Waydoo Kickstarter gathered $268K. Is $4K commercial eFoil realistic?

Na, Not really. Flightjunkie built a battery and slapped it on to a proven FR motor and a lift board. The guys got quite an ego.

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The rear wing is attached to a plastic prop shroud. This is not structurally sound. It will break off.

I have a friend with a Fliteboard and a different friend with a Lift board. My board out performs both of their boards and if I’m not careful I keep them out for too long and end up towing them back in. My board is also faster. I wouldn’t trade my board for either of their boards, so that’s saying something. Not to mention I can easily fix anything that breaks on my board myself. I am not at the mercy of any company.

That’s what they want you to think. But, I have not seen any proof of a distributor in the US.

Listen. I’m just trying to provide you guys some information that is coming from an experienced builder that sees these problems with the Waydoo design. I’m not trying to start trouble. I’m not trying to sell anything. If you decide to buy a Waydoo, at least you’ve been forewarned. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. :crossed_fingers:

Be careful what you hear from a lot of the users that post positive things on this thread. If you look up their profiles you don’t see them doing much else. They are clearly representatives of Waydoo.

:call_me_hand:

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Hmm… I’m interested where the claim of building it for $4k came from then. A Lift board is $4,800 by itself, maybe less if you can special order one without the electronics. The FR motor system is $2,000. Battery cells are another $750+, then you need the BMS and materials to build a waterproof battery. You also still need a wing, ESC and a remote, so that’s probably another $1,000.

Without adding any consideration for tools or labor we’re already up to $9,000.

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Hahahaha. Maybe I deserve that. And for that impression, I’m sorry.

@michion is probably a better efoil builder then I am. I owe a lot of my success to you Michion. When other builder wouldn’t share, you shared your mast mount for the 65161 motor, and the prop shroud. Thank you, and sorry for whatever I said to piss you off. But, while you’re here, do you mind sharing you opinion of the Waydoo board and whether or not it receives your endorsement?

And yes. My first board was the lift board with the FR unit. And my battery design, I based on the Lift design with some improvements like larger wire size and no BMS.

My board out performs because of a better suited foil, and other small factors. I’m not reinventing the wheel. Anyone can build a DIY board like I did. That’s why I’m suggesting people to build their own instead of buying a off brand product.

I have detailed my builds for anyone to copy.

Honestly, I’m just trying to help.

No offense was taken. Thank you for letting me know how I am coming across. I’ll try to tone it down. I just worry about the people who are buying these, that they are getting ripped off.

:call_me_hand:

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I said $4k - 8k. And yes. I don’t count my time and labor in my cost estimates.

:call_me_hand:

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I consider myself an accomplished esk8 builder but having read your second build thread, I can confidently report that your claim is untrue! :joy:

I really wish it was though. I actually set about building one until I saw the Waydoo. I figure it’s probably easier to creatively maintain something like that than to build something from scratch. I also expect that it won’t be too long until there’s an aftermarket for mods.

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I hope you are right.

Time will tell.

:call_me_hand:

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It doesnt matter who is better at what! I dont have the knowledge to build a battery pack. We all share different skills on this forum which I’m happy to share, but I’m not here seeking validation.

The dury is still out on the waydoo. I have seen one and its built well for is price point. Do you remember the breaking masts on your ‘premium’ Lift products?
These products are evolving and I expect a few engineering flaws to come out in the wash.
…But that is why you always wait for V3 of a product :wink:

Having said that, and as much as I like building, if this product was available when I started building my first efoil, my first build wouldn’t exist!..I would of just bough the waydoo and gone for a ride!

If you can buy from your local rep, you have consumer protections in place if shit goes bad, so this will be a good choice for a lot of people who dont have the time or interest in building.

If Waydoo can get people on the water having fun at a lower price, there is value in that. I welcome the attempt at a lower priced unit and certainly dont measure it against the FR/lift products.

I dont agree with trashing a product without a history of use. So far we have 1 photo of a broken fuselage. For all we know it was bottomed. It is unreasonable to expect a design that should survive bottoming out.
That would be be like expecting your car to drive away after a crash.

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Hi.

I’d call that a positive endorsement from @michion who’s had hands on experience.

I guess you guys can take what I say with a grain of salt. I’m only speaking to what I see from a design and engineering perspective.

I haven’t heard of any local reps. Local reps to honor a warranty would help. From my view this is a from China throwaway product with no support.

I do support more players in the market. That will bring the price down.

I guess someone has to be the guinea pig.

:call_me_hand:

I said I’ve seen one. I dont think that equates to hands on experience.
I’m endorsing it now, am I? I love how you try to put words in people’s mouths. It’s not the first time you have done it.

I am not endorsing the product, but i am also not writing it off either. Especially not off your unqualified statements and opinions.

For example, you seem to have issue with the stabiliser attaching to the plastic duct which cant be removed.

  1. The stabiliser does not attach to the duct.
  2. The plastic duct can be removed.

You often state things as fact without anything subjective to back it up. So yes I do take everything you say with ‘a grain of salt’.

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Same, I’d assume their warranty isn’t worth the paper it’s written on until proven otherwise. I buy plenty of throwaway products from China but they’re usually $50 drones and RC cars, not $5,000 eFoils that could leave me stranded in the ocean.

I hope Waydoo can pull this off but I wouldn’t buy until I’ve seen what they look like after a couple hundred hours of saltwater use.

Is this not the final design? I don’t see how the duct could be removed without also removing the stabilizer.

The bottom strut holding the stab seems is longer and thicker than the others.
You just need to imagine you keep this one and cut all the others with a Dremel to get rid of the duct.
“Imagine” because you can either 3D print this piece that looks like a prop fairing with a long single strut.
Or (when / if available) you buy a spare that will be physically cut as described above .
Once done, you’ve found a way to increase the Waydoo One speed by 15-20%.
That must be… pretty fast !

Cherry on the cake, if you reach this point… you could mount the modified @superlefax 3D printed folding prop :+1:

image

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I noticed that too, but I’m not sure that strut alone would be enough to (safely) support the stabilizer if it was the only thing left of the entire shroud.

It’s a bit of a stretch to say the shroud can be removed at this point since it clearly isn’t intended based on that design.

Just wait a few more weeks/months until they start hitting the water. People will start removing the duct and they can show you how they did it.
Of course its not intended to be removed. My comment of it being removable was in contrast to the claim that it can not be removed.
Considering we on a forum full of people 3d printing shit. Im sure the problem of a missing hub is not insurmountable.

Hi.

I’m beginning to think @michion might be involved in the development and or sale of these. :rofl::call_me_hand: Somehow I really got you worked about about this!

Instead of ripping on me, and making derogatory statements, you could just state your opinions, and or any information you have.

You say the rear stabilizer is not attached to the duct? Can you elaborate? All the pictures I’ve seen show it attached via the plastic duct.

I have provided detailed information about everything I have voiced concern about. I am not just randomly ripping on this product. More so, expressing concern, and pointing out things that potential buyers might want to look into.

Why do you take such an offense to this?

I read back through my posts and I still don’t see what I said to set you off. Is everything going ok with you?

:call_me_hand:

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I prefer to call people out when they try and shit on others with baseless accusations.

Your criticisms of this product are, as yet, unfounded because you dont know what your talking about.

All you were doing is spreading mis-information with an undertone of sinophobia.

I wont be replying to anymore of your BS.

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Ok, let’s get this back on topic, gentlemen. Maybe you can take it to PM if you want to reconcile your personal differences.

I took a closer look at the stabiliser strut/shroud assembly the other day. It’s quite interesting. The leading edge that you can see in the picture above is roughly a cm thick, rounded to a semi-circular profile and of a sturdy metal construction. Butting up to it, and flush with the sides, is the plastic housing of the prop shroud. The strut is definitely a structural component. The shroud is not.

I think it’s a very clever design. Probably not as robust as the Fliteboard design - it being shorter - but certainly neater and structurally more or less the same, retaining the advantages of the prop position relative to the foil and stab.

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Preach it, Michion.

I see a lot of baseless trash talking here (by a very small number of members) and other efoil groups, and I’m not exactly sure where the hate is coming from. Cognitive bias maybe? I see it with other competing brands like Apple vs Google, Nintendo vs Sega, where customers go to bat for the company (or in this case DIY) that they chose. It never made sense to me, and comes across as immature. In my opinion, we should all be rooting for efoils as a product to become more popular so that the quality of the products will increase and pricing come down - so that in the end, us (the customers) win.

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Well all this escalated :slight_smile:

I think something many don’t realise, is that the more popular and cheaper efoils become, the closer they will be linked to personal water craft and the more they’ll be legislated out of most lakes and rivers. Especially in Europe… The exact same thing has happened with drones, esk8 and electric scooters. New tech, slight dangers associated with using it, say goodbye to freedom.

Be careful what you wish for…