My new 85cm Takuma carbon mast bolts up to the new aluminum fuse such that there is a noticeable downward angle of the fuse towards the board. Comparing to the old carbon T 75cm mast, the stab sits a good 2cm higher, meaning there is much more angle of attack for the front wing given the same mast to board angle. As my wing board has no tail rocker, I have to shim the front of the mast at least 3/16". Otherwise, the board is nose down and take offs are long and bouncy, or easily stalled. Anybody address this with a shim in the fuse to mast connection, or do I have just buy the economy pack of Bondo scrapers and wish my board had rocker again! I'm using the 1095 and 1440.

Anyone know why the angle was changed and/or is it supposed to be?

Is it like how you finally learn your operating system and they change it just for the sake of change?

Just following up on the difference for anyone interested in old vs. new...

1. the carbon t-mast measures at 90deg fuse to mast with a small positive angle of attack vs. the fuse and thus mast.
2. the alu fusalage HD (that I have) measures about 84.5 deg from the fuse to mast and similar angle of attack to fuse.
3. comparing the two bolted to a flat surface, the new setup is a good 6 deg of angle attack difference to the old.

That's a lot to get used to all at once! So I suppose when trying any new foil, even if the same brand, it's good to compare to your old set up such that you have a similar baseline to work with.

Fyi, the new mast/fuse is much stiffer and makes the 1440 fun to wing with whereas the old T-mast would be a bit wobbly... but I still love the T-mast especially for prone and it's light weight and low drag, and its lasted a long time!

There are some aluminum mast/fuselage shims available, but they only work on the older three M6 fuselage. www.ebay.com/itm/354364845043

agreed. Takuma wings themselves are brilliant, but I had enough of the terrible foil system. Wing attachment is trash and just doesn't work at all - gets loose, breaks, etc. And they can't keep the angles of things straight at all. Out of the box everything is just absolutely wrong. I had to baseplate shim and tail shim substantially just to get back to a reasonable baseline to work with. I let takuma out of my life a few years ago and haven't looked back.

Stingersup said..
I'm not a fan of the stock takuma mast / fuse angle. On a board with no tail rocker it rides way to nose low for my liking. It feels like my front foot has nothing to push against (I also run the tails much flatter as well to give a more neutral setup). I now run a 1.5 degree G10 shim in the mast / fuse connection (thick part forward) which is about spot on imo. I did try a 3d printed version but it was too soft and got cut up by the mast as well as allowing some flex in the connection. I ride both the 1095 and 1440 with this setup.
I've got a stl and a iges file I drew up. It was drawn based on a Stringy fuselage cutout but with a bit of trimming it could be made to work with the takuma fuselage. PM me if interested.

Super helpful on the g10 shim idea. Maybe I'll try to sand some taper into a Garolite sheet and cut to fit for the rear stab too.
I'm still leaning towards the belt sander to the mast, though!

Takuma foil designer jumped ship!? Sure looks good... The fuse design (one piece fuse and wing) I think was first done, or at least mass produced, by Unifoil. They switched to a more beefed up two piece fuse like Lift. Not sure if the switch was for ease of travel, ease of production and shipping, strength, or all of the above. I really like the idea of a carbon fuse and detachable mast, but don't have any experience with a carbon mini Tuttle connection. I'm not sure if the reason Axis and Takuma and others use aluminum fuses is for cost/ease of production, or if they figure that a carbon to carbon joint there is too risky. If it were an option for Takuma, I'd be using carbon.

Anyone have any experience with Lift or Uni's longevity in terms of the mast to fuse connection?

Grantmac said..
AFS construction has historically been excellent. Definitely a foil to watch for.

Think they made a mistake making the Silk Stand-alone though... at least Pure & Silk should be compatible... as it is you have to buy the whole system & then can only use Silk Wings & mast. At least the Kujira 2 works with the existing HD & Carbon mast...