I overtightened my mast screws(3 m6x30mm) when i noticed the middle screw was kinda loose.
Ended up snapping the middle screw from the top.
Screw was stuck inside the hm carbon 14mm mast.
So rode it with only 2 screws for the session…then 30mins into the session the other two snapped during ignitiation of a bottom turn, and I ended up losing a plane(sk8 950 + xxxs160)
Eish! That’s a bummer. Sorry for your loss.
I don’t think one extra inline M6 would have saved it though. It’s crazy to design those type of mast-fuse joints and rely on M6 bolts. Other companies use M8s to seat tapered connection and the bolt only caries it’s torque load. M6 is OK for stab connections, nothing more.
About how many hours do you think you had on those screws before they failed?
Thats a great question.
I would say about 1hr30mins per day, almost every day since my purchase (6th december)
Lets say 300 days?
Im not certain if they were the m6 32mm titanium or m6 30mm screws
So lets add a safety factor of 20%
So after 240sessions of (1hr and 30mins) you might want to replace them.
(This includes hitting the sand bottom multiple times, rocks, and wear+tear, smacking the bottom on duck drives, realllly abused. On both sides, of the front sk8 wing, near the wingtips… i had peeling of the layers which i epoxied together like a sandwich) maybe overall wingspan was 86cm? 1cm lost from scrapes.
I only prone foil. Also towards the beginning of the use I was constantly disassembling the plane from the mast for transport. Only later did i realize(like maybe 6 months ago) that i could leave everything attached…plane attached to mast…mast disassembled from board.
and it would fit in my car
300 surfs a year? Dang. Where?
A friend of mine did something similar on a F-One Phantom 980 during a tow foil session. In his case, he used too short of a bolt and the whole fuselage/wing assembly separated from the mast. It was his first session with the 980.
Luckily, the fuselage/wing assembly floated and we were able to recover his gear. I had spare M6 bolts that I use for Lift, and we continued our session.
Since the Phantom 980 floated, I’m surprised the Sk8 sank to the bottom.
Brother if it floated then i was mistakenly scaning the ocean floor for it and it drifted north 
to someone in san clamente now
arent you supposed to use 32mm screws?
Orange county area, mostly garbage with short rides hahaha. Alot of pumping and connecting to other small sections only to turn and pump again. It’s consistently small enoughb😁
I think so, then thats what was being used. I just dont remember the specification
Archimedes. The phantom is a way higher volume foil than the Sk8.
i just mention it because someone i know used 30mm for their front wing and they broke off and he lost the wing…
I broke a mast and lost a foil because I used bolts were too short - so double checking length is definitely important. Annoying when equipment comes with a bunch of hard to source sizes.
Stainless corodes quickly when in contact with carbon and salt. For me, the fact they broke inside the mast indicates corrosion to be the major factor. If they broke because they were loose they would have broken at the head or flush with the mast. They probably loosened up because they were in the process of breaking. Helicoil inserts would help. Larger bolts would help. Replacing them often would help.
Good point. I didn’t realize the SK8 was that much thinner than the Phantoms.
Most types of stainless steel will NOT corrode when in contact with carbon and salt. Stay away from 410 or 301 SS and you should be OK.
Do brands like Lift and Code have the same issues as F One regarding the use of M6 for the mast/fuse connection?
My guess is no because the joint is designed differently and the mast butt goes directly inside the fuse and hence must take some of the force out of the screws vs the F One saddle on top design
Armstrong reccomend replacing their M6 every 6 months and also read it’s the repeated screwing that causes the problem.
i definately think that f one design puts more into the fasteners than others - i think its criminal that they’re still running M6. I don’t care how good the sk8 is i’d be jumping ship for other brands! Atleast change those m6 out regularly - i’d almost say every 10 sessions…
To be honest if a connection has movement (you can flex and feel even the slightest movement in these connections) the screws are going to fail eventually. Before i get in the water - even in the water if a foil has misbehaved or run aground hard - i lean hard into all connections feeling for movement with the other hand. I think doing this test all the time and developing a baseline for feels is easy and important and will give you warning before a failure that could looseyour gear - or maybe even just looseness that leads to flex thats going to cost you a good top turn.
I regularly put my hands on others setups and am HORRIFIED by the connection movement. Learning how to feel your setup is the first step towards improving it. And all setups are fixable - for some it’s just going to mean modification.
PSA this PSA is not valid for all brands. Contact your retailer or manufacturer for the best recommendations
