Adding a hydrofoil to my SUP, and was going to add a mount where I can get a little bit of adjustment maybe a few inches. figured that would be good enough I could adjust it more if I wanted by changing my stance. Do I need to be more careful about my hydrofoil placement or should I just go for it? I have a hydrofoil for my kiteboard was just going to make a mount and move it over if I decided to hydrofoil on my SUP.
Hi edt,
On the kiteboard foil you have now is it a tuttle box, twin boxes or one of the stick on mounts ?
Theres plenty of SUP sites that will advise you about placement.
One consideration is that it should be parallel to your paddling angle so its not digging or lifting while youre paddling but Foil specific boards are made with a flatter rocker in the tail for that purpose.
depends what size the board is but for a 7-8’ its about 20-22"
On the kiteboard I have now it has the standard 4 bolt mounting plate on the bottom of the board (not a tuttle box), 90cm wide and adjustable 100cm to 200cm long. I have looked in the SUP sites this sort of thing is very new and nobody it seems is sure what to do. Lot of trial and error. I think I’ll just slap it on and if it’s not right chisel off the plate and move it. This is a home brew SUP that I made with help from swaylocks but it’s my first SUP I built so there are a lot of mistakes I made, won’t harm it too much if I screw it up and have to try again.
Foolish of me to not realise a tuttle wouldnt go on a kiteboard, D’oh!!
Part of the problem is that its all about retro fitting and most boards from any religion arent suitable for foils. Theyre either too thin, or just not designed for the job.
The ideal foilboard is made Just for foiling and the best shape would be nose rocker and then flat all the way out the tail. The reasoning is that a flatter board will be a faster paddler either prone or SUP getting you up to foil speed asap when you get on a wave.
Flat rocker also allow you to position the foil in a range of positions that arent going to be wrong, if the rocker is flat and the foil is at the same angle then the foil and the hull work together at the same AOA for paddling (neither pushing water or digging in) and also so the rider can precisely judge the foil orientation by the angle of the board.
Foil positioning trys to mimic the same stance and position as normal riding with the rider near the tail with plenty of ability to use the nose rocker if you lose speed and need the lift of the nose to angle the board up again.
With a long mast a lot of the positioning isnt critical on boards with a fair amount of rocker but neither is it ideal so having the front foil under the flatter rocker area near your COG is pretty good with your back foot over the mast head.
regardless of SUP or shortboard foilboard I think flat rocker and Vee is a good combo giving easy balance, maximum stringer strength and thickness for attchments.
And even if you miss the mark by an inch or two it only means your stance will be an inch or two forward or back but it will always be correct for the balance of the foil.
From my experience a flat rocker and widest possible tail , straight rails almost square rails helps with the location of the mast and i believe in positionning the mast further back to what i see this days , the important location is not the mast but the wing , because your stance is dictated by the location of the wing . in my ustom foil board(prone) the trailing edge of the wing is 34 cm from tail . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKODh02AAvs
Generally speaking the stance is centered about 6" in front of the mast - often end up with back foot above or just aft the mast and front foot about normal location.
It can matter a lot the little details tho
So spill the beans if you want real advice
EXACTLY what foil and mast are you using?
and when you get it together, what board?
an Inch or two can make or break it
Thanks everyone this has been a great help. I have some ideas now of where I think I want to go.
Any way you do it, do it well, maybe a HD foam insert and a solid cover top and bottom.
Or else this…
That is so sick. I won’t be using that exact design though because I am going to make a mounting that allows me to slide the foil front and back about 10cm in case I want to alter the placement.
