North skimfish Strapless foiling

[airsurfer]

I'd like to get into strapless foiling mainly for freeride/freestyle tricks. I have an old North a skimfish (2011 I think) laying around and was thinking of drilling some holes and mounting a foil to it. Any suggestions? Is a low volume board easier for strapless?

I think there was a thread a while ago on someone using the skim fish for foiling but I can't find it
I'm not really worried about long term durability of the board but as also don't want to have an equipment failure out at sea or lose the foil. Do I need to fill the holes or reinforce ? Any recommendations on where and how to mount the foil are appreciated.

[Pierrot]

I did use this exact same board when I started foiling.
I drilled 4 holes, removed foam under the fiber using drill and alen key, filled with epoxy and micro baloon, and redrilled the holes.
I had also re-enforced the bottom with a few layers of fiber glass in the foil mount area.
It worked great for a couple of months, but it broke in half at the front foot level on a hard touch down... so I would recommend re-enforcing the entire length of the board with a strip of carbon and /or fiber glass.

Also I cut the broken board to check the inside and found out the foam used for the core of the board had been "eaten" by the epoxy I used to make the 4 holes water tight... to much heat I guess and poor quality foam...

[airsurfer]

Thank you Pierrot. Thats exactly the information I was looking for. Please post or pm me some photos if you have them. Happy foiling

[bigtone667]

I tried doing the samething on the skimfish. You need to reinforce the inside. Your first serious crash against a sandbank will rip the foil through the board.

I had a CrazyFly cruiser that I used instead.i just added a piece of wood into the mount point to strengthen it reduce the overall board flex. Works a treat for launching in light wind and strapless foiling.

[plummet]

How wide is this board? it looks a bit wide for foiling. You will probably get more touch downs on the edge then a thinner more dedicated hf board.

That said bolt it up and ride. Think about how to improvements could be make and incorporate that into your next board.

[JakeFarley]

There is a product that you can "stick" a plate to the bottom of any board to mount the mast to. It uses 3m adhesive. Houston Kiteboarding sells them but they are not cheap.

[Peter_Frank]

How wide is this board? it looks a bit wide for foiling. You will probably get more touch downs on the edge then a thinner more dedicated hf board.

That said bolt it up and ride. Think about how to improvements could be make and incorporate that into your next board.

A wide and light board is great, so many advantages.
Only if racing (leaning over way more than us) or being a wave specialist, a really wide board is not the choice.

As I believe everybody, except kite schools, uses masts in the 90 to 105 cm range, a wide not too long board is spot on
Even for those learning with short masts it is also good IMO

PF