I’ve read a lot of great info in this forum and would like to make the construction of an e-Foil my Winter project (Summer here right now downunder). I’ve never foiled and intend to find a school to give it a crack, but as I just had a number of day’s of ‘quality time’ with my PC thanks to covid, I drew up a board in OnShape.
My rendition is 1600mm (5’3") long and 750mm wide (2’5") and bang on 100l volume. Guessing as I’m an e-Foil beginner, it will need a bit of grunt for me to get up, but I really don’t want to go crazy with gigantic battery packs and megawatt motors if I can help it!
In case you wonder why I chose “Weightshift” as my username, this is due to my love of sports requiring weight-shift control - hang gliding and motorcycling. Hoping to add e-foiling to that list
If I’ve got the piccys thing right (no post-preview in this forum?), hopefully some renditions are showing below . . .
Your board looks very similar to mine, just a bit larger. I also had round corners at the back but I didn’t like how it looked and I had troubles with the rails (transition to the round corner). I think it’s better if the rails go to the end of the board (like lift does it). Of coarse this is a small detail and with a 100l board you will not have any problems with takeoff the way you designed it.
Hey Daniel - awesome build log you’ve got going, thanks for linking to it I’ll study it closely.
I agree the chamfered off stern looks better and may be a tad more comfortable when lying prone across the back (?) - which as a learner I see myself and keen family members doing quite a bit of, in the beginning. So all in all changing the stern keeps with the principle of ‘form following function’
Happily making changes at this stage is very simple with OnShape (no adding of foam needed ), so very much appreciate your feedback. Right now I’m off to jump off a cliff (hang gliding) so will make some further drafts later.
Anyone else’s feedback/tips would be greatly appreciated too! Cheers - Brendan.
Will look at ‘sharpening’ the stern vertical corners even more, soon. OnShape needs me to redraw the plan splines to do that, so a little extra messing around.
75cm is too wide in my opinion, the board gets elephantish and can’t be carved in sharp turns without a longer mast. i’d stay at around 60cm max width to have a more agile board.
Heya Foilguy. Unfortunately I’m in New Zealand, although close (globally speaking), Fliteboard hasn’t made it here yet. Waydoo seems to dominate locally at the moment.
For dimensions, look at what the top foil companies sell… I’m not sure how big you are, but a decent size guide is always: 150cm x 63.5cm x12cm. Lift’s sport boards are 65cm wide and their pro boards are 60cm wide.
I have boards ranging from 55cm to 63.5cm wide and have never had issues with tight carves. There’s no point in going longer than 150cm though, it just becomes too long and cumbersome to transport.
Well I followed through and organised an e-Foil lesson for myself and four of my family. First thing to say . . . e-Foiling is bloody awesome fun! Had an hour + 20 on the water and what a blast! Completely hooked now
Unfortunately my daughter showed us blokes up and was foiling around me while I was hauling my arse yet again onto the board, for another launch into the air. My excuse is her board-size to weight ratio was much more in her favour
To get lessons we had to travel an hour South, to the NZ Waydoo agent. Our lessons were on Waydoo Flyer One boards. I noted some clever tech in these e-Foils. First to say, this board is big - over almost 170cm in length and used EPP (Extruded Polypropylene) as the main board material. I would say this is pretty smart for a trainer board, as this material (used in car bumpers/fenders) is light, durable and has some ‘bounce’. A zillion RC (radio control) planes can’t be wrong! Also impressive was the electrics, the battery is the hatch lid - this drops into the board from above and connects via mating connectors. Equally clever (I thought) was that the ESC is built onto the top of the mast. Inserting the mast also has this component mating with electrical connectors, as it is lowered into the board. It is fastened with two finger screws.
If I had to guess, I would say the receiver is in the battery module? And just to finish off, the Waydoo manual says the EPP board is reinforced by an aluminium frame. Given this Waydoo entry level e-Foil is just over 2/3rds the price of other brands (in NZ at least), its seems to be pretty good value? Nowhere near DIY value, but for folks just wanting to grab an e-Foil off the shelf it seems like a pretty reasonable choice
Just to temper this ‘almost Waydoo review’, I’ve only seen two other commercial e-Foils: Flite and Audi. Both of these I viewed in a shop showroom, with no hands-on.
I’ll study it closely.
), so very much appreciate your feedback. Right now I’m off to jump off a cliff (hang gliding) so will make some further drafts later.
