Hydrofoil Hardware Naming Guide

How to Figure Out Which Screw You Need

You just dropped a screw. Well, technically that perfect session wind caught it and sent it tumbling, because you're definitely not that clumsy. And then, even though your lightning reflexes should've caught it, it phased through your hand and wriggled itself deep into the sand. You know it's right there, yet somehow it just isn't. Now there's one tiny screw keeping you from joining your buddies on the water. But which one do you need?

You've still got its twin, but you're not sure what exactly to call it. Never fear- if you have a ruler handy, you can figure it out in a few seconds. While foil hardware names are probably longer than yours and can seem confusing at first, they do follow a pattern, and we'll break it down for you here.

M6 or M8?

No, it's not a secret intelligence service for the likes of James Bolt; these numbers refer to the width, or diameter, of your screw. (Wait- are these bolts or screws? More on that later!)

The "M" stands for "metric", and the number is the diameter of your hardware in millimeters including the threads. So just grab a ruler and eyeball it. Easy. Or you can get fancy and use calipers.

How Long Is It?

This is also in millimeters. This is why we all had to learn the metric system in school: so that we could measure the parts for our foils. Totally worth it.

As simple as it seems, there is a trick to knowing what to measure here. Some lengths include the head of the screw while others only include the shank (the long, skinny part).

The basic rule is that only the part that goes inside the hole counts. So you'll measure the whole length of a screw that sits flush with the surface, but only the shank of a screw whose head stays outside of the hole. These screws all use 30mm in their name:

Drive Type

You're probably familiar with Phillips and slotted heads, but most foils use star/Torx or hex/Allen drives. The generic names pretty much give away what they look like, but of course we also have a pretty picture for our visual learners.

Head Shape

To determine the head shape, just look at your screw from the side. Most foils use one of three shapes.

• If it's cone-shaped, it's a recessed (countersunk) head.
• If it's a cylinder, it's a socket head.
• If it's rounded, it's a button head.

So, you might have an "M8 x 30mm Star Recessed screw" in your foil. Or you might not. But now you can tell.

Bonus Fact: Screw or Bolt?

First off, you can use either word and we'll know what you mean. We use them interchangeably ourselves. But for the sake of trivia fun...

Screws are generally designed to thread directly into the part they're fastening or into a threaded insert, using the threads to hold everything together. Many are threaded along most or all of their length. Screws usually won't protrude out the other side.

Bolts don't always have threads along the entire length since the part that's inside the hole doesn't need to be threaded, but it's fine if it is threaded unless it'll be subject to a lot of shear force and needs the extra strength. A bolt is longer than the hole so that it can be fixed in place with a nut screwed onto the end of the bolt.

It's really more about how it's fastened than what it looks like. You might even use the same screw to put parts of your foil together as you use to bolt the mast to the board with track nuts. So call 'em what you like... just don't call 'em late for a session!

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