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Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:38 pm
by Starsky
spork wrote:
Tue Oct 03, 2017 4:17 pm
Yes it's heavy. No, it's not plastic. And your better option doesn't include a foil.
My bad, didn't see it was complete. Thought it was to go with a Chinese carbon knock off.

FYI: Those boards certainly aren't glass on foam. They have a seam all the way round the rail between the two half thermo molded skins over a foam core. Pretty sure you can call em plastic.

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 8:41 pm
by stasfire
spork wrote:
Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:41 am
stasfire this looks like a great deal to me. It's the same board I learned on and still use. I've got a couple hundred sessions on mine.

http://c.ikitesurf.com/classifieds/30071
looks like its gone since the link no longer works. Was it the one in San Luis Obispo?

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:14 pm
by spork
With two sets of wings and the short mast, not a bad deal at all. But I would opt for the long fuselage over the short mast. The longer fuselage will reduce the pitch response while you're learning, then you move to the regular one. From what I've seen and heard most people only use the short mast for a handful of sessions.

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:23 pm
by spork
FYI: Those boards certainly aren't glass on foam. They have a seam all the way round the rail between the two half thermo molded skins over a foam core. Pretty sure you can call em plastic.
Two things...
- I'm pretty sure they are epoxy/glass over foam. Not 100% sure, but pretty close.
- When you said plastic I thought you were referring to the wings. The wings are definitely a layup. Not sure if they're glass or carbon. I have one that's split wide open and it sure looks like carbon to me.
looks like its gone since the link no longer works. Was it the one in San Luis Obispo?
I think it was in San Luis Obispo. Looks like it is gone. You've got to jump on the good deals quickly :(

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:31 pm
by Jzh_perth
I had afoil fish and the board is not epoxy / glass over foam. Not inu the usual sense like a SB anyways. It has a seam running around the rim. On the plus side is is meant to be bulletproof. I quite liked mine all things considered, but I sold it 3 months after buying it as I wanted to go racing and needed a faster foil. That blue one would have been ideal if it was available when I bought mine.

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:38 pm
by spork
I don't think the seam is an indication that it's not epoxy glass. It's just an indication of the manufacture process. I've seen many things that are epoxy/glass or carbon with an identical seam. I had an old Bic Astro Rock that had a seam just like that, and I'm pretty sure it was epoxy/glass over foam.

I've seen lots of carbon blades for R/C helis that have a seam like that as well.

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 11:42 pm
by Starsky
Pretty much everything Bic makes is plastic.

It's kinda their thing.

Taken from their current windsurfing site

Reffering to their new high end construction:

"With decades of experience in windsurf manufacturing BIC Sport is a pioneer and expert in the field of thermoformed composite construction technology"

Basically they have only recently started to use glass under it all, but even their high end boards have a plastic skin. (.8mm to be precise)

Most of their boards are still the same old Bic:

"manufactured using our TOUGH-TEC technology: outer skin/shell made from ultra-resistant polyethylene, wrapped round a rigid, waterproof, polystyrene core."

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 4:15 am
by spork
Well I guess I can't say for sure what material the Foilfish or AstroRock boards are. I always thought the AstroRock was epoxy/glass. I once damaged it and fixed it with epoxy glass. It held perfectly for years.

I had a couple of older Bic boards that were definitely plastic. The Astro Rock was definitely very different from them. But I guess I don't know for a fact that it's epoxy glass.

I do know the foil wings on the foilfish use glass or carbon cloth because I have a delaminated one and it's very evident.

I guess I don't much care whether the board is plastic since it does what I need a board to do.

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 10:43 am
by Oldman_Dave
zzzzzzzz getting way off topic ...

Re: Chinese KB Hydrofoil : 300 USD + shipment

Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2017 1:15 pm
by BWD
To add to the boredom, bic and others have used strong plastic theoformed sheets over fiber reinforcement for quite a long time as have other good quality surf and windsurf "pop-out" board makers, pretty sure since the 90's...