Easy Hydrofoil (DIY) 

Your browser is holding you back. Level up with Opera GX: operagx.gg/PeterSripol

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 ..

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

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!

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.

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 😂

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

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

Bros bouta put the flying surf board company’s out of business 😭

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!

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

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

Maybe the throttle can be modulated by a gyro similar to how a hoverboard balances. That could reduce the stalls or nose in by having the throttle try to keep it level. If done just right you could just about eliminate the hand held throttle.

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

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!

Thanks for the inspiration! Ive been thinking dor a while of making a small electric outboard for my sailboat to combat the whole "Uh oh .. The winds stopped and im nowhere neer home" thing

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

Peter I've been watching your stuff for a while but I was so stoked when I saw you had tackled an e-foil! I've wanted to give one a go for years now but have always felt to intimidated on the motor/ electronic side of things. You've inspired me to give it a go!

It's a good day when you see a RU-vid 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.

I love projects like this, taking something so unobtainable to most and making it available to the savvy.

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.

Dunno why, but it seems like the thrust line and fine tuning trim would be the things to work on outside of one's own skill in trying to ride the thing. I'd think both of those could affect how sensitive it rides once getting it to plane.

If you want to learn you can also rent those boards in some places, way cheaper than buying one, then you build one :)

I just finished my boat motor builds. Thank you!!!

Did not expect you to start foiling. Welcome to the sport!

the most wholesome channel on here, love u peter and all your creations, u are such an inspiration and i love your videos

Air Chairs were big back in the early days of wakeboarding. I've seen some pretty crazy maneuvers on those things.

I was thinking a lot about doing this, thank you for this video!

Great video! I built a tow boogie instead. It felt simpler when you separate the electronics from the foilboard onto its own board. So I am getting towed by that on a standard foilboard.

Not sure if you've heard of foil drive but it is similar to this idea. It was cool to see your first experience foiling! DIY for this sport is part of what makes it so interesting.

makes me want to try making my own DIY propulsion unit for fishing kayaks!

It will be cool to see other designs of foils.

I’ve always wondered if a wheel that you spin to control the throttle would work better on these than a trigger in order to provide a more constant/“diluted” response to throttle inputs that would tend to be more erratic with a trigger vs a rolling wheel as it seems that the biggest part of mastering the ride is a combo of throttle feathering vs balance for the most part.

I would recommend that you mount a waist high vertical bar. Mount it directly above the vertical foil. It would make it easier to control. Use the bar instead of just your feet to control also giving you something to help you stand on the board.

Its amazing how with electric propulsion in water applications, that a shallow pitch prop can actually push you faster than a heavy pitch due to the resistance of the water causing the motor to spin slower while drawing way more current!

I work as a Hardware Testing Engineer, and we use those BoxCo boxes for nearly every enclosure. We love them.

I've passed to my local wingsurfing facebook group. Very cool to seeing another RC guy getting into foiling 😎

Oh yea, please make more of it! I would love a more refined version in the future (preferably with basic instrucions how to make one ourselves 😇). When I saw the price of these a couple years ago I had exactly the same thought, they are waaay to expensive for what you get, at least a couple times lol. Actually even wanted suggesting you to try to make one but ultimately forgot. Can't wait!

I really have to commend you on your design! It’s brilliant! You are a talented engineer.

this is awesome! You look sick on the foil, thanks for reassuring us that it is REALLY difficult because I thought about buying one for half a second because it looks sick!

Peter your videos never old and your the king of DIY keep up the great work 👍😁

You never cease to amaze me with your ideas👍👍💯💯

Some large ships use stabilizers kind of like the wings on hydrofoils to prevent roll. It might be worth a look. Just be careful if you do, they sharp.

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.

I don't know if it's been done: TWO attached side-by-side for stability! Could maybe use differential thrust for steering.

this is awesome thanks again for all your ideas and excellent videos !! i have been trying to make my own airchair but i feel like this could be more fun !!

That was so relateable! I wingsurf and I design up all my hydrofoils. Wingsurfing, wind surfing and kitesurfing all give you a higher up balance point that gives you some additional control over yaw, roll and pitch. It was interesting to see your progression, finding your forward position to stop breaching on takeoff. That foil you bought is pretty chunky, good for learning but it has a lot of displacement drag. The drag will relate strongly to your battery life once you get more proficient at staying on foil. I've contemplated getting a motor, ESC and battery but 75% of my free time at the beach there's enough wind for one of my wind wings anyway. The mast takes some huge loading at the joints, I used to use aluminium masts but not the only part I've not made for my current kit is the fuselage. I'm considering that though. Currently my kit is all axis compatible but I'm considering doing my own fuselage design which will necessitate adaptors for the foils until I make some of my wings to suit a new fuselage design. If you have any questions I'm pretty deep into DIY foil design and could probably save you some time. If you are printing your wings, put some high fill enforcers in your slicer by the attachement points. And subtract your composite cladding thickness from the wing design before printing. Resin infusion is pretty amazing once you get the hang of it, understanding infusion mesh and resin brakes. I am curious about the wireless connection breaking on most units when the board is under water. No doubt the controllers are most likely using something like ESP32 wireless, A different frequency might work better.

seems cool keep the good work up

You inspired me to build my first cardboard rc plane

Yesterday, I was randomly thinking about attaching one of these e-foils to a dirigible

Yes, simply all of those things. I consider myself a handy person, but this is quite impressive in breadth and quality. You might like silicone caulk for potting material, btw, instead of candle wax.

i am loving all of the ocean related content as i really like the ocean!

I wonder if your experience with this makes it easier to transition to regular surfing

I wonder if you could make the board more friendly to beginners if you angle to motor upwards a few degrees since it looks like the tip of you're board always moves up so it stalls. Like on rc sailplanes with tilted lift motor.

I would love to see a pro try one of these boards. Someone like austinkeen is sponsored and makes some amazing content as well.

Cool vid! I'm not sure you can get away with 3d printing the wing without fribre glass. Think of it as a plane wing that has to support your weight (not actually but similair). If you want to go high-end en ultra light you could consider carbon fiber with a 3d printed mold. Easy composites has some easy to watch tutorial videos. Would be cool to see

The box is preventing you from moving your back foot over the mast for more pitch control.

I always like your videos. It's a great inspiration, It drives my curiosity crazy . Hats off to you .

Thrust bearing to reduce load on the motor maybe?

You always do amazing work.

Peter sripol the man that can make anything fly people

Since I see these a few years ago I’ve wanted to build one. Good job. Keep trying dude.i just know you will get it right. I built an electric mountain board. It does 40 + mph pulls wheelies so much fun. This is just what I like but on water. 👌🏼😉

i cant wait for the next vid of this, GOOOOO FULLL DIY

Im not looking to foil board but that motor setup you made looks perfect for my kayak 😂

I'm from Miami, Florida. You are brave to be in that water with so many sharks in our waters, especially with the water being cloudy. It's probably the only reason you didn't notice how close you were to losing some limbs.

I didn't realise you could just take a big standard BLDC motor and run it under water. I thought it had to be fully sealed. I came across the motor that is used in that kit when I was researching how to build a DPV for diving.

can’t wait for the next boat video!!

While it might not be the most feasible idea, but maybe try to stuff the battery packs into the "fin"? It'd obviously need to be a little wider for that, but considering how thin it is, it might not have much effect on the drag. But the different mass distribution could have a noticeable effect on the stability? Maybe?... Just throwing thoughts at the wall here tbh.

You need to add rocket motors to give increased fun factor. Probably should add go faster stripes too. Drinking alcohol before trying to surf will help as well. Glad I could help.

Always blowing me away with these incredible inventions. Keep up the good work!

Dude, great content; worth the wait 👍

Ive always wondered whether you could make the hydrofoil larger to allow you to "fly" at a slower speed

could you use rc airplane smart autolevel feature to keep the board level as you throttle up? supercool! show the big techs now its done

As a wingfoiler surf foiler, best advice i can give you have too much weight on the back of the board, some have found a way to put the batterie on a backpacl, it's the best way to have the better balance, other brand like takuma integrated the pripeller motor inside the fuselage of the foil. Good luck i will wait for the part 2

A little more detail on how you turned the electric skateboard wheel and speed controller into the propulsion system, Brilliant,

wait the purple paper towel water indicator is actually genius

As a complete newb, I want to ask, can you angle the foils/wings for stability like you can on small planes?

You can try feeding the electricity from a power source on the other boat and deliver by cable to determine exactly what you need power wise.

by far the best channel on youtube. glad ya left flitetest man its been amazing watching your channel blow up

Peter Stripol not breaking the bank, but the curve BLASTED!

love your videos peter they lift me up

I wanna see one of these foils on a kayak!

That's crazy I was just watching your vid on the rc tugboat when the notification of this vid came through.... Spooky!!!👻🤣👍

your center of gravity is where the foil connects to the board, youre standing far forward of cg which is why its unstable and difficult to ride

How about adding control surfaces and a flight control board? Smooth sailing😁

You can definitely look into 3d printing a dc motor. I watched a video of a new motor design and you can probably implement both and have a good time with that

i foil, but it always feels like the board would work better with the small wing on the front. Because a small wing loses lift first. also it feels like an arduino with a 3 axis accelerometer sensor would help.

9:58 This montage, including the music, could be dropped in almost ANY 80's movie set in Florida or California.

I think 4 hydrofoils on the corners of a 4x8 foot surfboard for those who don’t have time to learn to balance! (with a gyro for auto balance)

awsome! i love your videos and i think i have seen enough of them to be in the class of "Sripol people"

Try it without the cowling and an outboard style prop be a lot more efficient

How about making one with active stabilization and control surfaces, to make the learning curve much easier (and to increase the acceptable CG and speed range). Weight shift controlled airplanes have undesirable characteristics (and the scale here magnifies them). Mark Drela (the airfoil guy) made a human powered hydrofoil long ago with active controls..

If you ever come to hood river I'd love to teach you how to wing foil. I think if you put a little more weight on the tail when you introduce roll you'd have more success in your turns, kinda like you would turn an airplane

It would have been so good to have a surf shark ad

Nice skyway bridge shot in the background. Fort Desoto Park is an awesome place. Great video.

Come to the west coast, there are tons of people who use a foil kite and race with these. No battery needed.

I wonder if you could use some RC plane derived parts to make a sort of autopilot (more like fly by wire active stabilization ig) so that maybe you could achieve the level of smoothness that they had in those ads for the $20k boards.

Awesome project, but it seems like you guys couldnt get going bc of the sudden acceleration and deceleration and general weight shifting, so you could probably benefit from adding a strap you can hold onto attached to the nose of the surfboard, while standing, but have a loop halfway up the strap so you can hold on while kneeling too