Hey Guys! so I am en experience PEV builder, been part of some of the other forums, but now I am planning my new build and I see two obvious paths to travel down for my build.
It feels like a no brainer to make it a gun case foil, because it’s a lot cheaper than the alternatives, but there is a ton of factors that are unknown to me and I would love input on, an important aspect to this build is I want it to be low maintanence and little need for repairs and be a reliable board.
Motor, this is the thing I am most uncertain about, I dont want to rebuild this foil and have several motors lying around, I have seen Flipsky 65161 been the “default” choice for many.
But I have also seen you guys also run outrunners like 6374’s with direct mounted prop, but then there is also bigger motors like 70165 or the massive 85165, what are your guys experience, will i long term be happy with the 65161 ?
Masts, I am seriously weighing between the default Gong Mast and www.Foil-lab.com Mast, you might ask why I am interested in these, it just seems like a ready made setup for E-foils if I buy everything from there, but also mostly that I get an aluminium motor mount, so I do not run the risk of need to reprint and service the motor mount, but maybe this is too much untested or does anyone have it and can give feedback ?
Battery, I am weighing between a 20s8p battery or 24s6p with Samsung 40T3 or 50S Cells, but I am curious what voltage range has been the most attractive for you guys, this will of course be enclosed in another IP67 box with external Surlock connectors.
Props, any reccomendations, I mean if I run the “default” 65161 with 20s is the standard flipsky prop “good enough”.
As for the rest of my intentions with this build I am planning on having it passively cooled with no water cooling inside the board and run the MakerX G300 VESC, hoping that long term.
So potential setup
Board: Guncase
Battery: 24s6p Samsung 40T3
Motor: 70165 8800 Watt
Mast: From Foil-lab.com, 75cm long
Wing: Foil-Lab.com 860cm Wing
Motor Mount: Foil-Lab.com Mount
Remote: Flipsky VX3
VESC: Makerx G300
Prop: Flipsky White Prop
If I am going wrong or just pointers you guys have I would greatly appreciate it!.
I would start by suggesting you do a bunch of reading here before you lock into a build idea.
I would also suggest you actually ride an efoil before you decide to build one. Wonderful fun on a well designed rig. Freakin nightmare if it’s a bad one.
The V levels for your packs are way higher (unsafe and not necessary for a well designed rig)
A gun case is a large, typically narrow blunt nosed box you are trying to make move through the water BEFORE it will start to foil. IMO not a good idea.
The higher voltage levels is mostly to get the continous battery amps down and just increase top speed, the voltage is high but difference between 18s and 24s is negliable a short is a short and what matters more is water proofing, I am confident of making a safe setup regardless of voltage as I have 20+ Batteries built by now and none have failed.
But yeah I haven’t locked anything down, not ordered a single part as of yet, I have spent years windsurfing and wakeboarding, I do not know of any local place to rent a e-foil so I am trying to figure out how I can make this build a long term one, where I am hoping for the communities input on.
I believe if you research the forum and the market leader rigs (Fliteboard, Lift etc) you will discover that they are not running anything more than 12-14 S packs, using the extra space/cells to up the P value to increase range.
Flite holds the standing up speed record of 55kmh. Believe me that is crazy fast on an efoil! Most people ride at 25-30kmh. Falling at speeds greater than that leave a mark😀
The majority of the successful builds here have a board shape similar to those market leaders, that coupled with a good quality foil such as Gong and a motor, Vesc, remote and prop that are known to work well together lead to a good result quickly.
All the trial and error research has already been done and posted here. Invest a little time reading and I think you will see what I’m suggesting is valid.
Fliteboard has something they call Fliteschool that lets new users experience a successfull first attempt at efoiling. Their website has a worldwide map of sites. Lift foils does similar through their dealer/affiliate network. I would think any efoil “dealer” would offer an intro ride to close a sale and there are numerous cross vendor trade events.
My rifle case build uses 65161 Motor and 20S8P VTC6 Battery
20S because it’s the maximum Voltage for both motor and VESC (Flipsky 75200), passively cooled in a aluminum box.
Really happy with it, runs like a charm
Starting will take 6-8kW, so all smaller Motors are out of question. But also no need to get larger than 65161.
Propeller: Hyperdrive 3-blade from Propellerking.com
Motor mount: 3D print, holding up since 1 years no problem
Had a few people riding it on a meetup, everybody liked it, riding nice and smooth once you are out the water
6-8kW though… it’s more than double what is necessary on a board.
Can’t we all just agree it’s better to cut an old board and put a box in it, it’s not actually that hard, and a rifle case build is more of a toy idea and not your first build.
I built my first efoil in three weeks, evenings mostly and this was with a diy board from uncut EPS slabs and no surf/board knowledge at all. If done with an old surfboard as the base it could be done in half that time (most of that spent on all the non-board bits.)
You’re absolutely right in that I think it’s at the same time a balance though, an unecessarily long and frustrating build, (possibly unsuccesful) will await those who are heavier/bought the wrong case etc. I’m 100kg, and I wouldn’t start a rifle case build even though i built three efoils.
That’s correct.
Although building my rifle case was about 12h of build time only, started Friday evening and had the first test ride Sunday. At this time I had not much experience with foil so it was a hard learning curve. Eventually built a 2nd eFoil with a more conventional board shape, so now I can choose between the “bull ride” rifle case and a relaxed cruise on the conventional.
The good thing: Battery, Mast, Foils, etc. are all interchangeable. So the only thing I had to buy new was the board.
In any case after some time both the market as well as the personal wishes change, so now I am building a completely new eFoil, lighter, smaller, less battery.
So I am trying to figure out how I can make this build a long term one, where I am hoping for the communities input on.
So regarding on of the original wishes of OP: I think for diy eFoil better build a fast first eFoil, learn, change mindset, then build the dream eFoil. Don’t try to build the dream foil in the first run.
Board: What’s your weight and which case do you consider?
Mast/wing: I’ve not seen any info on the foil lab stuff, mast profile doesn’t look like the best. Even though prices aren’t bad I would still go for a gong setup, gives you interchangeability, a huge selection of affordable wings and probably better performance. Mast clamp durability is no issue to worry about.
Motor: you don’t need more than a 6516x
Battery: you don’t need the higher voltage really
Prop: skip the flipsky prop. It’s a poor option and having a poor prop can stop you from getting up. My favourite and recommendation is the flite prop due to good performance/low price and low cutting risk.
@ludwig_bre How much motor and battery current was eventually needed? Which motor kV?
The 6516x motor data i’ve seen from the sellers have been falsified - data is interesting as it can indicate how high the peak input of a 6516x can be and still get a worthwile increase in output.
It’s really great input, it’s these kind of things I wanted to figure out, one of the reasons for the gun case, is partly because I love the simplicity and straight forwardness of a gun case build, I would love to buy a foil with an already made compartment but I haven’t found a cheap option and I find gun case kind of simple and cheap at the same time in comparision.
Also I want to avoid working with fiberglass and sanding amongst other things, not that I have issue with working with those, just if I can skip it, I would go for that, but I need to lock down the next steps are for my alternatives, as I want this build to happen rather fast and not to be too many hours tinkering.
I think it’s at the same time a balance though, an unecessarily long and frustrating build, (possibly unsuccesful) will await those who are heavier/bought the wrong case etc. I’m 100kg, and I wouldn’t start a rifle case build even though i built three efoils.