Mossy 757 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 4:36 pm
Most of the race gear seems to be converging on the design that Mike Zajicek invented for his foils:
http://www.mikeslab.com/instructions/
He uses 4 bolts to mount the strut to the fuse, Chubanga has moved over in this direction as well with the V3:
https://www.chubangafoil.com/gallery
That also gives you some play to get the angle of incidence of the wings correct at that junction, that first link has some description of that.
Thanks Mossy.
Those manufacturers seem to be using connections near identical from what I can see. Also they appear to have moulded or glued their wings and fuselages together.
For racing this is an attractive approach for manufacturers as they have a long experience to draw from for wing angles etc.
I can't see much of the fuselage to mast attachment but I suspect the 4 bolts are to stiffen a rather short socket where the mast fits in/over the fuselage. For racing and kiting this may be acceptable but keep in mind that the wing span for kite racing doesn't need to be very wide compared with foil surfing and wing surfing where the speed of a wave is a much more significant factor. Also, I suspect that racers although going very fast, are less likely to thrash their gear and use it on a regular basis so I don't think wear is as much of a consideration for them.
Here's
some websites with fuselage pictures:
Armstrong: Tapered hex fit, carbon sleved titanium:
https://www.armstrongfoils.com/product/fuselage/ $459 USD (made in NZ)
Gong: Aluminium square tubes:
https://www.gong-galaxy.com/en/?s=fuselage 69,00€
Mantafoils: Unknown material, semi box section:
https://www.mantafoils.com/ MonoV3 USD 219 USA?
Naish: Unknown material, highly contoured profile:
https://naishusa.com/collections/foil-p ... 5-fuselage $205 USD, based Hawai?
Spleen: Only available in a full USA BOX kit. (681,37 € - 973,82 €) Based?
Axis: Aluminium, highly contoured profile:
https://axisfoils.com/collections/s-series-fuselages Standard length: $349.00 USD Based?
Go-foil: Prepreg carbon, prejoined mast and square sections but in carbon.
F-One: Carbon and aluminium, massive range, doesn't seem to be much standardisation but there are some very nice contours.
https://www.f-one.world/?s=fuselage Pick your sport...
NeilPride: A bit like F-one above. Very streamlined fuselage but lots of models.
Moses: Like NP and F-one above, totally customised.
Sure there's a lot more i don't know of.
Ozone kites, Switchkites have wings but no hydrofoils. Can't see any hydrofoils on Duotone website.
There's a Swiss wind wing manufacturer I can't remember the name of, don't know if they sell hydrofoils?