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2018 LF Thruster Foil

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RadDrDuke
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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby RadDrDuke » Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:20 am

Not sure what your question actually is due to a possible typo but the Happy foil is great. Not super stable at low speed like the foil fish but much better glide and more fun going fast! You will progress past beginner and want something less draggy

I don't have the happy pill board but I heard its good, I have a homemade board I ride strapless. Turns out you can bolt these foils onto anything and its a blast!

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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby ralu81 » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:19 pm

Yeah that was supposed to say low end... You covered what I was looking for though.

grtlakes
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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby grtlakes » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:34 pm

I have a line on a great deal for a happy foil. I have been offered the original LF wings to complete the package for not much more. As a complete foil beginner I figure I can change the wings as I progress. Question is is it worth it to start or should I just use the happy foil wings.
cheers.

Adolfo
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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby Adolfo » Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:01 pm

My first experiences with foils were a couple of sessions on a LF Fish that a friend lend me, and after that I bought a Happy Foil.
I paid for it about half of what I would have paid for a North or a Lift, and 30% less of a Cabrinha Double Agent, that were the only other choices I had then.
That was about one year ago.
The first 5 minutes on the Happy were difficult. I thought that I had assembled something wrong because I couldn’t make that thing fly. But then I realized that all I had to do was to go faster, and everything was sweet after that.
Since then I’ve used it for the last year and I’m very happy with my choice. I don’t think you will have any problems learning to foil with it.
The only other foil I had used is a Lift. I would say that the Happy is less pitch stable than the Lift, but a tad faster.
The only thing I don’t like of it is the solid aluminum fuselage. It’s very heavy.
How difficult can it be to make a carbon fuselage?

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downunder
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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby downunder » Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:36 am

^
Difficult. It is torsional strength which is a problem. Yep, you could wrap it with 45/45 degrees, but carbon does not wrap nicely on square surfaces. Hence creating a stress point. To combine wood with carbon is ok, but than is not a carbon build in my books.

The best is SS fuselage. Relatively not that light/heavy but can be quite thin. My source would charge me $150 for fully profiled SS 314 one. Not bad I think.

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aleks
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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby aleks » Fri Sep 15, 2017 4:25 pm

Adolfo wrote:
Tue Sep 12, 2017 7:01 pm
How difficult can it be to make a carbon fuselage?
They do make a carbon fuselage:

http://liquidforcekites.com/product/foi ... -fuselage/

It weights 2.5 times less than their aluminum one - it makes for a very nice ride and a pleasure to jump with.

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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby airsail » Sat Sep 16, 2017 9:54 pm

When building a fuselage, search for carbon fibre sleeve. It easily expands over any section, the wet out and pull tight, no need to bag it and bagging can actually cause problems. The fibres run diagonally for excellent torsion resistance and will follow any lumps etc added for mount points.

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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby Kitehume » Sun Nov 26, 2017 1:36 am

Just a quick comparison between my rocket foil and my new thruster foil from liquidforce.

I learned on the rocket foil. Have used it since January 2017. I have not used any other foil.

Have had two sessions on the thruster foil. Light wind 7-11knts using ocean rodeo flite 14.5m.

First impressions this is much faster than the rocket. Pops you up on the foil very early. Very stable on the pitch axis. Seems locked in on the pitch axis. Just gets up on the foil and stays there with very little input from me.
Very good low speed stability too. Both with going down and up wind.

So far very happy with its performance. Don't think I will be using my rocket very much again. The rocket was good to learn on, and build up my muscle memory. Will pass it down to my mates so they can learn too.

ralu81
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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby ralu81 » Mon Nov 27, 2017 3:06 pm

I'm still trying to understand what this all means... So the low end is similar to the rocket but it sounds like the thruster has better top end and the low end stability on the thruster is good as well. Why would you buy the rocket then? are there any advantages to going with the rocket compared to the thruster?

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tegirinenashi
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Re: 2018 LF Thruster Foil

Postby tegirinenashi » Mon Nov 27, 2017 4:49 pm

It is marketing trumping the law of physics: "We cooked some magical shape that allows 600 cm^2 wing to have lower end than 800 cm^2 wing". (I guesstimated the Thruster area to be below 600 cm^2, it would be nice if somebody confirm/refute this number).


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