Hi

I passed the catapult phase but still happens sometimes before getting into foot straps if the sea is very choppy and wind is gusty. I had cracked the paint of both of my boards from relatively slow hits. I use SunFix to cover them to avoid water getting in, it gets the job done and very easy to apply. But this reduces the resale price and doesn't look good with scars. It makes me feel so bad to crack a new board.

I'm thinking to get some protection done, can't decide between three options:
- First is Ions board protector which wraps the mast. This looks ok, but i heard it doesn't protect well and increase the drag, reduce performance quite a lot.
- Second is mast base apparatus from Surfbent.de. This looks like it will make waterstarts problematic because it will tilt the board sideways. I need to get a new deckplate (i heard it doesn't fit with severne). Looks like it would apply too much upward pressure on mastbase, may damage the mastbase if i have a strong catapult. No more foot protection and it looks huge, less place to place my foot when not planing.
- I can cut some thick plates matt and stick them with silicone. This looks really bad and i won't be able to see if there is any crack.

I am leaning towards the first option. Can you share your experience about these options, and give me suggestions please.

Sorry to open a new topic but most of them are old and one is on foiling page.

Cheers

On my third Ion mast protector.
Never had a broken board nose while using it and cant tell much difference in the sails performance either.
I am just a happy bump and jump freerider and do not chase the last knot with a GPS...

I just bought this Unifiber nose protector for my new FF180 foil board. Dont care what it looks like cosmetically and I am certain it has saved the nose from serious damage. I am a newbie to foiling and have had a couple of big stacks.

Buy a sheet of 6 mm flat medium density eva sheet with sticky back . 115 cm x 92 cm should cost around $ 50 from a eva supplier. Cheapest way would be to stick three layers on top of each other and with a sharp Stanley knife cut out the perfect shape . Angle the blade for added coolness .
Should be able to easily make four .
Or a single layer of 16 mm that's enough to make a dozen .
Or even a bit cheaper , buy the non sticky back for half the price and use contact adhesive to stick the layers together and to the board .
It should be dense enough to protect the board and not hard like the fibreglass options that can damage the mast .
As good as the Unifiber at a fraction of the cost .
Easy enough to peel off the board when selling.
Algeos in vic sell and ship the stuff cheap .

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Imax1 said..
Buy a sheet of 6 mm flat medium density eva sheet with sticky back . 115 cm x 92 cm should cost around $ 50 from a eva supplier. ...

Clark Rubber has sheets of self adhesive EVA like foam up to 9mm thick and about $25 I think.

I didn't have time do any precautions on my boards, and went for a sail yesterday because wind was great, i took my Dyno 95 and Blade 4.7. I didn't have any catapult, just let go the rig midway jibing once, mast hit the nose in my opinion very slowly and without any wind force behind it, I didn't even hear a noise. But after i came home i see the paint has cracked :(
Do you think this needs repair, or just cover with something like a waterproof tape, or just leave it like that?
I had similar experience with Fox board, cracking the paint with a small impact. Is it like that with all new boards or Severne paint is too weak?

Ive had a similar ding on one of my boards. Ding is hardly noticeable but it wasnt watertight. For me not worth repairing properly until i give it a real crunch. So i just used superglue. Made it watertight. Have used it twice since with no issues. No water ingress.

^^^ agreed not a problem it is just paint cracks from the flex.

As to "not hard" ...... really?
Let the rig fall with no wind, just gravity. Let it fall on your lower leg between board and mast........
see if you still think its a little impact.

It fell on my head once, above the boom part, which should have more momentum then below the boom part, yes, it was painful and shook me a bit :) but I'm sure lower leg bone would hurt more.
So would that crack any brands paint?

I would understand that for a slalom board but freeride/ish boards should be a little more robust imo. I feel like my sails can take a beating, mast and boom definitely can, board is the most sensitive, I don't want to be too careful about it and go for it in order to progress.

My father says he never had to repair his boards back in 80s (fanatic), even though he had some nasty crashes, but he is pretty old, so maybe he forgot :)

With these nose coverings I'm concerned of hidden damage.

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Sea Lotus said..
It fell on my head once, above the boom part, which should have more momentum then below the boom part, yes, it was painful and shook me a bit :) but I'm sure lower leg bone would hurt more.
So would that crack any brands paint?

I would understand that for a slalom board but freeride/ish boards should be a little more robust imo. I feel like my sails can take a beating, mast and boom definitely can, board is the most sensitive, I don't want to be too careful about it and go for it in order to progress.

My father says he never had to repair his boards back in 80s (fanatic), even though he had some nasty crashes, but he is pretty old, so maybe he forgot :)

The way old age is, you forget what you had for breakfast, but remember the high school cheerleaders outfit.

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Sea Lotus said..

My father says he never had to repair his boards back in 80s (fanatic), even though he had some nasty crashes, but he is pretty old, so maybe he forgot :)

your dad is right. back in the day custom boards would only crease and plastic boards..... well it's almost impossible to damage those.

modern boards are different construction and are built as light as possible. it's the weight savings that cause fragility. if they are built a kilo or so heavier then they are stronger.

that said I've told my son to not worry about breaking stuff. it's part of the process of learning and i rather he trash his gear then hold back. every board I have accept my custom board is fragile. longboards, shortboards, it doesn't seem to matter.

I just patch things. a board is basically foam, glass and resin. patching is easy.

i should add to this there are some stonger built wave boards around. my simmer wave board seems pretty solid so far.

Stuff mast sleeve with yoga mat. Bonus you can practise yoga while out at sea too.

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Sea Lotus said..
It fell on my head once, above the boom part, which should have more momentum then below the boom part, yes, it was painful and shook me a bit :) but I'm sure lower leg bone would hurt more.
So would that crack any brands paint?

I would understand that for a slalom board but freeride/ish boards should be a little more robust imo. I feel like my sails can take a beating, mast and boom definitely can, board is the most sensitive, I don't want to be too careful about it and go for it in order to progress.

My father says he never had to repair his boards back in 80s (fanatic), even though he had some nasty crashes, but he is pretty old, so maybe he forgot :)

I'm thinking to get some protection done, can't decide between three options:

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vailiyat said..

Sea Lotus said..
It fell on my head once, above the boom part, which should have more momentum then below the boom part, yes, it was painful and shook me a bit :) but I'm sure lower leg bone would hurt more.
So would that crack any brands paint?

I would understand that for a slalom board but freeride/ish boards should be a little more robust imo. I feel like my sails can take a beating, mast and boom definitely can, board is the most sensitive, I don't want to be too careful about it and go for it in order to progress.

My father says he never had to repair his boards back in xender.pro/ discord.software/ omegle.onl/ 80s (fanatic), even though he had some nasty crashes, but he is pretty old, so maybe he forgot :)

I'm thinking to get some protection done, can't decide between three options:

It fell on my head once, above the boom part, which should have more momentum then below the boom part, yes, it was painful and shook me a bit :) but I'm sure lower leg bone would hurt more.

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VAILIYATBEN said..

That's awkward man...

If you are asking what i did for protection, I haven't decided yet, but probably will cut and stick a thick yoga mat to the nose, will try with aquarium silicone so it will be clean and easy to remove if I don't like it. As for the paint crack, i will leave it like that for now and stick a wp tape.

^^^^
Yoga mat is waaaaaay to soft , unless it two inches thick .
Its got to be dense to work .
Rubber thongs is eva and that's too soft . Three layers of thong type density might work .
If you use something one cm thick , with all your pinching force , should only just squash one mm.
Any less , it won't work.

I simply use an old school mast foot protector, but attached to that mast right under the boom. The strap that normally goes around the mast foot goes around the mast through the boom cutout on the sail luff. Not sure if I'm just lucky that this corresponds with the nose of the board when the mast falls forward.

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Harrow said..
I simply use an old school mast foot protector, but attached to that mast right under the boom. The strap that normally goes around the mast foot goes around the mast through the boom cutout on the sail luff. Not sure if I'm just lucky that this corresponds with the nose of the board when the mast falls forward.

Back in the dark ages , I had a mast protector , it was about a foot long and it just tightly clipped around the mast . Over the sail . It worked brilliantly. No straps . Just bang it on . Never fell off . I think it was three quarters of 2" pvc tubing , padded and covered in tough Dacron . Probably Aussie ?
ps,
tried looking for pics but couldn't find it .
anyone remember this ? It was blue ?
I think it would still be a good thing ?

I bought this board about 6 months ago (used, no dings, great shape, great price), and I've been getting grief from many of my w'surfing friends, "take that ugly thing off!", I haven't,,,,,,,, yet. I haven't decided, it will leave an ugly mess to clean up once I pull it off, but I do wish it wasn't on there.
Most rental fleets have them on, and I can easily see why, they do work very well, as well as not hiding any damage, it's a good design, about 5 cm thick. After 30+ years of w'surfing, I don't really need it, but maybe I'll remove it during the off season if I feel like spending hours with acetone scrubbing out the residue from the textured top, it won't be easy. I love this board BTW, one of the best I've ever had.