EDIT: I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote this reply - very insensitive of me. My apologies.
I have removed the offensive section of my original post.
Would that motor position even work regardless of battery and vesc capability? Wouldn’t that position cause the foil to want to pitch up??
How can I address cable drag? Duct tape is my first solution to a lot of problems, but not sure in this case!
I don’t know much about 3D printing. I’ll either learn or I’ll make a metal wedge.
Thanks for all the advice!! @Jezza @Foilguy @jkoljo
I’ll look at VESC setup and cutting down the prop. I will probably invest in a second battery to use with this (and for a new bike build.)
Yes the board does pitch up, but I am able to correct that with my
Based on your photo the board is at a steep pitch. To be able to even start to foil the board needs to plane off. The rider in the photo is almost hanging ten so it would be very challenging to shift any more weight forward.
Different battery is warranted but you should also move the motor so it is attached to the trailing edge of the mast.
There are lots of photos posted here about the various approaches to making a “clamp” for the motor mount. Some are 3D printed and if you don’t know how to make in yourself you can likely find someone who could print it for you. The “3D files” are frequently posted so all you need to do is download the correct one
Other “clamp” designs use metal to accomplish the same goal.
The “clamp” needs to be sized for your particular motor and the mast it’s attached to.
In addition to the clamp part you should also acquire a “nose cone” that goes over the clamp so that water will flow past your motor better. Every bit helps.
Some people have 3D printed wire guides for the mast trailing edge that improve the hydrodynamics to some extent.
Most users here route the wires inside the mast for this reason. Just as a reference point I started with my motor wires external and enclosed them with wire guides. I recently routed the wires inside the mast and saw a 30% increase in max speed and ride duration. The general ride handling is also much better but that is more opinion than a measurable variable.
Lots of good info here. Use the search function and do lots of reading.
It works since the principle is used by Waydoo and Manta. The pitch up is compensated by the rider standing more forth a few inches but is not comfortable if too far forward when speed builds up.
You’ll learn a lot here, one of the first posts of this forum. @Gobbla and @mkefoil have done a very good job at the end of the thread.
How do you try to get on foil?
if you stand up to early you won’t
I have a similar setup. hipe 110 L and battery strapped to the rear. mast back as it goes.
I start on my knees, approx. where the inserts for the footstraps are. As soon as the board moves I have to push down the nose or it won’t get any speed. I only stand up when the foil is close to lifting - on flat water it takes just a few metres
you could try to get on foil staying on your knees, you can curve as well in this position (I often use this technique when exiting the swimming zone through the boat channel as it is easier than standing up
against the waves)
of course a better prop should be on your list as well as reducing drag but without proper technique you still won’t get on goil, especially with a week battery
PVC flexible skirting band looks like a possibility - definitely a step up from duct tape!
We were standing and cruising around at 5mph to play with balance. My HIPE is 145L. I don’t see the difference between kneel and stand since that changes nothing below the board. Am I wrong?
That should help to move mast back though - thanks!
I did a lot of nose up plowing through the water stuff when I first started. I had the same motor, battery and foil as I have now. The board would even start to lift out a bit but then the pitch angle up would get even more acute and I would have to let off the throttle and the board would slam down. NOT FUN AT ALL😀
I watched some more Tube vid how to stuff and then it finally sunk in what I was doing wrong. Not enough board speed on the water BEFORE trying to fly.
When you visualize or recall how a plane takes off it rolls flat down the runway until it gets up to speed and then the nose lifts up gently and your flying.
If the pilot tries to take off too early in that sequence or tries to climb too steeply bad things happen.
The learn to fly while kneeling before standing is how most people learn and is how they seem to teach it at “learn to foil school”
Less chance of falling off and getting discouraged or injured I think is the theory
try it, you will see it changes a lot. you can balances the board so that the nose touches the water but does not dive, so you start to plane. then you can fly on your knees or stand up
of course it is possible to get on foil from standing position (with a big enough board), but its much more difficult. so not the best way to learn
same as starting to learn with a more advanced wing/stab. the x-over you have is very good to learn and makes fun for a long time
On my first test with a 6384/10S/Gong Fluid XXLS I also had cables outside, but taped neatly behind mast to reduce drag, and also a proper mast mount for the motor. The drag was siginficant and hardly got foiling. I then put cables inside mast and that made a huge reduction in drag and got on foil easy. So having cables outside for e-foiling will never work and combined with that draggy motor mount it is even more hopeless. So get a 3D printed mast mount and put cables inside and it will be a world of difference. And of course a higher currrent capacity on battery, as mentioned.
Hey guys, I was also going to have wires neatly tied down to the mast, until I saw this post.
Problem is it feels like my carbon mast is completely solid (at least to me). I drilled a small (30mm deep) pilot hole into the top where it mounts to the board, and also in the side where it’s still covered by the mount, and it was solid. See pics
Any chance it’s hollow into the middle of the mast so I can route wires? Any other suggestions or good news? I might have backed myself into a corner here.
Your link doesn’t work for me but I don’t see any logo on the mast itself so can’t realistically comment of it having channels in it. However if it really is carbon it would seem unlikely they would make it solid as that would logically cost more to build and you wouldn’t need solid to make it strong anyway.
I will comment on your taping wires to mast and your prop.
I started out with wires external and using the full size Flipsky prop supplied with the 65161 motor they sell. Looks the same as yours.
The rig worked OK but things didn’t feel or sound right.
Lots of comments here about that prop being too big and that is good advice. I reduced the diameter of the prop down to ~145mm and the ugly sounds went away and it felt like I had a different motor. Major improvement and possibly saved myself from an early motor failure.
Next thing I did was route the wires inside the mast which meant giving up the flexibility of moving the motor up or down the mast that I initially wanted. Again it was like I was on a totally different setup. I would say an overall 25% improvement in performance getting rid of the drag induced by the wires and the hydrodynamic trailing edge wire holder I 3D printed.
I was also thinking there’s no way it would be solid, but it feels solid to me. Those two places I drilled in were solid too, and I’m hesitant to drill anywhere else.
Maybe someone here has an approximate weight for an 85cm mast only that I could compare to?
I was planning to route the internally but I may be stuck on this one…
Do you have a link to 145mm prop?
Not sure about the link, looks fine for me.
This is the error I get on the link.
The mast doesn’t “look” carbon to me which doesn’t mean it isn’t. If a component is marketed as “carbon” it’s common to be able to see the carbon weave fiber in the layup.
I would look at prices online of brand name carbon masts and compare that to what you paid. That might be clue. Your idea of weight has merit as well.
I didn’t buy a 145 prop I removed material from the original aluminum prop. Some people here have extensive metal working tooling and expertise. I did mine with hand tools and it works fine for me.
Try this link:
Thanks - This link works but the detail in the add isn’t claer whether a component is aluminum, carbon or some weird combination of the two materials.
At one point they say All carbon is $X or All aluminum is also $X which is a clue as manufacturing costs would logically be different.
If you compare the $ in the add to say the Gong products often used here it’s a clue to what All carbon retails for.
@SanguineDrone That doesn’t mean that your mast is bad but certainly harder to determine what it’s made from or if there are usable voids inside.
This is a post here where it looked like they used a really long drill bit to make channels in their mast. Also search “carbon mast” here for other ideas.
