Anybody have experience with futures boxes? I’m looking at a custom board that uses futures and want some reassurance as to whether they are solid (or knowledge if they are not). Builder tells me there haven’t been any issues. I can probably have them switched out for Chinook if it’s worth it.
Chinooks are tougher. A Futures box sands like cheap plastic. A Chinook box is a bitch to sand. Better plastic.
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Assembly is probably a much bigger factor…
The old Chinook 10" boxes are bomber, but I had a made in China Amundson that had Futures and held up great at the boxes.
If it were me, I’d either ask for Chinook 16" (based on brand quality only) or Foiltec’s (based on what is in my new Amos board )
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They work very well in my experience.
I cracked the foil box lam loose on my wingfoil board recently but the tracks(Futures) were fine.
I cleaned them up and reinstalled, no problem.
They are lighter than Chinooks for same 10in lenght (256gr Futures vs 370gr Chinooks).
IMHO 10in Chinooks were designed for fin tracks in windsurf boards with same brutal specs as the windsurf mast tracks (but center cutout)
EDITED: The 15in Chinooks were specific for wingfoil and have a more slender structure ,they weigh 465grams.(I previously posted they weighed 370gr like the 10inch…this was wrong,sorry!)
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100% agree with this, if someone hasn’t made and destroyed quite a few boards then I’d pass, they should last one season before fatigue becomes super obvious
More important is how they are inserting the tracks into the foam. If it’s not a very big HD foam cassette then I’d avoid. Ideally, the cassette has a pointed front end to reduce the strain point that the flat edge creates (check the board builders group on facebook for discussion). If they are inserting the tracks directly into the board then I’d pass.
Take one of their used demo boards, attach a foil to it, stand with a foot either side of the foil boxes, and yank that thing around. You should not feel anything through your feet (paging @TooMuchEpoxy for the idea for this, great idea!!!)
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I’ve had issues with with Futures boxes. I may have tightened the screws a little too tight, but I got distortion/crushing in the boxes. They’re not specifically made for the job, so not dissing futures. I think there’s a reason KT moved away from using them.
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IMHO the future is neither Futures nor Chinooks.
Many brands are moving to 100% laminated boxes,finally.
Much better bonding than plastic,less chance of leaks and way easier to connect to deck and some sort of stringers.
They have been working nicely with inflatables for years now.
Please elaborate? Inflatables use injection molded plastic boxes. Laminated as in pressure molded carbon fiber? -is that what Armstrong use?
Inflatables use a carbon (or carbon and glass,not sure) plate ,about 5mm thick.That should be about 30/40 layers if 5oz/150gr cloth i guess…
With routed grooves to take the inserts.
Some brands are starting to use the same idea on rigid boards.A lighter version because the plate does not need to cover so much area.
I think Takoon and Armstrong are doing this.
I fitted one i bought from a small workshop to a SupFoil board i botched together,it is working OK
so far.Lighter overall.
Fabricators move away from Futures do to the increased effort and cost it takes to install them. They are great as foil mast track boxes. Ive installed over 50 foil boxes and have never had one fail.
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I previously posted a mistake,i have edited the guilty post, my bad… 
EDITED: The 15in Chinooks were specific for wingfoil and have a more slender structure ,they weigh 465grams.(I previously posted they weighed 370gr like the 10inch…this was wrong,sorry