I’d like to start a listing and discussion of FD trench boards and their features.
Here’s the one I really want but the trench is too narrow to allow tactical battery swap. You must unbolt each time. I’ll never do that. Praying they change this. Cmon Josh!
270 Board Co. socal.
Trench Appears wide enough for battery change.
What do you mean by the trench being too narrow? Sorry genuine question - I’m not a FD owner but seen my friends swap batteries over so I have a basic understanding. Doesn’t it only need room for the latch to open?
If you see the videos of this trench design they said they make it this way cause FD will be releasing a new latch system any time soon that will solve this issue. There is no point in releasing a production board that be obsolete in a few weeks/month, Josh Ku works for FD so he has insight on what’s coming. Just wait a bit!
Will be interesting to see what FD come up with, some type of quick release base unit hardware is my guess. Josh has said a wider trench doesn’t help, just increases drag and exactly what your trying to limit by adding a trench.
Appletree is coming out with a trench board soon.
Dale Chapman and Gofoil have been making them for a while.
That’s interesting. Good to know.
The battery opens with latches on the side. You need about an inch of clearance on the side of the battery box to be able to open the latch.
Oh didn’t know those trenches were that tight. Seems like they have something up their sleeves though - I can’t see them making such an ill-informed decision otherwise 
Any feedback on whether these boards are stiffer? The one (single thing) I like about this is that it gets some more structural integrity into the build.
Or structurally is it a compromised shape?
Looks pretty well made
Would love to hear some head to heads on these boards. The Appletree and Amos are very similar dims, but pretty different volumes. Looks like a shorter trench on the Appletree? DC boards look nice too, but wider stock dims, and WAY bigger trench. Curious how all of that feels, if there is any clear benefit or disadvantage.
Same. I’m curious on how the rails feel different with the beveled Amos rails vs the flat Zapple rail. I tend to do a lot of trolling under power and less waiting in the lineup so I need something I can stay on my feet on.
Hey all,
Thought I would chime in here. Excited to say I have been working with a laminator who has some extensive carbon layup knowledge and has been producing some great models for us, especially in the Foil Drive “trench” design. Boards are being built on the central coast in Morro Bay, USA.
I would like to first say the boards produced by Amos, Appletree, and DC are excellent shapes and boards as well. I think they would agree making these boards is a tough feet, and takes a lot of effort and a hell of a lot of work to do it right, especially in the laminating and sanding process, which I believe is the most difficult.
I wanted to give a brief overview of our goal/mission hear and what we offer as well so you all are well informed. The trenches are all custom. Changes are being made constantly to both outlines/designs/trench details, etc., including layup to some extent. The trenches can be made wide, longer, shorter, deeper/shallower, etc. So far, out of about 20-25 boards built, I am stoked to say we have really no reception issues with the Foil Drive unit whatsoever. Many riders even report no foam is needed for the most part. In addition, we don’t throw in windows as we see absolutely no need and have not had a need based on our feedback.
This is not only do to our designs, but placement of material, etc. The feedback has been amazing and we continue to improve and make sure the builds are rock solid and lasting. We know how expensive this sport is going.
Trench boards are not being limited to a prone either. We are doing wing/prone/SUP/and even midlengths. Anything can be custom, and this is the beauty of it all. The Foil Drive is so unique it can be used in a ton of applications out there. Custom is custom, so you will get a one on one design.
Bear with us, we can only build so many boards at a time, so there can be lead times. I attached a few pictures of the outlines we are working on and have finished. Enjoy and see you all on the water in some way!
270° Board Co.
