Hi,
I’m not happy with the foil-assist belts : they’re too flexible, or too heavy (like Dutotone).
Have you ever tried making your own belt using nylon webbing and EVA foam? Do you need a heavy duty sewing machine for that?
I use a harness and a neoprene wrap to fix my box to the harness. 3mm fabric coated neoprene can be sewed with a normal sewing machine. I used a stretch needle and polyester thread.
It is not perfect, I might try to improve it and sew the neoprene part to the harness. Not sure if I can do that with my sewing machine though.
Anyways I think a harness is a good starting point to attach a battery. Maybe you can fix a foamed ABS board to a harness to get a more rigid structure to attach the box.
Simple and light and effective. This is made from 6mm Starboard and takes all my different ‘experiments’. Shoulder straps with waist and chest straps stop it bouncing. Been using it for a few years now, nothing has changed. Routed out the slots and bent it into shape after softening with a heat gun. Starboard sheet is HDPE - marine product, super easy to work with.
Initially I modified a Dakine waist windsurf harness, this is so much lighter and actually works better. Shoulder straps change everything, biggest thing is to stop the weight bouncing around.
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Yes windsurf harness are too heavy for my use (light assist, 12S1P). I can’t buy Starboard where I live, perhaps I could try with fiberglass and epoxy
Having some flex is really nice, when you pop up. It’s really just HDPE, should be able to get something similar almost anywhere. I just had some old sheets in the shed.
You can sometimes find cutting boards for food prep made from the same plastic as starboard. You can get different thicknesses as well.
You could use those belts for doing curls they are light and cheap and pretty wide comfortable. I have one from AliExpress it’s foam and fabric.
