Hey guys,
I have been posting some of my learnings and advances in in other topics so I want to keep my build up to date as well!
The summer has been amazing and I have spend more time on the water than any other year. I was happy to be able to finish my second board in time and going out for runs with family and friends was well worth the effort.
Especially the smaller one is handy, where i’ve bolted a wooden board to it plus some deckpad on top. Like that the board won’t slide while transporting.
Building a 14S14P battery with a level fusing was a fun project. It’s a 18650 Samsung 30Q pack.
Here’s a link to these nickel strips:
I had to spot weld two layers of nickel strips, since one layer will only do 3A continuous without getting warm and will blow fast at 8A per cell.
Now with two layers I have 6A continuous and 16A fusing. Times 14 cells this is 84A and 224A max.
I’m running the pack with a 200A Smart BMS…
The V3 board is a copy of V1, made from a Anton Wingboard of the same dimensions 147x65cm 70 Liter.
Lid is made again from sealed multiplex plate combined with 1mm CF sheet.
Motor will be 65161 either the flite inspired custom made mast and fuselage or I’ve got another one mounted already to a 90cm slingshot mast.
Cheers mate!
On my previous boards i haven’t considered weight as much. Everything was built quite rigid, hence a little on the heavy side. Of course handling becomes a little more tricky.
On the Gong Board i will probably use a smaller battery pack to keep the weight lower. Definitely it will be a pro board. Similar to @superlefax 120cm TicTac board.
The biggest challenge will most probably be to start on such a small board, as it is difficult to shift enough weight forward.
Once up on the foil, handling will be much more responsive.
I also think that the Gong Kube is a perfect board for conversion into an efoil. It always hurts a bit to cut open a nicely done finished board…
sorry to hijack the thread, but have you tried the kube in wingfoiling? I could not find anything on the internet…
I want to build a smaller board that fits in my car and 120-130 would be ideal, but i’m afraid it’s too short and wave resistance would be horrible in such a small board, making it really hard to take off in low winds…
Sorry, i haven’t tried the board for winging…
But what i’ve read the Kube series isn’t built for light wind anyway. It’s a freestyle board for experts, given the size of the board it must be a hell lot of fun using it for winging.
Regarding a board that fits into a car, i’m quite happy to have a van where i can just junk all equipment in. Usually i don’t even disassemble the boards:
Hey Tobi, awesome build.
I could use some advice regarding the battery box from bopla.
How did you order it and how much did you pay?
I send a request and they want 300€ for the box. Is there something I have to look for when ordering?
Cheers, have you been in contact with Bopla directly? 300€ seems a little overpriced!
I’ve just checked where I’ve bought the box. It was this online shop:
If you don’t necessarily want to go for 14S14P or similar config, @Vincentbraillard found a sweet solution with a more economic box, that suits a 12S10P config:
Hey Ryan!
Blue Sea fuses aren’t cheap, but definitely worth it!
I figured it would fit exactly in this box, in fact i’m using this setup also in all of my builds. Can highly recommend if you are using this kind of fuse.
Well, I’ve never tried it…
But the material is fiber reinforced plastic, super strong and sturdy!
So I would say that it should be possible to stand directly on the box. For sure if you create a support in the middle so the weight can distribute more evenly.
I’ve had some trouble with water ingress in V2 Board. That caused the reciever and the BMS of the battery to die. So the electronics had to go into another waterproof box. And I’ve cut the board to make the Bopla battery case fit into the board.
Finally did the nose of the board suffer quite a lot, so I’ve vacuum bagged a carbon nose cone for it. And since the Eva pad was eaten up, it got changed too.
Can you recommend using a resettable circuit breaker as an On/Off switch?
I really like the idea but im a bit worried cause there is no anti spark protection then.
And did you ever went over the 120 Amps and trip the breaker while on the water ?
The circuit breaker is another safety mechanism that is a “nice to have” but not really necessary as long as the battery itself and so the circuit itself has a shunt. All my batteries have 150a fuse built in.
Regarding the antispark, some people just hold a small resistor in between the connectors to slowly charge the capacitors on their esc/vesc and then connect them.
I wanted to have a solution where even my sister or wife could use the board without fear when they see the spark while connecting. Therefore a circuit breaker also acts as an on/off switch in my boards. No need for a separate antispark in this case.
In those boards where I have used the bigger esc with antispark connector, I haven’t used the circuit breaker anymore though.
None of the fuses or circuit breakers ever tripped while in use.
