With foiling being the latest thing to taking off in Kiting I thought I'd give making one a go as a cheap way to try it (and to blitz to competition at the L2L
)
The first time I took it out strapless was a disaster and was like ridding a bucking bull. So back to the garage and I trimmed down the fins a little to make less lift and added front straps (a must!). Take two was challenging but towards the end I was happily flying around which was seriously cool!! It was an awesome challenge with stacks a plenty but well worth it for the feeling of kiting in silence half a meter above the water on something I made!
Anyway I thought I'd put this up for anyone else who had thought about foiling or looking for a new DIY project. If I can make one literally anyone can as I had no woodwork or fiberglassing skills prior.
Materials
Board:
9mm Marine Ply (50cmx120cm)
1 layer of fiberglass each side (Can use the thicker stuff for this)
epoxy resin (PRO TIP 1: get the WEST SYSTEM resin with PUMPS!!! Also its half the price of International Epiglass from Whitworths.)
Sugar deck grip (50/50 castor and regular sprinkled on a thin layer of epoxy resin)
Foil & Mast:
12 mm BC grade plywood scrap (Big mistake..in hindsight i should have spent a bit more and used 9mm marine ply)
Fiberglass (get the thin stuff as it is sooo much easier to work with)
Selleys Knead it for making the nose and tail of the foil
Araldite for joining the fins to the fuselage (PRO TIP 2: the one with the self mixing nozzle made life much easier!)
Stainless steel bolts for attaching foil and footstraps
All up I think Ive used 1.5L of resin and around 6m of fiberglass. I think it has cost me less than $250 but quite a few hours. (kept prototype 1 to a tight budget to leave money for prototype 2 in carbon...)
The Basics:
Mast height: 85-100cm (mine is 100cm)
Mast Width: 10cm (mine is 11 at bottom to 14 at top)
Fuselage: 76cm (mine was 2 12mm plywood glued together...about 4cm wide)
Front foil area: around 600cm2 (curved on top, flat on bottom)
Back Foil area: 2.5-3x less than the front foil (should be less than 10mm thick and doesn't need much curve on top in hindsight)
Layers of glass:
10 on the mast (Put a couple at 45degrees as well to stop twist)
2 on the front foil
1 on the back foil
4 on the joins
2+ on the fuselage
(Still not completely rigid/stiff but it does the job :)
Cool places for info:
kitehydrofoil.com/ kitefoil.forumactif.org/ (Some English...most in french but worth Google translating)
kiteforum.com/viewforum.php?f=196Hopefully see some cool foils in the works!!
Warning: Making a foil will make you want to build a second one and/or buy a carbon one like the Taaroa Sword.
