Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

[Jzh_perth]

Not that I recognised. They had some crazy designs which clearly wouldn't work very well.

[BWD]

Some of the pictures look very slingshot-esque.
And isn't it slingshot, takuma, Naish(?) and axis that use the same aluminum mast section now?
Draw your own conclusions...

[norcom]

Some of the pictures look very slingshot-esque.
And isn't it slingshot, takuma, Naish(?) and axis that use the same aluminum mast section now?
Draw your own conclusions...

The Slingshot one is different. It uses two bolts. The extrusion differs as well, at least the internal splines look different. Not sure about the actual dimension.

[wil]

17800 views today. Shows the interest in an affordable slow speed foil that has multiple uses.

[Oldman_Dave]

I have ordered a 60 cm and 76cm mast and it was +50 for the extra mast.

I would have preferred 40cm and 76 as I am using it for teaching but I had to wait longer for a custom length. But yes, they are available and for a small outlay.

I understand galvanic corrosion to occur between the stainless steel bolts and the aluminium threads in the mast / fuse, I'm not sure I understand your question - if the manufacturer is obliged to do anything ? I don't expect them to do anything - it's easy enough for me to apply TefGel and crack the bolts once a month to make sure it hasn't seized. I use TefGel liberally on my other foils and never had a problem. I learnt the hard way by leaving my first foil (LF Foil Fish) assembled for 3 months with no TefGel and had to drill a bolt out when I wanted to it apart. Major PITA .

Thanks for that info re mast length. I'm keen to see how this all plays out, but not keen enough to be one of your first 10. Maybe a follow up though. I would want a shorter mast, as I have learning areas that are tide limited, 40 would be perfect then 76 or longer later on.

As for galvanic corrosion, I could be wrong, but my understanding that aside from SS/Al contact corrosion, carbon fibre was particularly bad in contact with Aluminium, hence they had to be kept separate in salt.

In my understanding there are not that many manufacturers that use CF with Al, a lot use G10, fibreglass, or composite wings.

Others use something like this:

[Jzh_perth]

Hi Oldman, I have now also been told that carbon and aluminium is a bad combination. To be honest I think it's too much to expect the Chinese factory will include spacers or something similar to stop this. The branded Takuma certainly didn't have anything like that. If you were super worried you could make your own or disassemble. I'll probably use some bicycle inner tube cut to fit if it's going to be a problem.

[gbrungra]

We keep saying "Chinese factory" like only knock-offs are made in China.

My brand-name Slingshot hoverglide was made in a Chinese factory...

[Jzh_perth]

^ this is true.

And it occurs to be that we assume the Takuma came first but maybe it's the other way round ?

I will start referring to it as the China surf foil instead of a "copy" or "clone"

[spork]

We keep saying "Chinese factory" like only knock-offs are made in China.

My brand-name Slingshot hoverglide was made in a Chinese factory...

Just to play devil's advocate... we can imagine the brand name folks spent loads of money on R&D perfecting their gear before having it manufactured in China. If that's true (and I'm not sure it is), it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to want to recoup those expenses with marked up products.

[blu]

does anyone recognize this foil as the brand name ?