Wake Foiling | 3 Tips for Maintaining Your Hydrofoil

If you let your foil sit too long, it's going to seize up and won't come apart. Don't let this happen to you. Just like skis need to be waxed and bikes need to be serviced, you need to take care of your hydrofoil as well. Here are three tips to keep your foil in tip-top shape.

Foils seize up because you have an aluminum mast or fuselage, and this can react with the stainless steel or titanium screws in your hydrofoil. If you're in salt water, this process is going to happen very quickly, and you're at more risk of your foil corroding and seizing up. If you're in fresh water, it's not going to happen as fast, but you still have to be aware of some of the issues that can happen if you don't take proper care of your hydrofoil.

1. Apply Grease to Your Screws

If you have a Slingshot foil, a little container of grease came with your foil. You can use a Q-tip to apply grease to your screws and to the surfaces of your mast or fuselage that come in contact with these screws or bolts. If you're in salt water, I recommend applying the grease to your screws every couple rides. If you're in fresh water, you can go a couple weeks or even a month between applications of grease.

2. Use Teflon Tape

The Teflon tape that usually comes with your foil is the same as plumber's tape, so it's easy to get if you don't have any. You want to apply the tape to the screws in a clockwise motion so that, when you put the screw back into the foil, it doesn't unthread the tape.

There might be a little bit of resistance the first time you screw it in, but once you get that screw or bolt into the foil for the first time, the next time it's going to go in butter-smooth. You just have to break in that tape for the first time. With both the grease and the Teflon tape, this provides a barrier between the screw and the mast or fuselage, which is going to help prevent corrosion from occurring.

3. Loosen the Screws

Make sure that you loosen the screws every couple of weeks if you're in fresh water. This can be just a couple turns to make sure that there's no corrosion occurring in the foil. If you do see corrosion, pull that screw all the way out, clean it off, and then reapply your Teflon tape and your grease before you put it back in.

If you're in salt water, take the screws out just a bit and rinse them off with fresh water every couple of rides. Remember, in salt water these reactions happen much faster than in fresh water.

Once your screws or bolts seize up, sometimes you can't get the foil apart, so you want to make sure that you are on top of corrosion rather than letting it sit for too long. If you have any other questions about hydrofoiling or how to keep your foil in tip-top shape, feel free to give us a call or email us. Until next time, happy shredding, and I look forward to seeing you on the water.

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