Easy Hydrofoil (DIY)

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Your build looks excellent, and I, as a foiler (wing/wind) salute your 3-day progress. Your setup has way too much surface on the front foil for your weight, and you should set up your propellers for a higher end-speed. In your first few tries you were stalling out the foil all the time, you need to get up to some speed, give the board one or two pumps using your weight to get the board out of the water and the foil to plane, Then you need to level out the board quickly - That's when you need the extra speed from the prop setup, 'cos all drag will be gone in an instant - the better you level out, and the higher the aspect of the foil the longer you can go on a battery. You'll get there ..

Hey Peter! I’m a long time fan since the flite test days and hydrofoil designer with a couple suggestions to get this working better! -reduce stabilizer angle. Most large beginner foils come with too much stabilizer angle/nose up trim. Nose up trim from the stabilizer is needed to counter the drag produced by the wings and the leverage of the strut or “mast”. Because you have a motor down there, that drag is offset and you can significantly reduce stabilizer angle. Try printing some stackable 1° and 0.5° shims or just use thin washers. -center of gravity. Just like a plane, a hydrofoil is also sensitive to center of gravity. Moving the battery above the front wing will help balance everything out. -Board. To move the battery forwards, you probably need to make a new board with a cutout for it. For learning and riding underpowered, longer and narrower boards work best. Something in the 5-6’ range and around 22-28” wide should work great for just cruising around. Your hull design looked good. -Strut or “mast”. Because of the additional battery weight, a stiffer mast will really help with control. Foils are a structural nightmare and flex is your biggest enemy. Axis foils makes a great aluminum mast that is both cheap and stiff. I also noticed some ventilation or trapped air on your mast. Instead of just printing trailing edge fairings, try printing fairings that wrap all the way around the mast. This way the surface will be far smoother. Alternatively, try to hide the wires inside the mast. -connection slop. Make sure all connections between components are super tight. I like to use cut up aluminum cans shoved in the connection between parts to stiffen everything up. For riding, speed is your friend. Try to keep the board skimming until you have enough speed to climb without stalling. Great job making this work! I’m super excited to see what you come up with next!

So fun!!! Thanks for the new spirt of inspiration to get started on my paddle board sized hydrofoil

Wonder if an electronic gyro to control throttle to maintain angle of attack would work.

I'd love to see you put control surfaces on the tiny underwater aeroplane, and see if you can control it with a transmitter, sat cross legged on the board, which is disguised as a flying carpet, dressed as Aladdin.

I’ve surfed for 40 years. Trying to foil for 2 years. Trying…The thing about you is your great attitude and ingenuity. Your video made my day. I’ll check in with you later and I bet you’ll be cruising. Stay happy!

Underwater flight is an excellent phenomenon! Brings back memories! The first time I discovered this as a young kid was playing in the pool with a hard plastic model Cessna,it looked super realistic with an accurate aerofoil, one day I threw in in the water to notice it sink like a tail heavy plane so I jammed a few coins in the nose and set the cog underwater, it flew amazing well! so I made it rubber band powered with bendable control surfaces because of the drag it could fly underwater for over 3mins! Middle of summer I’d spend hours holding my breath, I’d imagine dramatic slow mo movie scenes as it flew around! I miss those simple times! These experiences give us hobbyists a distinct advantage in a complex world! If shtf at least I know the rc community will survive!

This man never disappoints. I didn't knew he could surf too 😂

I find hydrofoil boats fascinating! I'd love to see them make a comeback in the DIY community. That hydrofoil metal skif boat is amazing

this is so cool! now all I need to do is learn how to surf and fly haha

Hi Peter! It’s cool to see you try hydrofoils. I follow you for a long time and i love your rc stuff. I’m more of a kitesurf hydrofoiler myself but these e-boards are awesome too! I would love to see you mess with different wing shapes and show us your idea’s of hydrofoils from an aeronautical engineering perfective. Because in the hydrofoil community I feel that there is a lot of room of new ideas that already exist in the aviation world. Thanks a lot for these video’s. Kind regards from Belgium!

It's a good day when you see a Youtube maker making a fin out of plywood instead of 3D printing something. People really don't seem to appreciate how strong wood and wood composites are compared to anything from an FDM printer.

"It's not sunk cost fallacy if you don't give up" 100% belongs on a t-shirt

It’s always a great day when Peter uploads another goofy video

I have thought about making this for the longest time. The commercial boards are so expensive.

Interesting stuff. After 40 plus years windsurfing I have the last two seasons done a lot of training/sailing trying to master windfoiling ( i.e foiling with a windsurfing sail as "motor") so I know ,first hand, how hard it is to control the flight so I'm impressed by your progress. Some tips and tricks; once you feel the foil lifting the board you must swiftly shift your weight forward. The lift of the board can also be adjusted by adjusting the angle of attack of the stabilizer (back wing).#2 make loooong turns since the foil does not like sharp turns especially not if the front wing is huge. Looking forward to see more of this since I totally agree with you about the crazy high pricing of complete e -foils. Greetings from Sweden.

You are brilliant, I love living through you vicariously. Especially since I’m too old, broke and literally have thrown most of my life away up to this point. You’re actually a genius. 😊

There were a couple of shots in there with Peter looking like an absolute Chad.

Nice Work Peter! As an avid E-foiler, I will say that you would not believe the controversy and strong feelings that run in this group around these fantastic machines. I got involved early with a Kickstart campaign for the Waydoo brand which has made inroads into this sport and has significantly undercut the pricing of the big boys. I am with you on the absurdity surrounding the costs - these are not super complicated toys. The foils have been out there and are well understood as well as motors, batteries and ESCs as you well know with your RC work. Keep at it - its so much fun and gets only better as you progress.