Best Carbon Fiber Weave Pattern for an Efoil

EFOIL.builders Foils & Boards
1

Hello all,

I’m currently purchasing all the necessary parts to build a board from scratch and I decided to use carbon fiber to reinforce it. However, with all these different types of weave (plain, twin, harness, spread tow), tow (3k, 6k, 12k) and weight (4oz, 6oz, 10oz) out there, it’s been hard determining which carbon fiber cloth would be the best for my board. Therefore, I would like to know your opinion as to what type of weave, weight and tow is best as well as how many layers should I laminate on the board. I am not planning on vaccuming it so this may weigh in as a determining factor. My current choice is a 4 harness satin weave 6K 6oz carbon fiber cloth. Here is the link: https://compositeenvisions.com/Carbon-Fiber-fabric-4-harness-satin-6k-49-124-5cm-6oz-205gsm-hexcel-im7/

It is cheap and I like the look. The weight and tow are exactly what I think would be ideal. I am planning on laminating two layers of this cloth on the whole board. Please, let me know what you guys think.

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On a side note: Since I am not planning on vaccuming it, are there still benefits to using carbon fiber versus fiberglass?

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Plain weave is less drapable and slightly weaker. twill is better in this regard.
Linked cloth will shape easily but weave will also be easily disturbed.

It is impossible to say generally what you need really. I think two layers will be too little if you’re using a softer foam base which many do.

Carbon will always have benefit in stiffness and you can wrap with tape or cling film instead of vacuum to compress laminate.

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I ended going with the cloth I linked above! It was a thick yet very drapable cloth so it ended up being perfect for the application! I did two layers and it works very well so far. 3 layers would have been overkill since this cloth is 6K 6oz of 4HS and it has better properties than other weaves for an efoil. I also did a lid with it and it worked great! I used a divinicell 3/8 foam 5lbs foam core with 2 layers on top and 3 layers of the bottom with overlapping edges. The result is great. Super stiff yet lightweight/low profile lid!

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Looking good. Pls post pictures commenting the different steps :+1: