Your build looks excellent, and I, as a foiler (wing/wind) salute your 3-day progress. Your setup has way too much surface on the front foil for your weight, and you should set up your propellers for a higher end-speed. In your first few tries you were stalling out the foil all the time, you need to get up to some speed, give the board one or two pumps using your weight to get the board out of the water and the foil to plane, Then you need to level out the board quickly - That's when you need the extra speed from the prop setup, 'cos all drag will be gone in an instant - the better you level out, and the higher the aspect of the foil the longer you can go on a battery. You'll get there ..
This makes a lot of sense. Thinking about flying an airplane... you do everything you can to stay well above stall speed. Everything goes to crap if you are hanging out right at stall speed, as the tiniest factor can cause a little extra drag and you drop out of the sky. I'm guessing it works the same way here? Which explains why his setup was so easy to get to crash out or suddenly get away from under him?
You can also put the motor closer to the board. Less leverage so you don't have to push the nose of the board down. Also if the motor comes out of the water then no thrust so you sink back gracefully. Keep at it!
Damn, was about to post the comment: "Probably a stupid question... but could a craft combine hydrofoil and ground effect?" Did a quick google for due diligence, and immediately saw that you already went there. You're a G.Damn boss.
Hey Peter! I’m a long time fan since the flite test days and hydrofoil designer with a couple suggestions to get this working better! -reduce stabilizer angle. Most large beginner foils come with too much stabilizer angle/nose up trim. Nose up trim from the stabilizer is needed to counter the drag produced by the wings and the leverage of the strut or “mast”. Because you have a motor down there, that drag is offset and you can significantly reduce stabilizer angle. Try printing some stackable 1° and 0.5° shims or just use thin washers. -center of gravity. Just like a plane, a hydrofoil is also sensitive to center of gravity. Moving the battery above the front wing will help balance everything out. -Board. To move the battery forwards, you probably need to make a new board with a cutout for it. For learning and riding underpowered, longer and narrower boards work best. Something in the 5-6’ range and around 22-28” wide should work great for just cruising around. Your hull design looked good. -Strut or “mast”. Because of the additional battery weight, a stiffer mast will really help with control. Foils are a structural nightmare and flex is your biggest enemy. Axis foils makes a great aluminum mast that is both cheap and stiff. I also noticed some ventilation or trapped air on your mast. Instead of just printing trailing edge fairings, try printing fairings that wrap all the way around the mast. This way the surface will be far smoother. Alternatively, try to hide the wires inside the mast. -connection slop. Make sure all connections between components are super tight. I like to use cut up aluminum cans shoved in the connection between parts to stiffen everything up. For riding, speed is your friend. Try to keep the board skimming until you have enough speed to climb without stalling. Great job making this work! I’m super excited to see what you come up with next!
I’ve surfed for 40 years. Trying to foil for 2 years. Trying…The thing about you is your great attitude and ingenuity. Your video made my day. I’ll check in with you later and I bet you’ll be cruising. Stay happy!
Question is, how you'd implement that. Both my e foils pitch up really strong when applying power and have changing angle of attack depending on speed (like an airplane). Also, at high AOA you get lots of drag and need lots of power to stay flying, so you constantly have to battle the nose pitching up to get out of that high AOA without taking a swim. Would be a challenge to get that riding nicely with just gyro for power control. Maybe in addition to controlling the motor, you could give it a little elevator for better pitch control.
I feel like a trim tab that could be easily and reliably changed between attempts would be not only easier to implement, but also probably more reliable all things considered.
Underwater flight is an excellent phenomenon! Brings back memories! The first time I discovered this as a young kid was playing in the pool with a hard plastic model Cessna,it looked super realistic with an accurate aerofoil, one day I threw in in the water to notice it sink like a tail heavy plane so I jammed a few coins in the nose and set the cog underwater, it flew amazing well! so I made it rubber band powered with bendable control surfaces because of the drag it could fly underwater for over 3mins! Middle of summer I’d spend hours holding my breath, I’d imagine dramatic slow mo movie scenes as it flew around! I miss those simple times! These experiences give us hobbyists a distinct advantage in a complex world! If shtf at least I know the rc community will survive!
That was so relateable! I wingsurf and I design up all my hydrofoils. Wingsurfing, wind surfing and kitesurfing all give you a higher up balance point that gives you some additional control over yaw, roll and pitch. It was interesting to see your progression, finding your forward position to stop breaching on takeoff. That foil you bought is pretty chunky, good for learning but it has a lot of displacement drag. The drag will relate strongly to your battery life once you get more proficient at staying on foil. I've contemplated getting a motor, ESC and battery but 75% of my free time at the beach there's enough wind for one of my wind wings anyway. The mast takes some huge loading at the joints, I used to use aluminium masts but not the only part I've not made for my current kit is the fuselage. I'm considering that though. Currently my kit is all axis compatible but I'm considering doing my own fuselage design which will necessitate adaptors for the foils until I make some of my wings to suit a new fuselage design. If you have any questions I'm pretty deep into DIY foil design and could probably save you some time. If you are printing your wings, put some high fill enforcers in your slicer by the attachement points. And subtract your composite cladding thickness from the wing design before printing. Resin infusion is pretty amazing once you get the hang of it, understanding infusion mesh and resin brakes. I am curious about the wireless connection breaking on most units when the board is under water. No doubt the controllers are most likely using something like ESP32 wireless, A different frequency might work better.
Interesting stuff. After 40 plus years windsurfing I have the last two seasons done a lot of training/sailing trying to master windfoiling ( i.e foiling with a windsurfing sail as "motor") so I know ,first hand, how hard it is to control the flight so I'm impressed by your progress. Some tips and tricks; once you feel the foil lifting the board you must swiftly shift your weight forward. The lift of the board can also be adjusted by adjusting the angle of attack of the stabilizer (back wing).#2 make loooong turns since the foil does not like sharp turns especially not if the front wing is huge. Looking forward to see more of this since I totally agree with you about the crazy high pricing of complete e -foils. Greetings from Sweden.
Hi Peter! It’s cool to see you try hydrofoils. I follow you for a long time and i love your rc stuff. I’m more of a kitesurf hydrofoiler myself but these e-boards are awesome too! I would love to see you mess with different wing shapes and show us your idea’s of hydrofoils from an aeronautical engineering perfective. Because in the hydrofoil community I feel that there is a lot of room of new ideas that already exist in the aviation world. Thanks a lot for these video’s. Kind regards from Belgium!
I used to go to sea for oceanographic research. I was an engineering tech so I was responsible for ensuring our systems were ready to go into the water. One thing we used to waterproof components in a box was to fill it with mineral oil. The mineral oil is thermally conductive but not electrically conductive. We filled boxes and cable housing materials. Mineral oil is fairly benign is regards to environmental problems if anything leaks or spills.
I'd love to see you put control surfaces on the tiny underwater aeroplane, and see if you can control it with a transmitter, sat cross legged on the board, which is disguised as a flying carpet, dressed as Aladdin.
Peter I've been watching your stuff for a while but I was so stoked when I saw you had tackled an e-foil! I've wanted to give one a go for years now but have always felt to intimidated on the motor/ electronic side of things. You've inspired me to give it a go!
Nice Work Peter! As an avid E-foiler, I will say that you would not believe the controversy and strong feelings that run in this group around these fantastic machines. I got involved early with a Kickstart campaign for the Waydoo brand which has made inroads into this sport and has significantly undercut the pricing of the big boys. I am with you on the absurdity surrounding the costs - these are not super complicated toys. The foils have been out there and are well understood as well as motors, batteries and ESCs as you well know with your RC work. Keep at it - its so much fun and gets only better as you progress.
No clue if you read this but being a naval engineer i noticed two things, first of all your motor shroud makes the motor and prop wayyy less efficient. if you want one to protect the prop, do one without much of a profile thats not longer than max 0.3x the diameter of the prop. Usually when those ducts are optimized for thrust they are flipped inside out (like an airplane wing with the top side on the inside, they then create lift pointed to the center of the shroud and slightly forward, creating thrust from the forward pointing lift component) but they only work for low speeds with high thrust (like a tugboat). Second thing is your mast, i know taping the cables is janky but you add a TON of resistance by doubling the surface area of the foil mast. Janky is better than having a ton of drag! (it may seem a bit counterintuitive coming from aerodynamics since the air resistance is so much lower but for water, water contact area is the worst enemy). Anyways, great project!
Maybe the throttle can be modulated by a gyro similar to how a hoverboard balances. That could reduce the stalls or nose in by having the throttle try to keep it level. If done just right you could just about eliminate the hand held throttle.
I think you might want something like a vesc: th-cam.com/video/Udap4uno3E4/w-d-xo.html. They are doing torque based control which may be mappable to the propeller based throttling but that is outside my wheelhouse.
You are brilliant, I love living through you vicariously. Especially since I’m too old, broke and literally have thrown most of my life away up to this point. You’re actually a genius. 😊
It's a good day when you see a TH-cam maker making a fin out of plywood instead of 3D printing something. People really don't seem to appreciate how strong wood and wood composites are compared to anything from an FDM printer.
I would recommend that you mount a waist high vertical bar. Mount it directly above the vertical foil. It would make it easier to control. Use the bar instead of just your feet to control also giving you something to help you stand on the board.
Oh yea, please make more of it! I would love a more refined version in the future (preferably with basic instrucions how to make one ourselves 😇). When I saw the price of these a couple years ago I had exactly the same thought, they are waaay to expensive for what you get, at least a couple times lol. Actually even wanted suggesting you to try to make one but ultimately forgot. Can't wait!
Great video! I built a tow boogie instead. It felt simpler when you separate the electronics from the foilboard onto its own board. So I am getting towed by that on a standard foilboard.
you could include a gyroscope and have a microcontroller slow down the motor when you’re tilting up too much and then speed up if you’re tilting down too much so that self-leveling occurs, which would Aid in balance
Not sure if you've heard of foil drive but it is similar to this idea. It was cool to see your first experience foiling! DIY for this sport is part of what makes it so interesting.
Thanks for the inspiration! Ive been thinking dor a while of making a small electric outboard for my sailboat to combat the whole "Uh oh .. The winds stopped and im nowhere neer home" thing
this is awesome! You look sick on the foil, thanks for reassuring us that it is REALLY difficult because I thought about buying one for half a second because it looks sick!
Dunno why, but it seems like the thrust line and fine tuning trim would be the things to work on outside of one's own skill in trying to ride the thing. I'd think both of those could affect how sensitive it rides once getting it to plane.
Its amazing how with electric propulsion in water applications, that a shallow pitch prop can actually push you faster than a heavy pitch due to the resistance of the water causing the motor to spin slower while drawing way more current!
I’ve always wondered if a wheel that you spin to control the throttle would work better on these than a trigger in order to provide a more constant/“diluted” response to throttle inputs that would tend to be more erratic with a trigger vs a rolling wheel as it seems that the biggest part of mastering the ride is a combo of throttle feathering vs balance for the most part.
I'm from Miami, Florida. You are brave to be in that water with so many sharks in our waters, especially with the water being cloudy. It's probably the only reason you didn't notice how close you were to losing some limbs.
As a wingfoiler surf foiler, best advice i can give you have too much weight on the back of the board, some have found a way to put the batterie on a backpacl, it's the best way to have the better balance, other brand like takuma integrated the pripeller motor inside the fuselage of the foil. Good luck i will wait for the part 2
Interesting video what is the size of the propeller ? what rotation speed ? - Just to have an idea of the needed power : at what speed you begin to take off ?
Awesome project, but it seems like you guys couldnt get going bc of the sudden acceleration and deceleration and general weight shifting, so you could probably benefit from adding a strap you can hold onto attached to the nose of the surfboard, while standing, but have a loop halfway up the strap so you can hold on while kneeling too
I wonder if you could make the board more friendly to beginners if you angle to motor upwards a few degrees since it looks like the tip of you're board always moves up so it stalls. Like on rc sailplanes with tilted lift motor.
To me, it appears there are two balance points. One point when you're in the water and one when you're on plane. So the problem will be that you need to transition to the "on plane" position instantaneously... which you can't really do. If you redesign your board with just one balance point, you can remain fairly steady while the board is on the water, and you don't have to make a quick adjustment to get into flying position.
Interesting. I don't see you do anything to waterproof the motor. Can it just handle being in seawater like that? Or is it simply acceptable that it will have a short life in this case?
I’m not experienced with rc stuff, but would the addition of control surfaces, like with the hydrofoil build, and the addition of a giro or arduino set up for a kind of “flight assist” be something worth trying?
Some large ships use stabilizers kind of like the wings on hydrofoils to prevent roll. It might be worth a look. Just be careful if you do, they sharp.
You need to add rocket motors to give increased fun factor. Probably should add go faster stripes too. Drinking alcohol before trying to surf will help as well. Glad I could help.
Very nice project! you should try to move forward the hydrofoil , just a litle bit. try some skateboarding to help you out too. also the hydrofoil wing size and shape is going to make easier or harder it depends in what you choose.
Hi Peter! Thank you for the video, is just what I was looking. Now, I'm in the midle of my proyect and don't know much of electronic. I had made the 3d printed and i bought the motor and flycolor device. Could you tell me which reciever and remote control I have to use? Sebastian
You can ride one without a Motor, so I think thats what you see. When on the foil you increase the foil speed by increase Front pressure and pushing the Board down. This lift increases and you let the Board come back up. If you repeat that pattern you have a muscle powered pump foil
This looks amazing, around a month ago I designed my own before seeing this video using multiple rc car brushless motors, I was wondering if anyone has built this version and has a part list for it so I can also make it and compare the two?
i foil, but it always feels like the board would work better with the small wing on the front. Because a small wing loses lift first. also it feels like an arduino with a 3 axis accelerometer sensor would help.
While it might not be the most feasible idea, but maybe try to stuff the battery packs into the "fin"? It'd obviously need to be a little wider for that, but considering how thin it is, it might not have much effect on the drag. But the different mass distribution could have a noticeable effect on the stability? Maybe?... Just throwing thoughts at the wall here tbh.
Can you make a wing and or propeller that has tubercles on the leading edge like a whale for reduced drag and more importantly more lift at high angle of attack with slower stall curve.
If you ever come to hood river I'd love to teach you how to wing foil. I think if you put a little more weight on the tail when you introduce roll you'd have more success in your turns, kinda like you would turn an airplane
Cool vid! I'm not sure you can get away with 3d printing the wing without fribre glass. Think of it as a plane wing that has to support your weight (not actually but similair). If you want to go high-end en ultra light you could consider carbon fiber with a 3d printed mold. Easy composites has some easy to watch tutorial videos. Would be cool to see
I wonder if you could use some RC plane derived parts to make a sort of autopilot (more like fly by wire active stabilization ig) so that maybe you could achieve the level of smoothness that they had in those ads for the $20k boards.
I'm a wing foiler and rode some e-foils. It seems like you rode at a very high AoA and stalled out. Your don't have enough thrust to get enough speed to take off on that foil.
Great project! thanks for sharing all the details. on first glance, the Motor shaft for the linked Motor on amazon is only 10mm while the motor shaft on the Onshape files is 100mm plus some other missing details... Is there an updated and more complete design link for the version that was actually built, or is the shared Onshape design is just a suggested starting point that requires additional work and modification before attempting printing and building the drive unit ?
You can definitely look into 3d printing a dc motor. I watched a video of a new motor design and you can probably implement both and have a good time with that
Hi. Awesome video! I'm wanting to make my own drone and I'm trying to choose a flight controller. I want one that's relatively easy to use at first, but is customizable and cheep(less than 50 pounds). At the moment I'm looking at the APM 2.8 Ardupilot flight controller. Do you have any suggestions?
I didn't realise you could just take a big standard BLDC motor and run it under water. I thought it had to be fully sealed. I came across the motor that is used in that kit when I was researching how to build a DPV for diving.
This is awesome man 😁 i am a diy type of guy myself. I am buying a board from another guy in my town. 4'10" nice hd board. $150. No wing. Made for kite foiling. I have 14s batteries (100a + output) for my scooters and electric skateboards 😁 i have vesc and a waterproof remote already. And 6374 motors. I think i just need to figure out wings and mounting. Just getting started. Still researching. Will be getting board later this week. Was looking at some stuff on float web site. Yeah, prices are outrageous 🤯 i have done some epoxy work and have some nice cf/fiberglass sheeting 😁 i can do this. I also have 3d printer and am good with wood working if needed. Great video man!! I will look at your other stuff 😁 thanks for sharing. I am on same mission 🤯 in Buffalo NY though. Will be something to do over winter 😉
Since I see these a few years ago I’ve wanted to build one. Good job. Keep trying dude.i just know you will get it right. I built an electric mountain board. It does 40 + mph pulls wheelies so much fun. This is just what I like but on water. 👌🏼😉
Yes, simply all of those things. I consider myself a handy person, but this is quite impressive in breadth and quality. You might like silicone caulk for potting material, btw, instead of candle wax.
hate having to mention it, but I think it's worth mentioning if even one life can be saved, but 40 volts is roughly what most agree is the threshold for DC voltage to become "dangerous", so if you do this, please be careful. the number can vary depending on conditions, and I think when water is involved, especially salt water, I would imagine it's even lower than 40. 40 is probably dc voltage on dry skin. so just keep this in mind. you'd need to be come the direct path between the battery terminals somehow for this to become a problem, but with salt water especially, it's more possible thing you'd imagine. I think most people capable of building stuff like this already know this, but for people into rc but not super familiar with electrical engineer, be careful! can't do hobbies from your grave. happy making!
Why not make another smaller foil for the nose so that you're not constantly trying to fight the torque the motor is placing on the board with only your weight. Seems like a little stabilizer at the nose would make it much more stable.
Kinda got glossed over since you were mostly working on the foil/motors but I'd like to see more of your board build if you can release that as a short or something maybe?
Why would he try a motor that wouldn't work? You don't have any business using terms like 'thrust lbs'. Also what is 'off the shelf'..what? Why would he buy a weak trolling motor for %99-250 just to throw away 95% of it when he can buy the right motor that is 10 times more powerful. Maybe don't comment about topics you are ignorant about
Your browser is holding you back. Level up with Opera GX: operagx.gg/PeterSripol
Thx for the sponsor warning 🙂
i have a question , is it true that flying wings are not stable like why dont we see it often in airplanes ?
Hate to break it to you but I have to turn off Opera GX's Ad Blocker in order to use TH-cam so they really shouldn't advertise that.
Your amazon links don't work just to let you know.
i like your channel but opera sucks bro
Your build looks excellent, and I, as a foiler (wing/wind) salute your 3-day progress. Your setup has way too much surface on the front foil for your weight, and you should set up your propellers for a higher end-speed. In your first few tries you were stalling out the foil all the time, you need to get up to some speed, give the board one or two pumps using your weight to get the board out of the water and the foil to plane, Then you need to level out the board quickly - That's when you need the extra speed from the prop setup, 'cos all drag will be gone in an instant - the better you level out, and the higher the aspect of the foil the longer you can go on a battery. You'll get there ..
Interesting
This makes a lot of sense. Thinking about flying an airplane... you do everything you can to stay well above stall speed. Everything goes to crap if you are hanging out right at stall speed, as the tiniest factor can cause a little extra drag and you drop out of the sky.
I'm guessing it works the same way here? Which explains why his setup was so easy to get to crash out or suddenly get away from under him?
.. and he must stop playing with a throttle. It’s better to have let’s say two fixed speeds and concentrate on a balance
You can also put the motor closer to the board. Less leverage so you don't have to push the nose of the board down. Also if the motor comes out of the water then no thrust so you sink back gracefully. Keep at it!
So fun!!! Thanks for the new spirt of inspiration to get started on my paddle board sized hydrofoil
That will be so cool. Love your videos Daniel, always very creative, though out and beautifully edited. I never miss one.
Damn, was about to post the comment: "Probably a stupid question... but could a craft combine hydrofoil and ground effect?"
Did a quick google for due diligence, and immediately saw that you already went there. You're a G.Damn boss.
I would like to see both of you on a project
Make one with ailerons and elevator with gyro so it can be easy to fly???
Hey Peter! I’m a long time fan since the flite test days and hydrofoil designer with a couple suggestions to get this working better!
-reduce stabilizer angle. Most large beginner foils come with too much stabilizer angle/nose up trim. Nose up trim from the stabilizer is needed to counter the drag produced by the wings and the leverage of the strut or “mast”. Because you have a motor down there, that drag is offset and you can significantly reduce stabilizer angle. Try printing some stackable 1° and 0.5° shims or just use thin washers.
-center of gravity. Just like a plane, a hydrofoil is also sensitive to center of gravity. Moving the battery above the front wing will help balance everything out.
-Board. To move the battery forwards, you probably need to make a new board with a cutout for it. For learning and riding underpowered, longer and narrower boards work best. Something in the 5-6’ range and around 22-28” wide should work great for just cruising around. Your hull design looked good.
-Strut or “mast”. Because of the additional battery weight, a stiffer mast will really help with control. Foils are a structural nightmare and flex is your biggest enemy. Axis foils makes a great aluminum mast that is both cheap and stiff.
I also noticed some ventilation or trapped air on your mast. Instead of just printing trailing edge fairings, try printing fairings that wrap all the way around the mast. This way the surface will be far smoother. Alternatively, try to hide the wires inside the mast.
-connection slop. Make sure all connections between components are super tight. I like to use cut up aluminum cans shoved in the connection between parts to stiffen everything up.
For riding, speed is your friend. Try to keep the board skimming until you have enough speed to climb without stalling.
Great job making this work! I’m super excited to see what you come up with next!
Real comment, nice to see. Commenting for engagement and cus you deserve it brother.
That's a lot of afew suggestions.
G'day,
Great
Constructive
Criticism &
Advice...
Yay Team !
Keep on keepin' on...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
I happen to recognize kane dewilde is a world class foiler and foil designer. I suggest he really knows what he is recommending.
How to organize the power system ? I mean the Battery ?
I’ve surfed for 40 years. Trying to foil for 2 years. Trying…The thing about you is your great attitude and ingenuity. Your video made my day. I’ll check in with you later and I bet you’ll be cruising. Stay happy!
Wonder if an electronic gyro to control throttle to maintain angle of attack would work.
Question is, how you'd implement that.
Both my e foils pitch up really strong when applying power and have changing angle of attack depending on speed (like an airplane).
Also, at high AOA you get lots of drag and need lots of power to stay flying, so you constantly have to battle the nose pitching up to get out of that high AOA without taking a swim.
Would be a challenge to get that riding nicely with just gyro for power control.
Maybe in addition to controlling the motor, you could give it a little elevator for better pitch control.
@@fabianrudzewski9027wouldn't a simple PID algo be a good start to maintain the pitch regardless of motor speed?
It would work, but the gyro would/might need a few modifications first?
I feel like a trim tab that could be easily and reliably changed between attempts would be not only easier to implement, but also probably more reliable all things considered.
PID controllers are a nightmare
Underwater flight is an excellent phenomenon! Brings back memories! The first time I discovered this as a young kid was playing in the pool with a hard plastic model Cessna,it looked super realistic with an accurate aerofoil, one day I threw in in the water to notice it sink like a tail heavy plane so I jammed a few coins in the nose and set the cog underwater, it flew amazing well! so I made it rubber band powered with bendable control surfaces because of the drag it could fly underwater for over 3mins! Middle of summer I’d spend hours holding my breath, I’d imagine dramatic slow mo movie scenes as it flew around! I miss those simple times! These experiences give us hobbyists a distinct advantage in a complex world! If shtf at least I know the rc community will survive!
That was so relateable! I wingsurf and I design up all my hydrofoils. Wingsurfing, wind surfing and kitesurfing all give you a higher up balance point that gives you some additional control over yaw, roll and pitch. It was interesting to see your progression, finding your forward position to stop breaching on takeoff. That foil you bought is pretty chunky, good for learning but it has a lot of displacement drag. The drag will relate strongly to your battery life once you get more proficient at staying on foil. I've contemplated getting a motor, ESC and battery but 75% of my free time at the beach there's enough wind for one of my wind wings anyway. The mast takes some huge loading at the joints, I used to use aluminium masts but not the only part I've not made for my current kit is the fuselage. I'm considering that though. Currently my kit is all axis compatible but I'm considering doing my own fuselage design which will necessitate adaptors for the foils until I make some of my wings to suit a new fuselage design. If you have any questions I'm pretty deep into DIY foil design and could probably save you some time. If you are printing your wings, put some high fill enforcers in your slicer by the attachement points. And subtract your composite cladding thickness from the wing design before printing. Resin infusion is pretty amazing once you get the hang of it, understanding infusion mesh and resin brakes. I am curious about the wireless connection breaking on most units when the board is under water. No doubt the controllers are most likely using something like ESP32 wireless, A different frequency might work better.
I find hydrofoil boats fascinating! I'd love to see them make a comeback in the DIY community. That hydrofoil metal skif boat is amazing
Interesting stuff. After 40 plus years windsurfing I have the last two seasons done a lot of training/sailing trying to master windfoiling ( i.e foiling with a windsurfing sail as "motor") so I know ,first hand, how hard it is to control the flight so I'm impressed by your progress. Some tips and tricks; once you feel the foil lifting the board you must swiftly shift your weight forward. The lift of the board can also be adjusted by adjusting the angle of attack of the stabilizer (back wing).#2 make loooong turns since the foil does not like sharp turns especially not if the front wing is huge. Looking forward to see more of this since I totally agree with you about the crazy high pricing of complete e -foils. Greetings from Sweden.
Hi Peter! It’s cool to see you try hydrofoils. I follow you for a long time and i love your rc stuff. I’m more of a kitesurf hydrofoiler myself but these e-boards are awesome too! I would love to see you mess with different wing shapes and show us your idea’s of hydrofoils from an aeronautical engineering perfective. Because in the hydrofoil community I feel that there is a lot of room of new ideas that already exist in the aviation world. Thanks a lot for these video’s.
Kind regards from Belgium!
I used to go to sea for oceanographic research. I was an engineering tech so I was responsible for ensuring our systems were ready to go into the water. One thing we used to waterproof components in a box was to fill it with mineral oil. The mineral oil is thermally conductive but not electrically conductive. We filled boxes and cable housing materials. Mineral oil is fairly benign is regards to environmental problems if anything leaks or spills.
I'd love to see you put control surfaces on the tiny underwater aeroplane, and see if you can control it with a transmitter, sat cross legged on the board, which is disguised as a flying carpet, dressed as Aladdin.
Great idea
this is so cool! now all I need to do is learn how to surf and fly haha
Peter I've been watching your stuff for a while but I was so stoked when I saw you had tackled an e-foil! I've wanted to give one a go for years now but have always felt to intimidated on the motor/ electronic side of things. You've inspired me to give it a go!
Nice Work Peter! As an avid E-foiler, I will say that you would not believe the controversy and strong feelings that run in this group around these fantastic machines. I got involved early with a Kickstart campaign for the Waydoo brand which has made inroads into this sport and has significantly undercut the pricing of the big boys. I am with you on the absurdity surrounding the costs - these are not super complicated toys. The foils have been out there and are well understood as well as motors, batteries and ESCs as you well know with your RC work. Keep at it - its so much fun and gets only better as you progress.
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No clue if you read this but being a naval engineer i noticed two things, first of all your motor shroud makes the motor and prop wayyy less efficient. if you want one to protect the prop, do one without much of a profile thats not longer than max 0.3x the diameter of the prop. Usually when those ducts are optimized for thrust they are flipped inside out (like an airplane wing with the top side on the inside, they then create lift pointed to the center of the shroud and slightly forward, creating thrust from the forward pointing lift component) but they only work for low speeds with high thrust (like a tugboat). Second thing is your mast, i know taping the cables is janky but you add a TON of resistance by doubling the surface area of the foil mast. Janky is better than having a ton of drag! (it may seem a bit counterintuitive coming from aerodynamics since the air resistance is so much lower but for water, water contact area is the worst enemy). Anyways, great project!
Maybe the throttle can be modulated by a gyro similar to how a hoverboard balances. That could reduce the stalls or nose in by having the throttle try to keep it level. If done just right you could just about eliminate the hand held throttle.
May as well add some elevator control at that point. Lots of room under the fairings for things.
I think you might want something like a vesc: th-cam.com/video/Udap4uno3E4/w-d-xo.html. They are doing torque based control which may be mappable to the propeller based throttling but that is outside my wheelhouse.
You are brilliant, I love living through you vicariously. Especially since I’m too old, broke and literally have thrown most of my life away up to this point. You’re actually a genius. 😊
It's a good day when you see a TH-cam maker making a fin out of plywood instead of 3D printing something. People really don't seem to appreciate how strong wood and wood composites are compared to anything from an FDM printer.
This man never disappoints. I didn't knew he could surf too 😂
Know way!
I would recommend that you mount a waist high vertical bar. Mount it directly above the vertical foil.
It would make it easier to control.
Use the bar instead of just your feet to control also giving you something to help you stand on the board.
Oh yea, please make more of it! I would love a more refined version in the future (preferably with basic instrucions how to make one ourselves 😇). When I saw the price of these a couple years ago I had exactly the same thought, they are waaay to expensive for what you get, at least a couple times lol. Actually even wanted suggesting you to try to make one but ultimately forgot. Can't wait!
Great video! I built a tow boogie instead. It felt simpler when you separate the electronics from the foilboard onto its own board. So I am getting towed by that on a standard foilboard.
you could include a gyroscope and have a microcontroller slow down the motor when you’re tilting up too much and then speed up if you’re tilting down too much so that self-leveling occurs, which would Aid in balance
Not sure if you've heard of foil drive but it is similar to this idea. It was cool to see your first experience foiling! DIY for this sport is part of what makes it so interesting.
I have thought about making this for the longest time. The commercial boards are so expensive.
Thanks for the inspiration! Ive been thinking dor a while of making a small electric outboard for my sailboat to combat the whole "Uh oh .. The winds stopped and im nowhere neer home" thing
"It's not sunk cost fallacy if you don't give up" 100% belongs on a t-shirt
this is awesome! You look sick on the foil, thanks for reassuring us that it is REALLY difficult because I thought about buying one for half a second because it looks sick!
Dunno why, but it seems like the thrust line and fine tuning trim would be the things to work on outside of one's own skill in trying to ride the thing. I'd think both of those could affect how sensitive it rides once getting it to plane.
Its amazing how with electric propulsion in water applications, that a shallow pitch prop can actually push you faster than a heavy pitch due to the resistance of the water causing the motor to spin slower while drawing way more current!
I love projects like this, taking something so unobtainable to most and making it available to the savvy.
I’ve always wondered if a wheel that you spin to control the throttle would work better on these than a trigger in order to provide a more constant/“diluted” response to throttle inputs that would tend to be more erratic with a trigger vs a rolling wheel as it seems that the biggest part of mastering the ride is a combo of throttle feathering vs balance for the most part.
by far the best channel on youtube. glad ya left flitetest man its been amazing watching your channel blow up
the most wholesome channel on here, love u peter and all your creations, u are such an inspiration and i love your videos
There were a couple of shots in there with Peter looking like an absolute Chad.
I'm from Miami, Florida. You are brave to be in that water with so many sharks in our waters, especially with the water being cloudy. It's probably the only reason you didn't notice how close you were to losing some limbs.
As a wingfoiler surf foiler, best advice i can give you have too much weight on the back of the board, some have found a way to put the batterie on a backpacl, it's the best way to have the better balance, other brand like takuma integrated the pripeller motor inside the fuselage of the foil. Good luck i will wait for the part 2
Interesting video
what is the size of the propeller ?
what rotation speed ?
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Just to have an idea of the needed power : at what speed you begin to take off ?
It’s always a great day when Peter uploads another goofy video
"I love airplanes!"
Awesome project, but it seems like you guys couldnt get going bc of the sudden acceleration and deceleration and general weight shifting, so you could probably benefit from adding a strap you can hold onto attached to the nose of the surfboard, while standing, but have a loop halfway up the strap so you can hold on while kneeling too
Nice skyway bridge shot in the background. Fort Desoto Park is an awesome place. Great video.
I wonder if you could make the board more friendly to beginners if you angle to motor upwards a few degrees since it looks like the tip of you're board always moves up so it stalls. Like on rc sailplanes with tilted lift motor.
Hi. Great vid. Can anyone share the link for the DIY ready kit he bought?
To me, it appears there are two balance points. One point when you're in the water and one when you're on plane. So the problem will be that you need to transition to the "on plane" position instantaneously... which you can't really do. If you redesign your board with just one balance point, you can remain fairly steady while the board is on the water, and you don't have to make a quick adjustment to get into flying position.
Interesting. I don't see you do anything to waterproof the motor. Can it just handle being in seawater like that? Or is it simply acceptable that it will have a short life in this case?
You can't, electrolysis ... Motor will not last long IMO
Ive always wondered whether you could make the hydrofoil larger to allow you to "fly" at a slower speed
You can! But its better to go with a higher aspect ratio for the lower take off and cruise speed.
@@FoilFanatic42cheers for the clarification, have a good day
I've passed to my local wingsurfing facebook group. Very cool to seeing another RC guy getting into foiling 😎
Try it without the cowling and an outboard style prop be a lot more efficient
Amazon link to the motor? The motor setup looks great for general propulsion… for instance strap it onto a paddle.
I’m not experienced with rc stuff, but would the addition of control surfaces, like with the hydrofoil build, and the addition of a giro or arduino set up for a kind of “flight assist” be something worth trying?
Some large ships use stabilizers kind of like the wings on hydrofoils to prevent roll. It might be worth a look. Just be careful if you do, they sharp.
I work as a Hardware Testing Engineer, and we use those BoxCo boxes for nearly every enclosure. We love them.
your center of gravity is where the foil connects to the board, youre standing far forward of cg which is why its unstable and difficult to ride
You need to add rocket motors to give increased fun factor. Probably should add go faster stripes too.
Drinking alcohol before trying to surf will help as well.
Glad I could help.
Excellent Peter.. Can I use ordinardary BLDC for underwater? Any advice how to modify ordinary BLDC to be waterproof?? Appreciate any advice..Tks
Believe it or not speed is your friend when getting up on water. It might be easier with more power ?
Very nice project! you should try to move forward the hydrofoil , just a litle bit. try some skateboarding to help you out too. also the hydrofoil wing size and shape is going to make easier or harder it depends in what you choose.
Hi Peter! Thank you for the video, is just what I was looking.
Now, I'm in the midle of my proyect and don't know much of electronic. I had made the 3d printed and i bought the motor and flycolor device. Could you tell me which reciever and remote control I have to use?
Sebastian
What do you think about modifying an electric trolling motor. Most of what you need is there.
I could be wrong but usually when I see people using the foil surfboards they do a oscillating up down motion. I wonder if it is for stability
You can ride one without a Motor, so I think thats what you see. When on the foil you increase the foil speed by increase Front pressure and pushing the Board down. This lift increases and you let the Board come back up. If you repeat that pattern you have a muscle powered pump foil
yeah people do what you can foil pumping
I wonder if you put the motor towards the middle, then try a one wheel algorithm should work.
You can try feeding the electricity from a power source on the other boat and deliver by cable to determine exactly what you need power wise.
It will be cool to see other designs of foils.
This looks amazing, around a month ago I designed my own before seeing this video using multiple rc car brushless motors, I was wondering if anyone has built this version and has a part list for it so I can also make it and compare the two?
i foil, but it always feels like the board would work better with the small wing on the front. Because a small wing loses lift first. also it feels like an arduino with a 3 axis accelerometer sensor would help.
While it might not be the most feasible idea, but maybe try to stuff the battery packs into the "fin"?
It'd obviously need to be a little wider for that, but considering how thin it is, it might not have much effect on the drag.
But the different mass distribution could have a noticeable effect on the stability? Maybe?... Just throwing thoughts at the wall here tbh.
Can you make a wing and or propeller that has tubercles on the leading edge like a whale for reduced drag and more importantly more lift at high angle of attack with slower stall curve.
Awesome fun...
Hey, maybe put elevons on the underwater foil and a fast stabilizer module. Might help... or not...
If you ever come to hood river I'd love to teach you how to wing foil. I think if you put a little more weight on the tail when you introduce roll you'd have more success in your turns, kinda like you would turn an airplane
Cool vid! I'm not sure you can get away with 3d printing the wing without fribre glass. Think of it as a plane wing that has to support your weight (not actually but similair). If you want to go high-end en ultra light you could consider carbon fiber with a 3d printed mold. Easy composites has some easy to watch tutorial videos. Would be cool to see
I wonder if you could use some RC plane derived parts to make a sort of autopilot (more like fly by wire active stabilization ig) so that maybe you could achieve the level of smoothness that they had in those ads for the $20k boards.
I was thinking a lot about doing this, thank you for this video!
I'm a wing foiler and rode some e-foils.
It seems like you rode at a very high AoA and stalled out. Your don't have enough thrust to get enough speed to take off on that foil.
Great project! thanks for sharing all the details. on first glance, the Motor shaft for the linked Motor on amazon is only 10mm while the motor shaft on the Onshape files is 100mm plus some other missing details... Is there an updated and more complete design link for the version that was actually built, or is the shared Onshape design is just a suggested starting point that requires additional work and modification before attempting printing and building the drive unit ?
Can a tri-J-configured blade do better... Slightly larger cuz there's less friction? Or even More blades in a J?
I don't know if it's been done: TWO attached side-by-side for stability! Could maybe use differential thrust for steering.
no, im using opera gx, and about 2 weeks ago they found out about the built in ad blocker and it wont work anymore
You can definitely look into 3d printing a dc motor. I watched a video of a new motor design and you can probably implement both and have a good time with that
Peter your videos never old and your the king of DIY keep up the great work 👍😁
Hi. Awesome video! I'm wanting to make my own drone and I'm trying to choose a flight controller. I want one that's relatively easy to use at first, but is customizable and cheep(less than 50 pounds). At the moment I'm looking at the APM 2.8 Ardupilot flight controller. Do you have any suggestions?
I didn't realise you could just take a big standard BLDC motor and run it under water. I thought it had to be fully sealed.
I came across the motor that is used in that kit when I was researching how to build a DPV for diving.
Great video. I want to make something similar but don't see the links for the motor and waterproof box you used.
This is awesome man 😁 i am a diy type of guy myself. I am buying a board from another guy in my town. 4'10" nice hd board. $150. No wing. Made for kite foiling. I have 14s batteries (100a + output) for my scooters and electric skateboards 😁 i have vesc and a waterproof remote already. And 6374 motors. I think i just need to figure out wings and mounting. Just getting started. Still researching. Will be getting board later this week. Was looking at some stuff on float web site. Yeah, prices are outrageous 🤯 i have done some epoxy work and have some nice cf/fiberglass sheeting 😁 i can do this. I also have 3d printer and am good with wood working if needed. Great video man!! I will look at your other stuff 😁 thanks for sharing. I am on same mission 🤯 in Buffalo NY though. Will be something to do over winter 😉
Air Chairs were big back in the early days of wakeboarding. I've seen some pretty crazy maneuvers on those things.
I really have to commend you on your design! It’s brilliant! You are a talented engineer.
Very cool, we can't wait to see the new version!
that was awesome can you do a jetdrive kayak. fast enough that you can keep up with everyone without trying but a kinda stealth setup.
Did not expect you to start foiling. Welcome to the sport!
Wouldnt some dihedral in the main foil male balance easier for beginners just like a self leveling airplane?
Since I see these a few years ago I’ve wanted to build one. Good job. Keep trying dude.i just know you will get it right. I built an electric mountain board. It does 40 + mph pulls wheelies so much fun. This is just what I like but on water. 👌🏼😉
A little more detail on how you turned the electric skateboard wheel and speed controller into the propulsion system,
Brilliant,
Yes, simply all of those things. I consider myself a handy person, but this is quite impressive in breadth and quality. You might like silicone caulk for potting material, btw, instead of candle wax.
hate having to mention it, but I think it's worth mentioning if even one life can be saved, but 40 volts is roughly what most agree is the threshold for DC voltage to become "dangerous", so if you do this, please be careful. the number can vary depending on conditions, and I think when water is involved, especially salt water, I would imagine it's even lower than 40. 40 is probably dc voltage on dry skin. so just keep this in mind. you'd need to be come the direct path between the battery terminals somehow for this to become a problem, but with salt water especially, it's more possible thing you'd imagine. I think most people capable of building stuff like this already know this, but for people into rc but not super familiar with electrical engineer, be careful! can't do hobbies from your grave. happy making!
Why not make another smaller foil for the nose so that you're not constantly trying to fight the torque the motor is placing on the board with only your weight. Seems like a little stabilizer at the nose would make it much more stable.
Hello, Did you end up buying the foil drive assist From AUS which include batterry pack under the board ? Thanks for your great DIY video
the x1c is awesome
Kinda got glossed over since you were mostly working on the foil/motors but I'd like to see more of your board build if you can release that as a short or something maybe?
Maybe use an off the shelf motor from a marine trolling motor. The 36v make 105lbs+ of thrust.
Why would he try a motor that wouldn't work? You don't have any business using terms like 'thrust lbs'. Also what is 'off the shelf'..what? Why would he buy a weak trolling motor for %99-250 just to throw away 95% of it when he can buy the right motor that is 10 times more powerful. Maybe don't comment about topics you are ignorant about