It’s an honor to be joining you on this awesome place of sharing. I’ve been doing few things in the electric skateboarding place few years ago, building communities, supporting people, doing some fun things and learning by failure. My very first ESK8 was a Busted Board giving credits to the original Boosted but under steroids. I’m not so bad with composites although I sold most of my stuff and pretty OK with electronics. I’ve a 3D printer too.
Although I have less time to spend on building things (I focus more on riding and filming ESK8 videos while still supporting some companies in R&D) and lately moved very close to Bordeaux in France… So very very close to the ocean but also some nice lakes.
I already do Wing Foil, Kite Foil so I was looking to build myself an (overpowered) eFoil. I would like to build a nice looking, thin, light and powerful eFoil and I’ve to admit that I love the design of the Lift or the Flite boards.
Anyone already thought of replicating as close as possible a Lift or Flite (not for business but much more for pleasure) which is quick to assemble on the spot and to carry.
So here we go, I’m getting motivated to start the build. I’ve a 3D printer and know a little bit about composites. I’l looking for something that I can disassemble and carry in my car (I have space). Lift & Flite are too expensive for me (I know quality has a price, I’m good with that). PWR Foil seems to be solid based on Chris knowledge and commitment. It’s 6000 euros. I’m wondering with the increased cost of the cells etc… if apart from the beauty of building my stuff… the price is not going to be VERY close to their ready to ride foil (which seems powerful).
I would also like to have the efoil as silent as possible and be able to “pump” with it.
For the foil & mast, I was looking to get a Kujira Hélium (I would use the wing as I also do WingFoil) and I was looking to buy this for my wing foil. So that’s 850 euros
For the board, I’m stuck. I would like a nice looking one, light, not a tank that I can get milled on XPS (at shaper.fr) or EPS and that I will layer with carbon. Any ideas or recommendations ?
For the board, case and attachement to the board etc I’m stuck at the beginning. Never did that in the past.
For the Motor, seems flip sky is the “way to go”.
For the rest, this seems to be 3D printing area and I just needs to find the files.
Remote will be Maytech unless you recommend me something better?
ESC, could be many but what about water colding? That’s something new to me. Seems that on PWR Foils, they are getting the ESC in contact with the aluminium mast which enables to keep it “cool”.
At this point, we are at 2190 euros and I’m missing the motor, battery box and all the remaining stuff.
Where I’m a bit lost is about the foil to board strength. @sat_be Daniel, I’m not speaking German, do you know how the guy managed to do that part? He would be stellar to share this. I don’t have a CNC at home, just a 3D printer which I could still build the box of and epoxy/carbon fiber it. It’s doable (I believe)
So I cut the surface with the router, then drill a box of 10cm deep with a 8mm drill
For the mast, how do I figure out that its placement is adequate taking into account the weight distribution of the battery ? One thing that worries me as well is the mast attachement to the board and the fact that I would like the mast to be removable (so I can carry the board disassembled). Is this something realistic ?
Yes, detachable mast is doable, the board has slots for nuts, just use them. I would put the mast as much to the back as possible as you stand in front of the mast anyways. You need to drill a hole for the motor cables, so once the position is defined, you cant change it much. See other builds for connecters to make the mast detachable (waterproofed XT150 worke fine). There are different concepts on how to build the box. Either a 100% Waterproof box (easiest to achieve with a round hatch) split batteries that fit through the hatch. Motor cables enter the box sealed with cable glands. Battery does not have to bee waterproof. Another solution is to build one big hatch with hinges, build a waterproof battery and enter the motor cables into the box just with a seal below the mast plate. This also requires a waterproof electronics box as it is difficult to geat a big hinged lid waterproof. It’s also a good idea to place the latches outside the seal because some leak through the shaft. Have a look at the builds in the forum, you find a lot of good solutions.
I’m progressing slowly but surely. I may plan to get the board done by someone so I went at around 1900 euros for a custom complete board with the lid and 3 wires that will go down the bottom of the board where I will attach the mast. If that works, the board will be plug and play. I’ll just need to fit the electronics.
Although I love the PWR Foil, a custom build is around 2000/2121 euros cheaper.
Did I miss something in terms of cost.
Board
1900
Foil
949
Battery
790
Flipsky 65161 100KV
400
Controleur
300
BLE
30
BMS
200
Various connectors
100
4669
What about the water-cooling? is this something I need to plan for?
This German Gong Kube board conversion is just impressive. Electric box locks are outside the gasket loop on the deck. Is the propeller a Flying Rodeo one or a “custom build” ?
120 kv is good, it’s the closest thing to a Flit board, for the VESC @Leo just burnt his…personally I took a RAIDEN 7 with a passive cooling (aluminium bottom plate) but for the moment no feedback to make you the MALA board not being finished yet
Don’t take a motor kit with a propeller: better to buy a PWR or FR propeller which are really dedicated to our mounts.
I will start by getting the Flipsky 120kv and will work on the mast/motor mount/foil and then I’ll move up to the board progressively
the big question is now : how to cool the ESC (and which ESC to get; either a water cooling ESC that requires a water flow…) or a traditional ESC which will require… an aluminium plate… but this aluminium plate need to be in contact with something cool… i.e either the mast or water.
For the water cooling, what if there is a little reservoir of car water cooling material, attach to a loop that goes down inside the mast and then goes up to the ESC. That would be 3 cables and 2 tubes between the mast and the rest of the board
Seems PWR use as well water-cooling ESC, I believe all their product is built around Flipsky. I’m really wondering if that’s SO hard to replicate exactly the same product but cheaper and DIY. If I look at the aluminium plate on which the mast is attached, it does not seems rocket science and the milling seems to be “only” 2D right?
I also noticed that the Takuma Helium is a 75cm mast and 75cm maybe too short right if I want to keep the motor in the water…
Most builders of this forum use watercooling with an intake in front of the mast mount. This way, you can skip the pump. Passive cooling with a heat sink is also an option. 3rd option is to put the ESC in an aluminium box between the mast and the board and use the mast as a heat sink. This is an efficient solution but not easy to keep watertight (my experience). You can find examples of all solutions in foil.zone.
My latest build is quite Flite inspire, since I love their wings and have quite many.
Using 110L board cut down from old SUP, geometry is modelled after Lift 5’10 acutally.
15S19P Battery in CF container, Flipsky 120kv and Trampa 75/300 for this build. Passive cooled with fixed alu box in board but conducting through mast.
