Does anyone who shims their board (base plate) ever have concerns or issues with how this changes the angle your screws apply force to your foil tracks and mast screw holes?
I see Wizard Hat has created screws that can swivel along with the tracks so the T nuts tighten flat against the tracks no matter what, but these are M6 and not M8.
Yeah it does angle them a bit. Especially the higher angles.
After lots of testing, I find I definitely prefer a bit of baseplate shim across various setups I find it makes the foils easier and more fun. However, typically nothing more than 0.25deg (about 1mm rise on the tail). Any more and it feels excessive.
0.5 degree or more does put an angle on the nuts, I would imagine it could cause an issue on carbon masts, but I don’t think failure.
Foilparts are the only ones I see making a 0.25deg shim? Worth noting if you’ve tried shimming and found it excessive that if you tried 1 degree then probably far too much.
I have to use between 1-2 degrees of shimming because my board has so much rocker. I ordered the Wizard Hat screws to try out because I don’t want to screw in normal ones at that much of an angle and risk damaging something.
Interestingly in Generic Foiling podcast Ken Adgate reckons that a baseplate shim is a likely source of flex - discussed towards the end. The way the shims fall apart over time I’ve often wondered if a solid metal one would be better. In the end definitely suboptimal to include it, but many of the best use them.
I understood that comment to be with respect to 3d printed shims, which seems pretty valid to me based on my experience with a variety of 3d printers and materials. I have a baseplate shim that goes in and out depending on wing vs prone, but it is made of vacuum bagged carbon and I definitely don’t notice any extra flex with it in. It is also only a 1 degree shim. I can imagine if Ken has encountered people trying to use big enough shims to adapt a Mikes Lab to a flat board (5 or 6 degrees they need, I think?) that it would only reinforce his philosophy of designing the board to the foil. Great episode in any case!
Nice can you share details of the carbon shim? I’ve only used the various 3d printed shims, I don’t know what compression to expect from the various materials, but I’m not pretty curious! Seems a pretty obvious oversight for me 
+1 on requests for sources of shims (and hardware) that work well
The challenge Im having with shimming to 1+ degrees is not the shim itself but finding a hardware solution that works well with the base plate of the mast being offset from the angle of the tracks. You’re either letting the T Nuts press into your tracks at an angle, or having your bolts press into your base plate holes at an angle. The Wizard Hat screws aim to fix this but are not very good in my opinion as its quite finicky to get them lined up perfectly, but also the hexagonal corners of the nuts begin to dig into the screw holes of the base plate as you tighten it more, and I started getting worried I would crack my mast if I kept going or if I caught a wave and began pumping applying downward force onto the rig.
I have found that I prefer a nose up 2° shim on every set up I’ve tried. I just feel a lot more comfortable riding with the platform slightly angled up and the shim helps me settle on the foil much better. I use the Armstrong shim kit which has longer hardware and good high density plastic shims. I haven’t noticed any additional flex, the mount is rock solid. I don’t worry about the two degree angle on the t-nuts at all and haven’t had any issues.
I use the same shim set up with my Unifoil Progression 140 and it feels way better to me shimmed on both my DW and my small prone board. For me the board shim has been a real help in my progression, I just could not get comfortable without it and haven’t found a downside to using it.
yeah i decided its not worth it to worry about the t nuts angle anymore, just going shim it how it feels good and ride
You might imprint a very slight indentation into the box plastic with cap head screws but with a flat head’s conical shape, the angle change can happen at the base plate, not the T-nut.
My shaper threw in the shim with my board. I asked him about how he made them but keep in mind this is 2nd hand info. As I understand, he makes a simple wedge shaped mold out of two pieces of reasonably thick mdf, fills it with pre wet out carbon offcuts from his board making, and puts the whole thing in a vacuum bag. The mold is several baseplates wide so once cured they are cut down to width, the ends trimmed of mold flash, and slots for the bolts are routed in the forward and aft ends. Getting the amount of carbon in the mold right takes some practice, too much and vacuum pressure alone doesnt compact it fully, not enough and you dont get any compression at all. I would post a picture but I can’t actually find the shim just now (yay for moving), hopepfully able to rectify that shortly.
Yeah I’m just being mindful when putting it together, so far each time I’ve tightened mast to board with a 1 degree shim, visually it appears that the screws are going into the base plate head on so if there is any angle its at the T nut. I also don’t think 1 degree is enough of a shim to cause any noticeable change as I was shining a flashlight into the tracks to look at the T nut and it didnt look like anything concerning.
2 degrees I think would be slight cause for concern which is why I was looking at the wizard hat screws but I described my even bigger worry above regarding the corners of the nuts diggig into the carbon fiber of the holes. I have a Cedrus Evo coming soon (alu base plate) so I think the wizard hat screws will work fine on that mast if I decide I want to try 2 degrees again but I did not want to risk cracking my Katana base plate.
Funny you mention Cedrus, as I just emailed Kyle about this thread, asking if he had any concerns…he replied:
“We have sold shims for years and if designed and used properly I don’t see how they increase hardware loads. I’m assuming you’re talking about the mount/board interface. Perhaps masts that do not use countersunk/flathead screws to connect to the board could see edge effects due to a steep shim, but we use flathead/countersunk screws so they will align properly even if shimmed.”
May be adding a shim to the new Cedrus order…