I’ve found that the durability of foil gear is one of the hardest things to assess when I’m looking at buying something new. At the same time, foil gear is outrageously expensive and many companies don’t warranty their products, so a breakage can easily result in $1000+ lost to the bottom of the ocean.
Companies get reputations for building durable (i.e. Appletree) or not durable (i.e. NoLimitz) gear, but it’s hard to tell if these reputations are actually deserved. Composite layups are generally kept as in-house secrets and build quality/design can be even more important than the materials used. As customers, we don’t have much information other than marketing buzzwords like “bomb-proof,” “high-modulus,” etc. to figure out which of these products are actually made to take a beating.
I think an ongoing discussion on what gear people are breaking would help clear things up. Potential customers deserve to know if a product is breaking during use, and on the other side, companies that are building more durable gear and standing by their products should be commended for it. The same goes for companies that are transparent about their build quality and design decisions (i.e. Appletree, Project Cedrus).
So, what gear have you broken? Or what gear has held up after you’ve put it through hell?
(Any details on how it broke, rider weight, conditions, etc. are also helpful)
For me, the only gear that I’ve had fail on me was a FoilParts long Lift tail adapter that cracked around the threaded inserts after minimal use. This was their v1 adapter and they have a v2 now so hopefully they beefed the inserts up on v2. On the other hand, my buddy has a super light prone board from FoilSurfMachines that has been beaten up for years and still looks new. Pretty sure you could run that board over with a car and it wouldn’t mind…
Proning and winging strapless, 77kg, what broke :
Gong board box, the matata model ~200h.
Custom wing board box ~100h
Takuma v1 fuse bent ~20h
Kujira 1095 cracked around the fuse to wing ~100h
Cab H1000, H800 and H650 all cracked around the fuse to wing ~50 to 100h
Fone strike v2 fully unstitched falling in head high wave, user error.
Own 2 appletree prone boards, never had any crack anywhere, still feeling stiff and fresh ~200h each.
Im the gear destroyer! Broken cab 1000, 1200 and takuma 1095 all in the first 20 hours. Takuma 1210 is much more robust. Destroyed all the aluminum takuma stuff.
What’s far more troubling than broken gear is things developing movement and flex but not showing sigs of cracks or whatever. I have 4 freedom boards in my repair queue that developed flex in the boxes to the point of being unrideable - but don’t show anything. All warantyed so i can’t fault freedom too much!
There’s no cheap beached to foil in Rhode Island and every tail I’ve ever ridden hates me.
Broken two boxes on FFB and Infinity foil boards, every Lift foil I’ve ever owned (think 6-7), Armstrong mast, 1850, 1250, 1125 front wings. 232 & 200v tails. Just yesterday my Axis 460 tail broke pumping the river! WTH!.
With all that it’s been a lot of fun and it pails in comparison the number of snowboards, surfboards and skateboard I’ve busted… so then there’s that.
I actually just had a nearly brand new Lift Long Tail adapter from Foil Parts snap in half during the 3rd session while prone foiling in small surf (2-3ft). Was using it with the Lift 120 HA and I’m only 73kg - didn’t hit bottom or anything as far as I could tell either. The adapter broke pretty much right at the joint where it connects to the fuselage of the front wing.
With that said, I reached out to Foil Parts right after the session and sent them the details of what happened and they said they would replace it immediately. Also said they’ve never seen a break like it before and I was surprised how willing they were to help me out just knowing how many companies out there in the foil world seem to be so strict on returns. With that said, I did lose a fairly new KD Maui wing which basically puts me out ~$300 for the broken adapter.
The guy I talked to at Foil Parts also said that they made the adapters “lighter” in newer versions due to the number of people that requested lighter adapters. I’ve always been on the side of wanting better structural integrity (more bomb-proof equipment) than lighter gear (which usually means skimping on materials) so I don’t have to worry about throwing down >$1000 on gear I’ll need to replace. Not sure what the whole “lighter is better” sentiment is all about.
I started with some naish gear and bened 2 masts and a fuse and had with 4 Naish Hoover boards in a row that the boxxes almost came out and the bottom delaminated.
They replaced it 4 times and then they told me, this is the last one, sell it because we are not gonna accept anymore claims.
At the shop there are standing a dozen with the same problem. Broken boxes or constructed too light.
Wings: I got yesterday for the 2th time the seam between strut and canopy coming loose.
This happened to me Cab Mantis V2 last year and now to my 5m V3. I,m keeping fingers crossed for warranty as the wing is less the 3 months old. On the water its a great surfing wing, but this part is really poor constructed.
I hit a sand bank pretty hard 3 times in the same session on my MFC gear. 3rd time everything felt very lite and loose…… lucky it was crystal clear water, got everything back
