DLE jet surfboard from China

[erwan]

Sooo I got the board last friday, earlier than expected, always a good surprised!

Rodney didn’t propose any skin except the bare carbon, according to him the wrapping quality is not as good as he expect. Bumer I really like the neongreen/white skin they propose.

Great delivery package, strong plywood case, I use it to build a kart to bring the board to the beach.

Good quality so far, the carbon layout look good, not perfect around the jet but nothing too bad. The clear coat is a bit fragile and easy to scratch with the controler.

The handles are strong in aluminium but for my point of view they doesn’t look good. They give a textile handles with the board so you can chage them, I’ll probably change them when I’ll get better. This aluminium are easier to reach.

The construction look serious and clean, everything is accessible and easy to reach.
The shut off key bracelet is a bit short, it’s annoying if you keep the original one.

The most important, the engine feel strong , really simple and easy to maintain for what I see.

Aluminiums connectors, feels reliable and sures. Will see with time if it’s the case.

The exhaust is big but even with that it’s a bit noisy, nothing critical here Rodney have been pretty clear about this point.

The jet is in aluminium with aluminium prop, not the best for performance but the sheapest if you damage it, the jet doesn’t have a screen protector like the latest jetboards explorer so it could suck something easily.

The battery last for quit long, I begin so I use a lot the starter but even with that I’m pleased with the battery lifetime. I was (finally) able to stand up today and get a tank or ride even with 10/15 start at the beginning of this session.
No drain plug, the pump work well but to get the last water in you need to drain it manually. The DLE video show a drain position with the noise down but it also drain the gas tank in this position…

I think it could be a good upgrade but I guess I’ll get less water in when I’ll master it more.

The gearing oil is a good point for gears longetivity but need to be changed every 15h, it’s quit short, if I use the board every day that’s mean every 2 weeks.

The board come with a travel bag, tools, stand and some spare parts. It also come with 2 fins options. I decide to use the short one due to the seaweeds on my lake.

The board didn’t come with pads, only footstraps, but to begin pads are easier to use.
But for what I see it’s the same for jetsurf or mako… They should propose pads at least as an options.

The first start was easier than expected. The carb was a bit off tuning but it’s my fault, Rodney propose me to start it and tune it for me before delivery and I refuse. It was easy to tune it properly, instruction are integrate to the board.

The board have far enough power to get fun, easy and fast to reach planning speed.
The throttle is sensitive, more than my electric skateboard but it’s probably because it’s not the same mecanism and I’m not used to this one yet. (thumb roll vs trigger)

I don’t have comparaison points but I’m really happy with this board, will see in the futur if I get trouble or not, but the construction feel solid and reliable, I doesn’t have the impression something can brake easily.
Anyway Rodney was always here to answer my questions when I got the board, so I’m pretty sure he will help if something happen.

Now I just need to practice, I just finish the engine breaking so I can push the board now, but I’m not good enough to go full speed yet.

[erwan]

Soooo it’s been now 2weeks with the board, I’m around 18-20h on it so I can be a bit more precise:

The board is still running great, no issue at all, it start right away every time I need it.

I confirm the sensitivity of the varnish, the board have few scratch on front due to the control.

it’s fast, I think from my wakeboard experience the 55Km/h are accurate. I don’t go often full speed but it’s sometime helpful when you ride with other watercraft/boats.
I’m still using it strapless, I was planning to put back the footstraps when I’ll be more proficient but finally I really like the surf feeling of the strapless.
I’m also not using the front rope anymore, it’s really helpfull for learning, but again i prefer the surf feeling when you keep the rope loose.

The battery life is long enough for 3 tanks, maybe more, but I go on the lake with 2 gallons of gas ( so 7l) and I can ride all the gas and the battery still blinking green. So around 3h in six 30min sessions, so even with few start. Maybe one day I’ll bring more gas to test how long I can ride it before draining the battery.
In this kind of day I’m glad I take a gas one instead the electric.

The gearing oil change is easy, I use a syringe with a long needle to drain it from the top and it take maybe 5/10 min with cleaning the spark plug. I didn’t see how to drain it with the drain plug without creating a disaster…
Talking about this DLE recommend to use WD40 on the mechanical parts ( INTACT MX 50 for Jetsurf), but I don’t know for you but I didn’t feel right to put industrial oil on the lake so I use vegetal oil instead and for now it work great. It’s more sticky so it’s stay longer on the metallic surface than WD40.

So so far so good, the board is a pleasure to ride, didn’t get to the jump yet, don’t know if I’ll even try (it’s interesting? the board is heavy compare to a surf or a Wakeboard).

[johnny_0]

How’s the DLE working for you still, I have a 2019 DLE and looking to get the new engine upgrade with the brushless starter

[erwan]

Still a pleasure to ride, I change the oil 3 time so I’m around 45h on it, no issue at all.

Maybe I’ll try with the strap, just to see the difference.

You had an issue with the engine or you just want the updated version?

[erwan]

yesterday I ride it for 4h and it still blink green… honestly I don’t know how much you can ride it before draining the battery.

Got my first issue with the Bilge pump just died, nothing major, after 50h it’s I guess reasonable, I can still ride the board and just remove the water when I refill.

I also need to adjust lightly the carb after 50h, the board was not going full speed, again nothing major.

This carb adjustment make me realize I go way more faster than before now, I’m almost full speed all the time.

[erwan]

I receive the bilge pump yesterday and I already change it.

As usual Rodney act fast, I text him Tuesday about the pump, he send it in the following hour and I receive it 2 day after. As usual Thank you!

Easy to change, the pump come with everything, hardware and connector, even a new hose. I didn’t change the hose, mine was still perfect, so take me about 10min to change. Super easy.

In fact when removing the old pump I realized it’s still good, but the screen is completely blocked by dirt. And I think it’s my fault… I probably put too much oil on the metal part to prevent rust, so the screen was blocked by oil/water mix mud.

Didn’t see any info on the DLE user notice for maintenance about this pump but if other user read this it could be beneficial to check/clean the screen regulary.

Personally I will integrate the screen cleaning to my maintenance routine, it’s easy to do.

Anyway the board is ready to go again.

[johnny_0]

I was able to fix the issue with my DLE board it was an exhaust leak that created the issues with starting. Anyhow I sold my board and now riding the jetsurf adventure dfi. As much as I liked the DLE. I’ll only ride the jetsurf going forward

[Jetsurfingnation]

another horror story seems not only electric ones go on fire, beware!

[Andreas]

Ouch. No parts supply is really not good.

[DHK]

Looked it up on FB. Looks like the board blasted after battery cought on fire. There are photos of the pilot in the hospital with burns all over the face, ouch.
He also posted the second board with the battery on fire.

[erwan]

Wow that pretty bad…unfortunately every product with Lithium battery can catch fire, you can see story for almost everything, from power tool, phone or even car. And even in really good brand… I guess it’s default cell that cause that? And Yeah with a gas tank close by it could be dangerous.

I’m wondering what’s happened and what he was doing when it catch fire, except when you start you didn’t ask for a huge current while it’s running, just for the ignition.

For my part no issue so far on the battery, still working perfectly. From what I see in your screenshot it’s the previous version, my battery is different. Don’t know if it’s different internally, but the outside is different. I’ll pay attention if it getting hot or not the next time I use it.

I still have the board, still running great, the only issue I have so far is the carb… it’s a Karting japanese Walbro so it’s definetly not a cheap one, but it’s known in the Karting world to have issue with the diaphragm spring.

So far it happen to me 3 time, once a year. Last year I ride way less due to work I have to do on the house and still happened. So I think it’s time related more than use? Not a big deal and fortunately for me I always have a spare one. You can rebuild the carb but I don’t really want to spend time on that so I just swap it. It take 10min.

In general I put the same walbro, cost 100$, but because it’s a common fault and so far last a year, I’ll try to buy a chinese copy next time. Just to try, it cost 30$, maybe will be worsts? Maybe better? Maybe it doesn’t have the same spring issue… Don’t know but will be interesting to try.

It’s crasy that Walbro never fix this issue, this carb exist since 20yrs.

BTW I’ve seen that DLE switch to injection now… curious to know if I can update and put the injection system on my board, engine sound like to be the same. Will be better for fuel economy.

But I’m not sure Rodney is still in business… the website is no longer exist so sound like we don’t have any US DLE reprentative to talk with, because of the tarifs I’m guessing… I probably need to contact china directly now.