Deep Tuttle to Plate Adapter

675 g of Carbon, Glass and Epoxy

Posted by Christian on Jan. 3, 2021 Category: Foils

To use a board with a rail system or the foiling power plate with a deep tuttle head foil mast an adapter is needed. Most manufacturers sell them as accessories to their foils but since I had plenty of time while waiting for my foil order to arrive I decided to make one myself. The design is somewhat similar to the GROOVE Deep Tuttle Adapter as you might notice.

There are nice forum posts of 'sharksupper' where he shows how he made such adapter without the help of a mold. Since I had an NC mill at hand I decided to make a simple mold system to get a precise result and to reduce the required sanding.

The mold system only helps with the the mounting slit of the foil's tuttle head and the mounting surface to the board, the rest of the adapter has to be hand-formed. Adapter Mold Assembly

Adapter Mold Parts

Milling the deep tuttle adapters, one of which one was later used for making deep tuttle board inserts for my Fanatic Skate and my JP Magic Ride. Milling the deep tuttle positives Deep tuttle positives with Drake formula fin for comparison

Unfortunately, I haven't taken any pictures of the manufacturing of the main mold and the spacer plate but the final result looked like this Blank mold after manufacturing

Before laminating, all parts were coated with one layer of permanent mold release and 3 layers of mold release wax so that the finished adapter can be released from the mold when hardened. The first step was to laminate several (~12 in total) segments of 160 g/m2 and 285 g/m2 carbon fabric under vacuum into the main mold. As you will see later in the post using the 285 g/m2 carbon fabric wasn't the best idea because it is too stiff to bend into the rather sharp edges of the mold and thus left some cavities. Mold after laminating 1/2 Mold after laminating 2/2

Also the deep tuttle positive was wrapped with carbon which was hardened under vacuum Deep tuttle head with epoxy top view Deep tuttle head with epoxy side view Deep tuttle head with first layers of carbon fabric and release foil Deep tuttle head with fleece for vacuuming Hardening the first carbon layers on the the deep tuttle head under vacuum Laminated deep tuttle head from the side Laminated deep tuttle head from the bottom

after which the two parts were glued together with epoxy. I used an aluminum bar screwed to the deep tuttle positive to align and fixate the upper part of the adapter to be perfectly parallel to the bottom part. Mounting of the deep tuttle head onto the carbon base plate 1/2 Mounting of the deep tuttle head onto the carbon base plate 2/2

A mixture of 6 mm carbon chips and epoxy was used to hand-form a radius between the two pieces. This allows a better redistribution of forces onto the next layers when under load. Radius between the deep tuttle head and the carbon base plate made with carbon chips and epoxy 1/2 Radius between the deep tuttle head and the carbon base plate made with carbon chips and epoxy 2/2

First fit test of the adapter with a cut Drake formula fin First test of the adapter with a Drake slalom fin 1/2 First test of the adapter with a Drake slalom fin 2/2

Snapshot in between adding several layers of 285 g/m2 carbon and 200 g/m2 glass fabric. Hardening these layers fixated by tape but without vacuum proved to be a mistake Laminating several layers 1/3 Laminating several layers 2/3 Laminating several layers 3/3

because cavities formed at the sharp corners of the tuttle head slot (marked in red). Cavities at the corners 1/3 Cavities at the corners 2/3 Cavities at the corners 3/3

At that point, I was about to start over but then decided to try fixing it by pressing carbon fibers soaked with epoxy into the holes and laminating several belts of glass around the top for additional reinforcement. Latter I also kept doing with the next layers of carbon fiber. Filling the cavities 1/2 Filling the cavities 2/2

The cavities caused by the stiff carbon fabric in the main mold (also marked in red) were fixed by filling them with epoxy and putting the adapter with the spacer plate under pressure back into the main mold. Cavities because of stiff fabric in the main mold Filling cavities with epoxy 1/2 Filling cavities with epoxy 2/2

After 1 can of 6 mm carbon chips, 1/2 m2 of carbon fabric and 1/4 m 2 of glass fabric (mostly clippings), lots of epoxy and 3 laminting steps this was the intermediate result. Intermediate result before last laminating step

It took about 2 hours of sanding before the adapter was ready for its final layer or carbon fabric. Ready for the last carbon fabric layer after 2 hours of sanding 1/2 Ready for the last carbon fabric layer after 2 hours of sanding 2/2

This is how it looked after the last layer was laminated under vacuum Result after the last layer was laminated

After drilling the holes and a lots of sanding, it started to look like an adapter that could actually be used. After drilling the mounting holes and additional sanding

At first, I tried to do a glossy epoxy layer but that didn't result in a nice surface finish. So I sanded the surface smooth and coated it with a clearcoat. Glossy epoxy finish which did not result in a nice surface finish

The finished adapter had a weight of 675 g which is about 75 g heavier than the GROOVE Deep Tuttle Adapter which is 100% carbon. Luckily, with my 94 kg the additional 75 g won't matter that much ;) If you are wondering - the white sticker that is blurred out is my private email address that was laminated into the adapter. Deep tuttle to plate adapter on scale, the weight was 675 g Top view of the deep tuttle to plate adapter Deep tuttle to plate adapter bottom view Deep tuttle to plate adapter bottom view with screws Side view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted 1/7 Side view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted 2/7 Side view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted 3/7 Side view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted 4/7 Front view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted Side view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted 5/7 Side view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted 6/7 Side view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted 7/7 Top view of deep tuttle to plate adapter with Moses deep tuttle mast mounted

Overall I am very happy with the result. Up to today, the adapter has been used in about 25 sessions including pump foiling without any issues. Deep tuttle to plate adapter connecting a Moses Kit 85 foil and my Magic Ride 118

This is how the adapter looks on the foiling power plate Deep tuttle to plate adapter on the foiling power plate

and on my Moses T40 foilsurf board for pump foiling Deep tuttle to plate adapter on Moses T40 board

Lessons learned in this build:

  • Whenever possible use vacuum when working with carbon or glass fabric. In addition to the removal of excessive epoxy which will make the part lighter, vacuum ensures that all layers are properly pressed together when hardening.
  • Clearcoat on a smooth surface gives a much better finish than an additional layer of epoxy.
  • Do not apply epoxy to a surface that has seen mold release wax before sanding it properly.


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