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=196
Hopefully 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.
Select to expand quotegokid said..
wow any photos of it being ridden 
....is it April???
Awesome work Doycle, version 1 looked really painful when you high sided and landed on the foil. Can't wait to see the carbon version. 
Dyna bolt that last pic down and you have a island bar 
Or put a swivel on the first one and you have a weather vane 
...or just strap a model airplane on the bottom of an ironing board.
I like DIY stuff. I've looked over some of George Greenough stuff he has invented over the years and his protos aren't pretty, but some are brilliant. Everything from fins to water camera housings and other stuff. His latest little boat design (imagine a jet ski cross boat) has been picked by US military. His one that catches my eye is a more than 20 year old old model windsurfer that he believes is one of the fastest designs ever built. It looks rough. The foam finishes halfway down board then turns into a metal plate over a metal keel. Anyway your little proto reminded me of it.
Hey doycle
I'm about 3/4 through my own attempt - I went a bit bigger and tried a carbon one, it's very encouraging that you got yours to work, I'm thinking I've got plenty stacks ahead of me to learn to ride it.
I'll add more photos when I'm done. I have spent an incredible amount of time on this project - every part needs a plug and 2 mould halves. I hope the damn thing works!
Cheers
Mark
Select to expand quotePhezulu1 said..
Hey doycle
I'm about 3/4 through my own attempt - I went a bit bigger and tried a carbon one, it's very encouraging that you got yours to work, I'm thinking I've got plenty stacks ahead of me to learn to ride it.
I'll add more photos when I'm done. I have spent an incredible amount of time on this project - every part needs a plug and 2 mould halves. I hope the damn thing works!
Cheers
Mark
It wont work......I can see two major flaws.
The first is the latent angle of the wing has a refracted permutation that likens itself to that of a hydra mixer.
The second should then be obvious.
Damn! Caught out again. Now I'll have to throw the whole lot out and start again.
Now you just need some foot-pegs and a bicycle seat!
Ha, good job mate - camera is charged, just let me know when you're testing!
Hey Phezulu,
That looks awesome! Great job! Let us know how it goes...I'm sure it'll work.
An update on mine:
I've trimmed the fins down a little bit more and started the painting (no one will ever know it's not carbon ). It works really well at the moment and goes upwind great. Getting downwind is serious work which I think I can put down to the lack of stiffness. I might put some more glass on the board to stiffen it up and start thinking about making a mold for a carbon one 
I'm no engineer or anything...
but it does look like your front foils have a bit of negative lift rather then natural but they look pretty impressive!
