Wooden mast & foil

What wood would it take to build a mast and a foil, and would anyone sell to me the plans so that it could be built locally ?

Thank you.

Check out https://www.clearwaterfoils.com, that might give you some inspiration. They sell very inexpensive kits. Not very refined but also not expensive.

How much more drag can be expected from a DIY foil? Is it insignificant compared to the drag of having the motor assembly going through the water?

Hello @Filip, I don’t think there is a general answer here. Some people did a great job in doing very refined DIY foils. On the other hand there are some very basic foils out there based on wood or G10. With these foils I would worry more about lift at low speed than drag.

Thanks PB1. Yes I know this site and I really really like the idea but making a few wooden sticks come from the USA to Europe is a bit of a ecological non-sense.

I’d rather purchase the plans and have it made here. I have asked but no answer yet.

Hi Foiler, the idea would be to make a foil and mast out of wood with a laser cutter. What do you think?

Is the plan to wrap the mast in carbon fiber or fiberglass after you’ve stacked it up? That might work, but without that I think it will break.

Yes, it is the plan to wrap it with fiberglass

I think you need to try it - for science!

I wonder if there is a material more appropriate (or lighter) than wood you could use since you’re going to wrap it anyway. I would think a laser cutter could cut through an inch or so of some sort of medium density foam so you’d have a lot fewer pieces to stack and glue.

Or maybe laser cutters light foam on fire, in which case forget I said anything.

I think this is a very clever and easy way to do the core. You could use a cnc and use 30mm plus blocks of wood or foam instead to use less of them. Very interested to see how it turns out!

You may only print a few of those profiles across two wodden rods then cover the whole thing with another kind of laser cut, something like that :slight_smile:
Parametric Flexible Wood Cut by danawoodman - Thingiverse

Hi, yes that would be an option I like very well! I will try again