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Alysum said..
Introducing the A++ system. More screws! Coming in 2022.

Decathlon is selling Takuma.. guess what IKEA is going to sell next summer

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mindhoc said..

Alysum said..
Introducing the A++ system. More screws! Coming in 2022.

Decathlon is selling Takuma.. guess what IKEA is going to sell next summer

When exploring new sports, Decathlon has always teamed up with leading brands that have a good price point and the capability to supply across multiple continents. If the activity takes off for them, they will mobilise a team of engineer and develop their own range.

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foilthegreats said..

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I toyed with adopting Armstrong as my foil "ecosystem" going forward. I looked at all the proprietary screws and stuff you can't easily disassemble and thought, Nah.

Its a gorgeous looking product, but if you need to take it apart each session you are screwed.
Go foil is hard to beat at that point

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Gorgo said..
I toyed with adopting Armstrong as my foil "ecosystem" going forward. I looked at all the proprietary screws and stuff you can't easily disassemble and thought, Nah.

Mate, they are all just M6 stainless screws with a Torx T30 head. Maybe you can't buy them at bunnings, but they aren't that hard to find

Armstrong web site (and all the videos Armie makes) say all the screws are titanium and the A+ system has specific barrel nuts. I'm sure you could substitute stainless for the screws. Not sure where you'd get the barrel nuts except from Armstrong. I guess you only need the barrel nuts if you want the A+ rigidity.

Either way, there's too many. You can't dismantle the foil without undoing the fuselage screws and the tail screws. (5 screws including 2 barrel nuts) Another 3 screws if you want to take off the front wing, and 4 for the plate mount. 12 screws in total for a full dismantle. Leave the front wing attached if all you want is a flat package.

Other brands get away with 4 screws total, certainly 2 to change foil wings and tails.

It sort of makes sense having all this ultra rigid stuff with titanium and all the rest if you're pushing the boundaries of performance. The vast majority of people are mowing the lawn and having a bit of a giggle. The really good guys are doing great stuff on any brand of foil.

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Gorgo said..
Armstrong web site (and all the videos Armie makes) say all the screws are titanium and the A+ system has specific barrel nuts. I'm sure you could substitute stainless for the screws. Not sure where you'd get the barrel nuts except from Armstrong. I guess you only need the barrel nuts if you want the A+ rigidity.

Either way, there's too many. You can't dismantle the foil without undoing the fuselage screws and the tail screws. (5 screws including 2 barrel nuts) Another 3 screws if you want to take off the front wing, and 4 for the plate mount. 12 screws in total for a full dismantle. Leave the front wing attached if all you want is a flat package.

Other brands get away with 4 screws total, certainly 2 to change foil wings and tails.

It sort of makes sense having all this ultra rigid stuff with titanium and all the rest if you're pushing the boundaries of performance. The vast majority of people are mowing the lawn and having a bit of a giggle. The really good guys are doing great stuff on any brand of foil.

Try reading more carefully, the screws are 316 stainless. The footstrap washers, mast base t-nuts and mast base washers are titanium, but all the screws are plain stainless M6, readily available, and can be substituted by cheap alternatives in an emergency.

I take the front wing off but leave the mast, fuse and stabiliser attached to the board, so that's two screws. I would remove the mast base from the board if I didn't have a van, so that's another 4 screws. But how is that any different from any other setup?

The advantage Armstrong has over almost all of the other setups is no aluminium, so lighter weight and no galvanic corrosion. Having come from Slingshot, and gone from a 6.7 kg foil setup that had to be disassembled and smeared with Tefgel every month or so, to a 3.5 kg Armstrong that could be left assembled for the whole summer, I'd suggest that maybe you have the wrong priorities.

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Gorgo said..
Armstrong web site (and all the videos Armie makes) say all the screws are titanium and the A+ system has specific barrel nuts. I'm sure you could substitute stainless for the screws. Not sure where you'd get the barrel nuts except from Armstrong. I guess you only need the barrel nuts if you want the A+ rigidity.

Either way, there's too many. You can't dismantle the foil without undoing the fuselage screws and the tail screws. (5 screws including 2 barrel nuts) Another 3 screws if you want to take off the front wing, and 4 for the plate mount. 12 screws in total for a full dismantle. Leave the front wing attached if all you want is a flat package.

Other brands get away with 4 screws total, certainly 2 to change foil wings and tails.

It sort of makes sense having all this ultra rigid stuff with titanium and all the rest if you're pushing the boundaries of performance. The vast majority of people are mowing the lawn and having a bit of a giggle. The really good guys are doing great stuff on any brand of foil.

Do a bit of research and you will find it is a very functional system. No need to go A+ for most people. I will not.

Oops. Yes. 316 screws with titanium washers and nuts. Still too many of them.

I feel the A+ or Frankenstein as I call it, is really been designed to ensure those seriously putting huge loads on wings by aggressive jumping etc are covered. For everyone else and that means most of us, it's not necessary.

I just upgraded my three masts and v1 wings to the A+ System.

My advice to anyone out there taking this on, seriously pay attention to the mast upgrade steps. I came so close to putting the larger diameter hole on the wrong side of the mast on the first one I did. The 8mm bit was about to bite and I stopped thankfully. Then on the last one I did, I drilled the pilot hole on the wrong side first, which threw off the alignment for the barrel nut a bit, so I had to widen the hole a hair to make it work.

I did put the 1125 on and tested the rigidity of the system. Literally no movement on the wing/fuse/mast connection, so that is sweet. I was surprised how much reactive flex is apparent. That wide wing really lets you put some leverage on the mast. Can't wait to be twanging out of some carves!

Regarding the amount of screws, I picked up a tiny Bosch impact driver and a mini Wera bit ratchet. Setup is really quick now. Start each screw by hand, come in with the impact driver and get each one snug but not tight - zip zip zip etc. Then use the hand ratchet tighten each one up.

I'm often times driving to spots and with two car seats in a mini cooper countryman, breakdown is often required. You can avoid taking off the tail and front wing by removing the mast screws and sliding the mast towards the tail so you can rotate the wing on plane with the mast. This allows it to lay flat in the back of my car if I have a carseat pulled.

Not sure about the screwy comments. All I do is remove 2 screws to take the front wing off. Loosed the 4 on the mast plate (I leave them on the board) . Done in about 3 minutes. Also Armstrong comes with a back up set of screws for everything, so you will have to loose all your screws twice over before you need to run to the hardware store for backups.

My last foil was a great 4 wing GoFoil V1 set, and I just accepted tape and rubber mallet as part of normal life, and a jar full of half stripped PHILIPS head screws Still remember the amazement when the 1550 slid onto the fuse and snicked tight with the screw holes perfectly aligned! now I have 3 rubber mallets gathering dust in the garage. And being honest after prone surfing the Army gear probably 300 times there's now some pre-screw wiggle, and none after. Just had my 1125 delivered yesterday. It's like an albatrosses wing, which coincidentally is the birds flight I sometimes use to describe to carpark inquiries how an engineless surfboard glides so far.
Frothing for my first run today!

So are you guys saying that if you want to run the 1125 and upcoming wings in that series you probably need the A plus system ?

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eppo said..
So are you guys saying that if you want to run the 1125 and upcoming wings in that series you probably need the A plus system ?

The 1125 comes with 3 holes and fits on existing fuse with no drilling. If you want to add the extra mast holes you need the new fuse.
Personally, I would not bother, the 3 screws up the front are fine. Used a 1550 V2 the other day, it bolted straight on.

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hilly said..

eppo said..
So are you guys saying that if you want to run the 1125 and upcoming wings in that series you probably need the A plus system ?

The 1125 comes with 3 holes and fits on existing fuse with no drilling. If you want to add the extra mast holes you need the new fuse.
Personally, I would not bother, the 3 screws up the front are fine. Used a 1550 V2 the other day, it bolted straight on.

Any thoughts on the 1550 V2 Hilly?

I am also curious about the 1550 V2

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emmafoils said..
I am also curious about the 1550 V2

I've got a 1550 V2, wasn't super impressed the first time I used it, next time took it out in big breeze and loved it.

it's very different to the 1550 v1, not as manoeuvrable, and has a more abrupt stall. On the positive side the glide is impressive, and it goes upwind really well. It just doesn't like being loaded up when you don't have enough speed. I think anyone that is used to a 1250 will have no problem with it.

Not sure this the place ... but minus 2 shim on the 1250.... prone. SICK. Hilly you were right again !!

ps and with a marginal wing on 1850... much more balanced and I felt for some Reason I was hauling upwind at better angles and quicker. Maybe a function of more even balance across feet.

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eppo said..
Not sure this the place ... but minus 2 shim on the 1250.... prone. SICK. Hilly you were right again !!

ps and with a marginal wing on 1850... much more balanced and I felt for some Reason I was hauling upwind at better angles and quicker. Maybe a function of more even balance across feet.

Minus 2 rocks

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Any thoughts on the 1550 V2 Hilly?

what he said above. 1250 is a way better wing IMHO.

Yeah. -2 is pretty much all I use I'm glad you finally got yours Eppo pretty good ah!

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stroppo said..
Yeah. -2 is pretty much all I use I'm glad you finally got yours Eppo pretty good ah!

How's Gero bud? Was gonna text ya but figured you'd be too busy getting power back to the people. (Fist pump).

ps swell cranked today down here

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Pacey said..

I've got a 1550 V2, wasn't super impressed the first time I used it, next time took it out in big breeze and loved it.

it's very different to the 1550 v1, not as manoeuvrable, and has a more abrupt stall. On the positive side the glide is impressive, and it goes upwind really well. It just doesn't like being loaded up when you don't have enough speed. I think anyone that is used to a 1250 will have no problem with it.

I've just bought a 1550 V2 thinking that is the best all-round size for me. It is a big improvement over the custom 1800 cm? I have been using up until now; faster, points better upwind and glides better. Once up on the foil it is awesome.

I am used to pumping my board aggressively to get up on the foil, but if you do that with this foil it will start porpising and I often end up stuffing the nose into the water. I find you have to pump the wing hard but use limited small fast board pumps to get to takeoff speed. I have lost a bit of low end but I might get that back with a bit of technique refinement.

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simonp said..

Pacey said..

I've got a 1550 V2, wasn't super impressed the first time I used it, next time took it out in big breeze and loved it.

it's very different to the 1550 v1, not as manoeuvrable, and has a more abrupt stall. On the positive side the glide is impressive, and it goes upwind really well. It just doesn't like being loaded up when you don't have enough speed. I think anyone that is used to a 1250 will have no problem with it.

I've just bought a 1550 V2 thinking that is the best all-round size for me. It is a big improvement over the custom 1800 cm? I have been using up until now; faster, points better upwind and glides better. Once up on the foil it is awesome.

I am used to pumping my board aggressively to get up on the foil, but if you do that with this foil it will start porpising and I often end up stuffing the nose into the water. I find you have to pump the wing hard but use limited small fast board pumps to get to takeoff speed. I have lost a bit of low end but I might get that back with a bit of technique refinement.

1125 is similar. The way I think of launching is like walking to running on snow with a crusty layer on top. You really need to be light on your feet or you will post hole straight down to your knees.

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hilly said..

Any thoughts on the 1550 V2 Hilly?

what he said above. 1250 is a way better wing IMHO.

Interesting, I was planing to buy the 1550v2 for winging. So I might go with the 1250 instead. Thanks Hilly!

Can anyone confirm what the A+ fuselage tail setting is without a shim...?

Is it -1* or 0*...?

Doesn't seem to be anything in the Armstrong literature...