Opinions: No Limitz V2, especially vs new F-One HM 14 Mast?

The takuma no limitz can be adapted to other brands with another adapter. But its so clunky looking I wouldnt even consider it since it basically defeats the purpose of spending that much money on a good mast for it to be draggy

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If you get the “3 hole Takuma” NoLimitz. It’s a very sleek mast interface. You can then use a “doodad” to adapt the NoLimitz to other brands mast pockets.

2 companies I know do this. Jim Stringfellow. “Stringy”. He can either make “doodads” or full custom fuses for the brand you like. These are the ones most people know about and some of them such as the f-one for instance are a bit bulky.

Foilparts also makes “doodads” and some of their options are quite sleek and wouldn’t be noticeable.

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Only certain brands of adapters for nl v2 are not clunky. Ie. If going from takuma 3-hole to 2-hole you will have an ugly chin that most certainly will create drag and defeat part of the gains you will get with the nl mast. You can see all the fittings on the stringy site. But not all brands have a good fit.

See my post above about non-stringy adapters. The nolimitz v2 is starting to look downright affordable with new mast prices.

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Interesting paper. TL;DR: large angle of attack neat the surface results in flow which remains better attached to the top of the foil. The result is higher lift and lower drag and resulting higher lift to drag ratio the closer you get to the surface for a given angle of attack between 17 and 30 degrees. The reason is that the wave forming on top of the foil reattaches the flow. At lower angles of attack the lift to drag ratio decreases close to the surface.

I could see the effect being positive in sharp turns near the surface, but not really when going in a straight line.

Have you tried the foil parts adapter?
Way more streamlined but all the torque is on the 3 6mm bolts as none of the mast enters the fuselage.
Stringfellow has the sleeve, which is the bulk mentioned, for unifoil and takuma2.
So far, no one has mentioned the drag just fears of it.
If I buy it and it sucks or rips I’ll let everyone know

I have not. My days of universal masts are behind me. I ride stuff designed to work together now.

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I was thinking about this the other day while high on the mast in nice rolling swell and just 'tap-in my back foot to stay up there. I was amazed at the connections I was pulling off. Then there’s all that extra potential energy for the first couple of pumps too :call_me_hand:

Aloha,
My V2 mast should be arriving any day.
why don’t you and string fellow just commit and make a universal base for an adapter?
no one is buying the takuma 3 bolt for takuma anymore (maybe one guy). either way you could make a smaller connection point that would allow for all brands adapters to fit like the Code adapter, which looks like it has the best connection and the least drag/flex.
just my $.02.
Ive already purchased the Unifoil NL2 and don’t see needing other options but my eyes do wander…

Hey 808Froth,

Thanks for your mast order! We can’t go smaller because of the bending forces applied on adapter. We actually had a prototype universal adapter which was smaller, but when we tested it, the aluminum bent, so we tried stainless steel, which bent also, so that didn’t work out.

The Stringy adapters work very well for our Takuma 3 bolt masts. I haven’t received any negative feedback on the adapters. In particular, the Lift, Code, and F-One adapters are excellent and many people people have provided me with feedback that they work well (no noticeable drag.) That’s 4 brands of great foils you can use with one mast. The Unifoil and Cabrinha adapters look like they do add a bit of drag. I don’t know how much, so if anybody out there could quantify that for us that would be much appreciated.

Stringy’s also coming out with a North and AFS adapter for the Takuma 3 bolt soon. Also he can make any fuselage with a Takuma 3 bolt insert. Bennetts used one of those with his Armstrong foils last fall as you can see in this video: Adam Bennetts on Instagram: "It was a delight to stroke into a few big ones unassisted at Uluwatu last month… and also nice to foil straight into the cave 🌴 🎥 @surfind.20 @uluwatusurfvillas #uluwatu #temples #surf #foil #foiling #bali"

So if you want to use Unifoil or Cabrinha foils with a NoLimitz Takuma 3 bolt mast, you could order a Stringy fuselage. They cost $325.

Happy foiling!

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A mate of mine had Stringy make him a Unifoil to Code adapter for his Uni NL mast.

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Are the stringy adapters aluminium, and does that lead to any issues with corrosion if they are left connected to the mast all the time?

I personally take my mast off the fuse ( even though it’s carbon ) after every session to rinse adapter. I put marine grease between the NL adapter and Stringfellow’s adapter, then I only remove Stringy’s adapter every 2 or 3 weeks for maintenance, but you could probably leave those together longer without corrosion issue, as long as you rinse in fresh water after each use.

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As the humble original poster who inadvertently started this massive thread, I thought I’d report on my experience.

I ended up getting the F-One 14mm (85cm) to use w/ my Eagle 990. (75kg intermediate foiler, winging and wing downwinding in the Gorge.) It’s a great mast. But I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit too flexible. I’d experience it especially when tacking… carving into the turn there’s a point where I unload the sideways bending pressure as I pass through the eye of the wind, and it’s here where the mast would often feel wobbly. Hard to know to what extent it’s just my bad technique or flexing in the wings of the foil. But…I had the opportunity to exchange the mast for an 85cm NLV2 (with a bit of cash back). Honestly, it feels better. No loss of glide compared to the 14mm F-One and more confidence inspiring. I’m not getting that wobbly feeling through tacks and it feels stiffer. Of course take that w/ a grain of salt…especially as there was a couple month gap between riding the two masts. But that’s my story and I’m sticking with it… along with the NL mast. Pretty psyched on my kit right now.

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Stoked you’re stoked!! :raised_hands: :raised_hands:

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So I just got my NLV2 mast and right out of the box it’s better. Not a little better but very noticeably faster. it feels very stiff when turning and I’m 200lbs (that’s right pounds not kilos) I was Demoing the new cedrus which felt better than the katana but the NL takes the prize. I’ve tried the F-one but without trying the mast back to back like I did with Unifoil I wouldn’t know. I do not have any adapters and plan to borrow a friends mast to see what difference I can feel, if any.

Unifoil 140/125 med fuse 13.5 progression tail 78 V2mast Essential custom board.

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Something that someone pointed out, the NLv2 feels super stiff and in control when railing turns, it’s when you’re not turning and just pivoting to navigate downwind that I struggle with it.

@Jordan_slides I saw you’ve done a back to back on the NLv2 and the Axis pro, what are your thoughts on it for downwind across the big and small foils?

ie super stiff once you bend it into it’s final shape. Before that there’s play.

My feedback needs to be taken in the context of only riding the Ultra Pro (UP) on two downwind runs, 3 weeks apart, and on reasonably small axis foils (circa 885cm2 and 770cm2). UP is rock solid in all situations. I would assume it’s the stiffest mast available. But there’s just something about the NLv2 that makes me love it: it’s lack of weight. In my style of downwind paddle up it’s easier to get it to unload and lift as i bounce up from my knees. And when on foil it’s pump is lighter, so i just generally find it easier to downwind on the NLv2. Less swing weight in an articulating system. Perhaps that difference in weight is negated the heavier you are? I think they are both excellent masts, and what you choose to ride will be based on which benefit you optimise for, and budget.

NB. The NLv2 is no noodle either. I notice just a very small twitch on initiation of turns at high speed (that isn’t there with UP), but i’ve enjoyed it with small (as per above) and large (AP1201, SF1100) foils with no problems.

Is that useful??

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Yes thanks, did you compare across NL size range range? I saw you had the 72cm for the race, I have the 85cm and I like it in big surf with small foils but in messy big downwind conditions and especially with ART Pro 1121 I find it very heavy going, that twitch becomes pretty noticeable. The issue manifests in lots of tip breaches that I either catch or go down. I’m either going to get a 78cm NLv2 or another approach.

I wonder if it is the shorter chord that makes this feeling rather than the flex.

@Bwalnut you found that the AFS mast is better at speed than the Evo? Is that exclusively winging? Did you find with downwind speeds you found the same? Referring to this post

How could this be explained?