Just noticed a few drops of water dripping off my Neilpryde wing to fuselarge joint after assembly before going out for a surf.
Obviously the heating of the sun helps to push the water out.
So after my surf I disassembled the wing & noticed only small drops of water coming out of the trailing edge and not the joint.
I then noticed that the surface of the recess at the trailing edge bolt hole is probably cracked due to its angle not being an exact fit.
So I have come to the conclusion that when the wing is tightened down it opens up the crack & squeezes the water out.
Also the pressure of tightening the lee side bolt has added extra pressure that may have slightly split the lee side edge hence the small droplets of water exiting it.
Looks like I will dig out the crack to open it up a bit to help drain the water. Then tighten it against the fuselarge to check if any more water drains. And then will epoxy over the crack & either the trailing edge or entire wing. Probably the entire wing.
So in future I think it is ok to tighten the leeding two bolts as normal with the T wrench. But only tighten the trailing edge bolt with a normal screw driver with the posi drive.
I have been conscious of never overtightening the wings due to their construction compared to the mast whichis tightened the most.
Never had a problem with disassembling.
I guess the good thing is it will not affect the foil performance but it just annoying seeing your foil having that minuscule problem. So glad my go foil doesn't fully rely upon the screws to hold and the screws only purpose is to lock in place and almost like a padlock.
Yeah. Go foil has been the reliable one. Something one has to think about is that it may be worth it to pay the extra 300 to 600 dollars to save any hassles down the track. But being patient to save the extra kills me! Lol.
It's been a great foil in all types of conditions. Can't keep off it.
You will find it's not from over tightening but salt water crystals expanding when it dries out and puts a tiny split in the seam , so good idea to give a quick wash or pull apart if you know you are not going to use it for awhile. You can actually see in the photos where the white salt crystals built up. It's a pretty easy fix just a small grind and drop in a small piece of carbon in the corner and screw the wing back on to the fuse and let it dry . Put some masking tape or mould release on the fuse first. Be very sparing with the resin/epoxy you don't need much , you are just sealing a seam. This happened to one of my early proto wings last year and it's still fine now fixing it just like that.
Thanks Piros. I don't even think it's as bad as first thought. After doing some trials of bolting & unbolting the fuse & wing. Plus heating the wing in the sun. I have found that the main leaking is from the fuselarge blind bolt holes that hold water when rinsing which I do after every session. When screwing the bolts in it pushes the water out of the holes.
The only leaks I have found are from a couple of minute holes or splits at the traing edge when the wing heats up. So I will cover these with epoxy after drying out & go from there.
