofoil, both beefy and erring on side of strong vs pretty. I have enjoyed talking to my buddies with their beautiful lift and mfc carbon space rockets about how they are going destroy their gear.
I kitesurf and wake surf and I’ve been reading stuff on building, repairing foils and hoping to build e-foil. I build houses and do woodworking, but have never done any kind of board or foil shaping/building.
I can attest to what @jondrums said about the top, leading edge being important. I didn’t even know I had done this until I flipped my board over on the beach after a session around the rocky shores of Los Barriles.
Excellent question. No idea! It’s a Liquid Force Whisper foil and I think the leading edge is really thin. I’ve caught the sand bottom a few times down in South Padre (and launched!) so I don’t know if it wore and allowed water infiltration and then opened up or what. No huge rock impacts or anything.
Dang it, I have that same wing… hopefully it holds up better. Over the past 3-4 years I have beat the crap out of my first set of LF foilfish wings and they are scraped up, but looking much better than that!
