This project is DIY.
Hey guys, Wyatt Miller slingshot’s windsurfing brand manager here. I want to alleviate some of your guys’ fears about drilling the bolt holes to convert your old board to support 100mm bolts for the Hover Glide foil platform. The fin screw holes in your board from these little M6’s to what we use in Slingshot, which is a much beefier screw. The M10 while the 6M is fine to hold in your little regular fin. When you move in scale up to a whole foil and all the forces that are with that foil, you really need a bigger beefier screw, so we’re not using the M6, we’re using the M10. When a lot of people want to put our foils on their regular board, they find that just it has 6M screws. M10 won’t fit. You need to drill that hole out, which is a little terrifying because no one wants to drill a hole into their board and cause it to leak.

Why oversizing your bolt holes is not a big deal.
What most people don’t understand is that the Tuttle box is very separate from the rest of your board. It’s a complete molded piece of plastic, and the holes that the screws go through are contained inside that box. So when you’re drilling these holes out, there’s really no chance of drilling into your board. The Chinook box comes stock as 9.5 millimeters. So that 10M bolt almost fits in there. You’re just drilling it out a little bit, and often there’s a skin over the top that looks like the hole is the only 6M in size, but it is more significant than that. And so it’s quite easy to drill all the way through. There are two centimeters of molded plastic on the edges of that box. So even if you were to touch it a little bit, you’re still not going to, uh, cause any water damage and to go so sideways to make it actually into your board is pretty much impossible.

Here’s how to do it.
If going from a 6M to a10m, I like to use an 8M drill bit first. Make sure the drill and bit are really straight over the hole and drill them. Next, step it up and put a10Mbit on and Drill it again. You’re done! You really don’t have to worry about causing any damage any leaking in your board because this plastic molded box is very separate from the foam and the composite in your board.

Our take on it.
The Hover Glide is the best priced most versatile wind foil in the world. Obviously, we think a dedicated foil board is plug and play fun with better performance. With that said if using your old board gets you foiling, we say go for it. The biggest mistake you can make is not going for it. Have fun!