I'm considering leaving my foil and stabiliser on the fuselage between sessions to minimise the fussing around of putting everything together and applying tefgel each time before a session. What sort of experience do people have with bolts seizing if leaving things assembled for too long? Could I get away with disassembling everything and reapplying tefgel say once a year assuming 20-30 sessions a year? If not how often do you recommend?

When applying tefgel do you guys apply it to bolt or the thread or to both. I've been applying it to the bolt only but not sure if this is the recommended technique.

I've been putting tefgel on the starboard foil (aluminum fuse, composite wing, stainless fasteners) and leaving the fuse and wings assembled, but assembling the mast and attaching to the board on the beach because it won't fit in my car otherwise.

After applying it to the threads of the bolts, I've left it together for weeks and taken the rear off, changed a shim, and went back at it. Hasn't seized. I think I re-applied in a month?Also I applied it to the bolts, threaded it into the board mast attachment, removed, re-applied to the bolts, and now I can get the board attachment bolts on much easier without them creaking and loosening up during jibes or when pushing hard. I'd sometimes find I couldn't get it very tight without a fastener lube, and after a short few reaches at least one of the fasteners had loosened up.

Great post. I've applied Tef Gel only once and am in my 3rd month of Wing foiling. 2 weeks ago I wanted to make sure I could unscrew the bolts and they came out just fine, I use the Axis Aluminum mast/fuse. I'm thinking every 4 months or so I'll reapply the Tef Gel and see how that works.

Definitely looking to hearing other experiences.

DC

It depends on your foil, and whether you foil in salt water. Foils with stainless or titanium screws directly connected to aluminum, like Slingshot, have the the most corrosion. Salt water is a lot worse than freshwater (Slingshot was developed at a freshwater location).

Many other brands have stainless-to-stainless connections, which corrode a lot less. For example, our local dealer says Armstrong foils don't need to be disassembled.

I leave my Slingshot foils partially assembled for a month or two. I just rise with fresh water, and take off the mast so stuff fits better into the van. I hardly use any tef gel for the mast-fuse connection - just a little bit every 10 sessions or so. Have not had a problem with seized bolts in a couple of years.

I've had both Slingshot and Axis Aluminium set-ups.
I recommended
Track Plate to Mast - lots of Tef Gel and Leave for as long as you like (crack bolts every now and again, say 3months).
Fuselage to Mast - no tef gel - undo every session so it fits in the car.
Tail wing to fuse - leave on fuse and tef gel the two bolts.
Front wing to fuse - no tef gel (I change my front wings every other session, constantly switching between large and small).
Tef gel on any bolt you regularly undo is a PITA, it picks up sand, dust and is horrible to touch.

Stainless bolts seems to get less stuck in fuses than Titanium.
T-30 or T-40 Torx is my preferred screw head. Ensure you have a good tool that fits tight in the screws heads. Some of the free tools supplied with the foils are crap and chew up the heads in no time. Invest in a quality tool if you can find one.

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baldy123 said..

T-30 or T-40 Torx is my preferred screw head. Ensure you have a good tool that fits tight in the screws heads. Some of the free tools supplied with the foils are crap and chew up the heads in no time. Invest in a quality tool if you can find one.

Speaking of which I shattered the torx driver that came with my starboard foil somehow, right at the darkened area at the tip where it was hardened.

I've replaced it with two tools. One, a Wera Stainless Torx driver (straight handle, keep in pack just in case I need to swap a shim) and a chrome-vanadium sliding T-handle (Park Tools) driver for on the beach. The Wera can stay drenched and still seems perfect in salt water. The Park Tools, time will tell. My other standard drivers keep getting corroded badly because I forget about them, so I just swapped to better materials.

Hi cleverku,
I've been foiling for 4 years now in a salt water envt. Using either Naish or Axis. All bolts have marine grease applied. Stainless bolts in either aluminium or carbon. When I've finished the sesh, all bolts get cracked and loosed 1 full turn and a quick wash with some freshwater. Disconnect mast from fuse and mast plate from board. Everything else stays together in a loosened fashion. For the Naish gear the bolts are M6 and I replace these every year (wear and tear). It costs me about $15 for a new SS set. Cheap insurance. The Axis use M8 and look much more robust to me. Every 6 months I'll reapply grease.
Assembly is pretty quick with all bolts needing a quick turn to tighten. Never had a problem with seizing.
Couple of mates have left theirs (Slingshot and Axis) together and have had problems with seizing after 1 and 4 months.
I reckon it takes me less than 1 minute to tighten all those loosened bolts. For me, it's a worthwhile compromise.
The tools I've gotten with the Naish and Axis gear are high quality.

If you are going to leave it in I would use teflon tape, then there is no way it can seize, but if you remove the screws you have to remove the old tape and reapply new tape.

Salt water environment. I've been using Tefgel from day one applied as recommended in a distributor's instructional video. I always rinse with fresh water after each session. Tefgel is working well so far. I keep everything put together until I need to change wing or mast. It always comes apart easily and I reapply a new layer of Tefgel. No notable corrosion issues. It is super sticky icky though, so I would use marine grease instead of Tefgel on any fitting that I was breaking apart each session.

I don't use tefgel, just marine grease. All joining surfaces get coated on my Naish foil then wipe off excess after assembly. Disassemble and rinse every couple of months, just a quick rinse of the assembly after use. No issues or corrosion at all on the joint areas though the trailing and leading edge of the mast has some pitting after 3 years, to be expected.

I'm told lanotech works well too, tefgel is too expensive and messy to cover joints.

Yep, I'm in salt water. I use marine grease, take apart every month or two rinse and reapply. No issues.

I find lanolin grease works well.

Very common message here, so take it on board

Lithium grease also works well. Some foil manufacturers include it in their kit.

The young fella at the yacht shop who sold the stuff to me said "That's what it's for. It'll still be unstuck for however long it takes for you to decide it's time to pull it apart."

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segler said..
Lithium grease also works well. Some foil manufacturers include it in their kit.

Yup, I use lithium grease on all screws that get removed a lot, really stays on even in salt water.