Considering chopping my HA38 for better turning and better control in solid swells. Anyone done it? Outcome? Pics?
Here’s an HA40 that I chopped. Loosened it up quite a bit and didn’t lose much in glide. There is a lot of profile on the tail so it required a lot of careful sanding to taper off the tips.
Adam Bennetts was riding a chopped Afs ha tail for a while. His chop was really aggressive. I think he told me 3” off each tip. Mine is probably more like 1.5”.
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No issue with foam core?
No. I think the ha is solid carbon - or at least I didn’t hit any foam.
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In a recent podcast it was brought up that when chopping tails, minimize the shaping of the chop to just slight amount of rounding off. The idea being that all that shaping will only cause added drag when compared to a flat planar cutoff. Many airplane wing/tail just end in a planar end with no rounding off and that was stated to be the best.
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Tail worked well, improved control and turning. Video below of one wave from a long session from Swellnet, rode most of the session out of cam range. 700 enduro 80 UHM mast with a tow boogie.
Tail test video
Not sure when it started happening but my chopped 38 is whistling like crazy lately - I tried sharpening the trailing end of the stab but no luck. Any tips on fixing the whistle?
To stop the whistle you want to flatten the trailing edge not sharpen it.
ok I just tried that, went out - still whistling…do I need to flatten the edge and round the corners?
I tried following that crisp video a week ago and pretty sure that is what caused the issue ha. Probably user error.
Drag your fingernail all over it. Sand anywhere it catches smooth, with high grit.
Check your front wing also. In the past I’ve thought my tail was whistling, but it was the front.
I’ve gone out on 3 different setups today to isolate the tail is the issue haha. Thank you! Smoothing it now.
