Thin board? What's your opinion?

What do you think about thin boards? I am talking about 10cm or even thinner board, maybe even less than 8cm?
Do you like it? Do you see any disadvantages in thin boards?
How thin is too thin?

If you are not too heavy and know how to start with the board half under water, it is ok. One disadvantage is there is not much space for batteries in the board. Put the receiver in front so you still have signal while starting. 10cm should still be ok.

You probably want some bouyancy. My first board wasn’t powered but I attached a wake skate to an aluminum mast with G10 wings and it sunk right to the bottom of the lake.

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I am 90Kg and ride a board that is 8cm. Buoyancy isn’t an issue at all. The greater issue battery storage and as a result my hatch needed to sit higher than the deck of the board.

Not while your riding, but if you fall and your whole setup sinks to the bottom before you recover it, that is a problem. All I’m saying. I agree with the electronics storage.

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I’d imagine the overall initial drag components will be substantially higher as more and more of the board is submerged. I have the RRD K Race 70 board (Credit goes to @pacificmeister) and I dont believe I would want to go much less than this. I usually fluctuate between 190 and 200 lbs depending on what my weekend activities consisted of. But he more you submerge the board the more difficult it will be for the motor to overcome the initial drag

How heavy was the foil? I’ve ridden a few wakeskates with foils behind the boat and they’ve never sunk.
Basically you just need more volume than the weight of the setup to prevent it sinking. So if the volume is above 30L it definitely won’t sink.

I have a large volume boards similar to yours and then a lower volume setup.
While the large board is easier to get on the plane with, it’s a bitch to carry and foil with compared to my small board.

The ideal setup for most would be around 10cm thick, 62.5cm wide and about 5ft long.

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Haha yeah getting this hog outta the water and back on the boat is for sure a bitch!

Heavier that I thought apparently. Never really expected it to not float. Only crossed my mind when I got it in the water. It wasn’ t like a brick just slowly sank. I figured once the boat took off i would be fine. Wasn’t going to let it deter my first foil ride. Alas, it when down far enough I could reach it with a life jacket on and by the time I got the jacket off it was gone. Lesson learned. The wakeskate was basically a piece of 1/2" ply. So less than 2 cm. Just wanted to put this out there. Sounds really dumb but it was something that never really crossed my mind until it happened.

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Yikes. That is a lesson worth sharing. So you couldn’t retrieve it?

I had the same thing happen! overlooked the board on my first setup! Felt pretty embarrassed in front of my family after working on it for so long and having it just sink! :rofl: But yah live and yah learn I guess

Did you ever get up on this?

No recovery. I did attempt to find it with some dive gear. Water was just too murky but I did enjoy another dive in a clearer part of the lake. Foil setup was about $400 and board was a well used hyperlite that was sitting around so not a terrible loss.

Unfortunately not. I ended up using zip ties to attach noodles to both sides to try and keep it afloat, but then the sea-king burnt out and I had water in my motor pod. That’s when I decided to go fully aluminum machined motor components (minus the propeller and duct), swap out the board for the K-Race that Pacific had been customizing at the time and purchased the ARC200 you seemed extremely pleased with.

So you want to say that thin board with low volume can actually sink on the bottom of lake/sea? Never thought about it, but it makes sense.

I want to go with slim board only because I think it looks nice/slick, compared to thick board. Electronics are not problem - put cells horizontally, even dual stack (2 floors of cells) and you can go under 10cm easly.

Just something to think about. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

@Flying_Rodeo boards are about as sleek as they get in my book! and I’m sure the dimensions are on this forum somewhere

Shit!

So, you guys don’t like my new board? :sob::rofl:

I went the opposite direction! Fat!

It’s 15cm (6") thick. Calculated about 240lbs buoyancy. It’s what I call my SUP E-foil Board!

It’s 5’2" long. 24" wide.

:call_me_hand:

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That’s a boat! Love it.