Hey just looking for some advice, my Go Foil base plate came with these bolts and collars. Do you think it would be advantageous to countersink so the the bolts sit straight on the base plate without the collars.
1. I would save about 200g I guess
2. The bolts would be flush and I would get less drag

would that weaken the plate in any way - is there a specific reason for the collars - I'm not much of a tech guy on physical loads, resistances etc, but I have seen plates with the bolts that are flush, what are your thoughts and experience, cheers

I would say there is an immeasurable gain to be made by countersinking. Once you are foiling no gain at all.

This looks like an early model but I would be confident to guess that the washer / collar is there so the rotating screw head can tighten without damaging the carbon, I find these need to be you super tight to keep it all rigid and not working themselves loose.
I would suggest not to remove any of the material of the base, carbon fibres get their strength / stiffness by being continuous. Below pic of my GF FY if anything the newer models have a much wider washer / collar to spread the load.

I have only seen countersinking in alu mastplates.
If that is carbon i would not risk it.

Hi sultanofwing,

If it's carbon, I definitely wouldn't touch it. As @Ju_foil pointed out, the strength is in the fibres and depends on how it's made (laid up).

Even for aluminium, the gains are going to be negligible for both weight and drag. You would have to make sure the countersinks are perfectly perpendicular base or the square nuts will ruin boxes in the board (easy if you have a drill press).

You could just get low profile bolts that don't have countersinks and do away with the washers, something like a button head bolt that takes a hex / Allen key. Most hardware shops would stock them. Make sure they are at least 316 stainless steel or they won't last. If it's carbon, make sure the bolt head is at least as big as the what is currently there to spread the load.

Personally, I'd just leave it.

Do you have something between the board and the foil? I can't make out what's under the base plate in the photo. If it's not very, very rigid, it will make the foil very hard to use.

Why bother, you won't notice the difference, but you'll likely compromise the plate and drop its resale value.

Currently your plate is fully anodised, by counter sinking your cutting into that coating and allowing corrosion to start. The collars are there to protect the anodised surface and spread the load. Without the collar the screw head would rip into the anodised surface as you tighten it.
Your picture shows the anodising below the collar is in good condition, keep it that way by using the collars. Removing them provides zero gain, just more chance of corrosion attack.

Thanks so much, good thing I asked, it looks like the best thing is to leave it be, but I have noticed how lots of little things do add up for a better experience ( a stiffer wing, a stiffer mast, a faster foil, less drag, less weight etc ) and was just looking to optimize - under the mast there is a plastic plate that I made and drilled out, it stops the mast rubbing on the board and gives me an extra 2mm of mast height as my mast is only 65cms and I sometimes have to fight the chop but am learning to maximize every mm of the gear,
cheers will focus on my carving when the wind decides to come back again (lhad such a good session the other day, I even blew myself away, everything worked together and the board and foil were cranking, I was carving my way to foil Nirvana haha)

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airsail said..
Currently your plate is fully anodised, by counter sinking your cutting into that coating and allowing corrosion to start. The collars are there to protect the anodised surface and spread the load. Without the collar the screw head would rip into the anodised surface as you tighten it.
Your picture shows the anodising below the collar is in good condition, keep it that way by using the collars. Removing them provides zero gain, just more chance of corrosion attack.

The gofoil base plate is carbon, not anodised aluminium.

all gofoils are all carbon so corrosion not an issue here :)

Personally I would never go with a foil system with any aluminium but that's just my own preference as I never ever wash them and rarely disassemble.

If you want it to look a bit nicer then stainless steel cone washers are a bit nicer.

Alternatively you can replace the counter sunk screws with button or round head screws of your choice and flat stainless washers.

With a bit of googling you can find titanium ones in the colour of your choice. That would make you go much faster.

Yes I can clearly see now that titanium cups in anodized azure blue would most definitely make me go faster and carve like 'Occy'.

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Ju_foil said..

airsail said..
Currently your plate is fully anodised, by counter sinking your cutting into that coating and allowing corrosion to start. The collars are there to protect the anodised surface and spread the load. Without the collar the screw head would rip into the anodised surface as you tighten it.
Your picture shows the anodising below the collar is in good condition, keep it that way by using the collars. Removing them provides zero gain, just more chance of corrosion attack.

The gofoil base plate is carbon, not anodised aluminium.

all gofoils are all carbon so corrosion not an issue here :)

Personally I would never go with a foil system with any aluminium but that's just my own preference as I never ever wash them and rarely disassemble.

Wonder why he put aluminium in the title?

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airsail said..

Ju_foil said..

airsail said..
Currently your plate is fully anodised, by counter sinking your cutting into that coating and allowing corrosion to start. The collars are there to protect the anodised surface and spread the load. Without the collar the screw head would rip into the anodised surface as you tighten it.
Your picture shows the anodising below the collar is in good condition, keep it that way by using the collars. Removing them provides zero gain, just more chance of corrosion attack.

The gofoil base plate is carbon, not anodised aluminium.

all gofoils are all carbon so corrosion not an issue here :)

Personally I would never go with a foil system with any aluminium but that's just my own preference as I never ever wash them and rarely disassemble.

Wonder why he put aluminium in the title?

Perhaps I am wrong :) Maybe some kind of aluminium casting looking back at the photo hard to tell if Al or C