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Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

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OzBungy
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Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby OzBungy » Mon Nov 15, 2021 3:26 am

The foam inside the most used handles on a couple of my wingdings has compressed to be almost non-existent. The wings work quite will but it's a bit of a distraction having crushed webbing rubbing on some fingers.

It would be really easy to snip off the handles, leaving two tabs to sew onto, then put some carbon tube inside some tubular webbing and sew it on. I'm thinking one mini-boom would take the place of two handles.

Some questions:

Anybody tried this? How did it go?

The existing soft handles are about 15cm long. Rigid mini-boom handles would be about 35cm so the load transferred to the strut would change from two points 15cm apart to two points 35cm apart with a 25mm carbon tube stiffener. Would the wider attachment points compromise the structure of the strut? I'm thinking the carbon stiffener might make it more solid and lighter.

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Re: Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby alpaia » Mon Nov 15, 2021 9:42 pm

that sounds like a good idea ut why not keep all the attachment points ?
use a single tube for the whole length and somehow make loops wth the webbing from the handles around the tube ?
you could try it out without cutting the existing handles first, just wrapping a webbing or rope around the tube and existing handles.
This way you can check it works fine before chopping off the handles.

OzBungy
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Re: Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby OzBungy » Tue Nov 16, 2021 4:42 am

Thought of leaving the attachment points. That would lose the advantage of being able to easily slide my hand back and forth on the mini-boom.

I can't wrap anything around the tube, it's got the wing profile panel attached to it. I could open up that seam but that's become major surgery which is what I want to avoid.

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Re: Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby rolfjoosten » Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:26 pm

On the German forum Oase, there is a guy under the name of Davor. He molded his FOne Strikes with a broomstick to get a mini boom.

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Jan:)
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Re: Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby Jan:) » Tue Nov 16, 2021 11:29 pm

I have not tried a DIY boom.

But I have fixed the problem you describe with 3D printed handles in TPU.
Taped to the old handles with hockey tape.

Does not look as great, but works pretty well.

OzBungy
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Re: Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby OzBungy » Wed Nov 17, 2021 11:54 pm

I have previously covered the handles with a length of garden hose then covered that with self fusing tape. That worked fine but the tape wears out. It's easy to replace and costs nothing.

I went back to the bare handles just because it's simpler than having hose and tape and stuff.

I'm looking at a sewing modification because I like to sew stuff, I have the carbon tube, and it just looks like a good thing to do.

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Re: Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby RTL78901 » Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:52 pm

Here is a mod I made for my wing which is lacking a handle right past the leading edge (original design or error IDK?). I originally was using Velcro strips to tie down a paddle when I was using it on the water with my SUP that worked fine though it added some weight. For Wingskate on land, I decided I didn't need the paddle so I just took the handle from it and used Velcro to tie it down. It did sometimes slip out of the loops so I use a coated wire or Dynema line to just prevent it from sliding out of the Velcro strips. I ran the the tie wire through the pre-existing holes in the paddle handle.
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OzBungy
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Re: Replacing wingding handles with DIY mini-booms

Postby OzBungy » Sun Jan 09, 2022 5:59 am

I gave up on the mini-boom idea. I couldn't think of an elegant way to make a rigid connection from the end of the boom to the strut. There would always be that bit of fore-aft slack that I would not be happy with.

Any design I came up with involved layer upon layer of velcro, or major surgery to the wing. Neither filled me with joy.

I ended up refurbishing the handles in place and I am very happy with the result.

I posted the process here: viewtopic.php?f=107&t=2412130


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