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stehsegler said..
you still haven't answered how the mountings of the Moses foils are better or differ from other brands. I am honestly interested in view of keeping the discussion open.
Good comment btw
Moses, like Starboard and a bunch of the French foil makes use a socketed approach where the mast actually fits into the fuse and the screws just keep the whole affair snug. The structural loads are taken up by the socket. iirc (I haven't owned mine in over a year), Starboard uses a belt and braces approach of screws from the bottom and bolts through the side.
SS Hoverglide has the mast just sitting on top of the fuse. The screws not only hold things tight but are take part of the structural load ie much more is demanded of them. As the mast/fuse bend and twist under load, the screws take part of that load rather than leaving it up to the fuse socket. I'll leave it to someone with an engineering background to explain the exact failure modes the screws are subjected to.
Phantom brochure:
static1.squarespace.com/static/5937be666b8f5b389ed9d486/t/5d94a54e8150ce0213c59277/1570022737762/Iris+Windfoils+2019-2020+EN.pdfSS manual:
www.slingshotsports.com/Images/Slingshot/Quick%20Start%20Guides/2019%20WIND_FOIL_QSG.pdfThey also have several lengths of screws to assemble the whole affair in different configurations and despite the warnings of the package that using the wrong ones can have catastrophic results, it's still easy to. A better system might be to have all important screws the same length or engineer it that the screw length isn't as critical. Sometimes engineering is about keeping humans from doing stuff they shouldn't by eliminating that opportunity: you can't use the wrong screws if there are no wrong screws to use.
There are valid reasons why SS took their approach - it made it that one simple fuse could be used across a number of their product lines - kite, surf, wake, wind. Also, the switch fuse and track system make it easier to have a wide range of wing sizes on one fuse. However, that approach made those screws much more critical and there's almost no redundancy I'm aware of. When one screw fails, the other is rarely not far behind.
Other manufacturers opted to have a more limited range of wings on a particular fuse. Starboard's masts interchange with their fuses but the surf fuses and race/freeride fuses can't swap wings. Moses, afaik, is fuse compatible across their wings but the alu and carbon masts require different fuses.
SS and their dealers have stepped up in most cases here where things fell off but it would be better if things just didn't fall off. I know there are a lot of SS foils about but I don't see the same issues pop up with the same relative frequency for other brands (or really, at all).
Having said this, I still recommend SS to people. I also suggest that if it's in the budget to take a look at Moses and a bunch of other manufacturers.