The principle is always the same, regardless of whether it is a mast base plate or a foot loop screw: The tighter you tighten it, the better it prevents it from twisting - the engineer calls this "frictional locking". In the case of loops, however, the problem is that self-tapping screws are screwed into a comparatively soft plastic plug. If you apply too much force, you quickly overtighten the plug and render it unusable. If, on the other hand, the screw is tightened too little, the friction of the loops on the footpad is too low - the loops twist, the screws work, which in the long term again damages the plug. Developer Guido Hennen, a passionate windsurfer and full-time engineer, has therefore developed the S4lt ATW 277, which is designed to "decouple" the forces that occur.
"The tighter you tighten, the tighter the fit - this basic principle is broken with the ATW." Guido Hennen, Developer
And this works as follows: Firstly, unscrew the foot strap screws and remove the plastic or metal plates on the straps that are usually fitted to standard boards. Then you have to make sure which plug spacing is available on your own board - the one with around 13 millimetres or the wider spacing of just under 25 millimetres. In the case of the narrow spacing (13 mm), the thinner grub screws are used, whereas for plugs with 25 millimetre spacing, the screws with a large head are used as anti-rotation screws.
In both cases, the anti-rotation screw is inserted into the respective neighbouring plug so that it still protrudes a few millimetres at the top. Then fit the disc-shaped plastic ring of the S4lt ATW under the loop and insert the plastic plate and original screw from above. If you now turn the screw into the plug, you can do so in the knowledge that you no longer have to tighten it fully - twisting is now successfully prevented by the anti-twist screw, not by tightening it.
surf conclusion: It is still theoretically possible to tear out the plugs or tear off the screw with the S4lt ATW - after all, the loop is still fastened with just one screw. However, the main cause of damage to the plug or screw - the need to (over)tighten the screw - is successfully eliminated with the system. You should also tighten the screws properly with the ATW, as the deeper they are screwed in, the better they hold in the plug. The system is particularly useful on old boards where the standard anti-twist protection of the loops no longer works.
The S4lt ATW 277 costs 11.90 euros for one loop, the set of 3 is available for 32.90 euros.By entering the discount code "surf-discount" in the online shop at www.s4lt.de/shop surf readers receive exclusivelya discount of 10 per cent.
