Converting North Power Extensions?

I'm changing to RDM this year but don't want to spend £140 each on new North power skinny extensions...yes, £140 each!!!

I'm guessing that there's no way anymore that you can take the bottom out of a SDM and insert it into an RDM tube as they'll make more money selling you a new extension. But they're the same base essentially so there must be a way of replacing the tubes.

Does anyone know if the internals of a non-power extension can be upgraded with the ratchet parts, or do I have to buy a normal carbon skinny extension from RoHo at £49 and bash it till the two parts separate?!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2010 06:37PM by jenksruss.

Hi mate,

I had the same problem went over to RDMs and i already had a power xt but it was a SDM so i got a RDM xt for a about £30 on ebay thinking i could just change the base of the extension, turns out that its very hard to get the base out so i tryed changing the parts over but that still didn't work because it doesn't lock and the rope just slips back when under tenson so i gave up sold my SDM power xt and now i'm saving to get a rdm power xt like you say £140, really good and helpfull peice of kit but abit to expensive for my liking. I know that alot of the north xt's have a screw to take out the base but the rdm don't just another way for north to make more money!!

I know this my not have helped alot but just sharing what happed to me and letting you know that you still might not be able to change over the bases even if you do go down the road of getting a pinlock rdm.

Sparrow

Thanks mate, yep just another way of North to make more money on their expensive kit. Good idea, worth 2 extensions at £140...probably not. Thanks North, but no thanks.

It would be so easy to sell the carbon or alloy replacement tubes to convert them. I'd be happy, they'd be happy making more money by selling me the original SDM extensions and then the RDM tubes and they'd keep a customer too! At this rate I'm off and someone who'd thought about buying new from them will now buy my second hands XTRs so they still don't make any extra!

Rant over

Always good to let of abit of stress with the big boys of the sport

Best thing to do is to just keep a eye out for second hand rdm power xt's even if the parts all abit crapy because you can get the parts to replace them cheap from EDGE watersports

(http://shop.edgewatersports.com/acatalog/Windsurfing_Spares.html)

Sparrow

It's easy to change over

Undo the screw at the side of the SDM

Slip out the base.

Find a bargain bin in windsurf shop and try and get a cheap second hand bulb end extension.

You may have to cut down the black plastic.

Then put a bolt through the whole lot, high up so your UJ still slots in.

You'll need to put two knots in the internal rope, a knot a bit of a tail then another knot, that will help it run up past the bolt and into the tube!

You can allways buy X-Combat from neilpryde for £40 and be happy using the best extension out there
I don't understand the popularity of north's realle expensive and often malfunctioning system. It can be usefull for women who race slalom or formula but for all of You tough guys, do You really need a special system for downhauling Your 4.7 or 5.6 on 75% or 100% carbon mast?
Maybe something is wrong with north? I allways used Severne an Neilpryde equipment and I allways could downhaul my sails with one hand without even thinking about it while keeping the other hand on some hotties butt (not to mention that I'm not a carlifting strong man).

Wow strong man, you can down haul and retrim your sails out at sea in 2 seconds in rolling swell and a force 9 while the guys on XT's come in to service their malfnctioning mast extensions!

jenksruss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks mate, yep just another way of North to make
> more money on their expensive kit. Good idea,
> worth 2 extensions at £140...probably not. Thanks
> North, but no thanks.
>
> It would be so easy to sell the carbon or alloy
> replacement tubes to convert them. I'd be happy,
> they'd be happy making more money by selling me
> the original SDM extensions and then the RDM tubes
> and they'd keep a customer too! At this rate I'm
> off and someone who'd thought about buying new
> from them will now buy my second hands XTRs so
> they still don't make any extra!
>
> Rant over

The Power XT being hard to convert couldn't possibly have anything to do with it being put together solidly? (I know there are sometimes issues with the ratchet itself) No, must be a money making scheme...

Nobody is forcing you to buy them, stop moaning, do some pushups and downhaul by hand.

Intelligent reply JD! Ican do plenty of press-ups thanks, however I'd rather spend 50% less time rigging and be able to trim my sails on the water. And no it's not about solid construction but control of an excellent idea and therefore it's price, pretty much like Apple and their products. What I'm saying is if the SDM extensions are held on with one tiny screw why can't you interchange different mast diameters? They also don't reply to emails either...great customer interaction North!!!

Comparing north to Apple is really a mistook comparison.
Apple's construction and use is much easier than regular pc's and north products started some tome ago to be uselesly complicated. More delicate parts to break, what for??? Anyone who seen this years boom clamp construction will know what i mean...
I also don't understand the need for all of You to trim on the water. Isn't it just better and MUCH safer to trim it GOOD on the shore?
Someone mentioned the rolling swell- You gotta be an (sorry, no offence) idiot to trim your sail in swell...

So you'd rather sail overpowered all the way to the beach, get your kit out of the water, carry it up the beach, detach the rig from the board, pull the cord from it's stowage position take your harness off to use your spreader bar (oh, I forgot you lot would apply more downhaul with your teeth) apply more downhaul and do everything in reverse to return to your now shorter session.

Good idea.

Anyway...I've found an alloy extension tube that should fit now, £120 saved and North have lost a customer. Thanks for the help and witty banter guys!

At the end of the day, if you're that desperate to be able to trim your sails on the water then you need to either fork out the cash or convert it yourself.

North don't advertise their Power XT as being a breeze to convert, so stop bitching and moaning about it. Saying that the only reason you can't convert the Power XT is so that North can make more money is ridiculous..."I can't turn my freestyle board into a slalom board, I blame it on those money grabbing bastards" is along the same lines and sounds just as stupid.

jenksruss Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So you'd rather sail overpowered all the way to
> the beach, get your kit out of the water, carry it
> up the beach, detach the rig from the board, pull
> the cord from it's stowage position take your
> harness off to use your spreader bar (oh, I forgot
> you lot would apply more downhaul with your teeth)
> apply more downhaul and do everything in reverse
> to return to your now shorter session.
>
> Good idea.
>
> Anyway...I've found an alloy extension tube that
> should fit now, £120 saved and North have lost a
> customer. Thanks for the help and witty banter
> guys!


Maaaan, I can't help, really...
It is not about the ability to trim or sth but about Your attitude. "overpowered all the way to the beach", "all the way to the beach" duh... I wonder how can You live without the XT system on your boom backend, really... I think You make most of Your problems Yourself in Your mind. People like You are not to be discussed with because You're "I know it all best" here.

What more can I say, cheers mr know it all best...

I know we're all a bit tetchy due to the prolonged wind drought, but this is starting to get into:



territory.

Any worse and we risk being mistaken for a kitesurfing forum.

Thanks Re-Fresh and sparrow for replying to the initial question and problem in the true spirit of forum posts.

The others need to get out on the water and brush up on their debating skills, you've obviously come over from the BOARDS forum after the change and have some issues. I'm not even going to bite at the freestyle/slalom board reply....just plain retarded!

Yours sincerely, Mr I know it all best!!! (even though I asked for help on a forum-see above comment)