(above) 13’2" x 29.5" Hollow Wood SUP…No stringer or ribs…All the strength is built onto the deck and bottom skins…
(above) Bottom skin madness…I cleaned out the scraps in the shop to make the bottom skin…Took six hours to cut and tape it together…Both the bottom and top are 1/8" thick…
(above) This board has more nose and tail rocker than previous boards…Note the fan-tail…It has a very nice water release when paddling…
(above) In motion…The deck is cedar and basswood…
(above) The hand hold allows the fingers to reach in and lift the board straight up…Better than just a rectangular box…The screw-in access port has zebrawood and fir veneers…Note the bottle holder in the center…
(above) This time last week there was ice…Not a lot warmer today…
(above) Basswood and cedar fin…Tracks evenly yet allows the board to turn easily…I can get ten strokes per side before switching over…Not bad…
I’ve been considering something similar except mine would be a bit wider and rigged for a 2hp Honda outboard, a small cooler for a seat and a couple rod holders. The motor I have in mind only weighs 29 pounds.
As aways, beautiful work Paul. Part of me misses paddling on the lake…but glad I now have consistent surf on my doorstep.
Couple design questions:
What was your design goal on the tail, besides aesthetics? Better lever arm for turns off the tail?
Have you paddled this guy in heavy chop yet? I’d be curious to know how the hard chine in the nose would behave…my intuition is that it would be really easy to catch a rail if you were at an angle to the waves, but then I’ve not paddled anything like it, always had softer curves in the nose.
Interesting to see the weight…looks like the multiplier is 2.7 lbs/ft of length (very similar to what I got building a strip canoe style 10.5 ft displacement hull paddleboard). I wonder how close that is to the “best that can be done” with wood…Thoughts? I can’t remember what WoodOgre’s kookbox ended up weighing…maybe he will chime in.
Yeah, around #35…Remember the skins and rails are 1/8" thick…I can’t imagine how I could do anything lighter unless I use balsa or paulownia…
Building out the rails on a 9’surfboard, layering them so it’s a hollow rail, adds about a pound, maybe two, after it’s shaped…On a board this thick, I think you might be in the five pound plus range with deeply laminated rails…Since this thing is for lakes, bays and wide rivers, I see no advantage to having rounded rails…
Q1: On my other flatwater boards the tail was squared off and the water wanted to wrap up over the tail and it felt less than efficient…The fan tail idea is that with a following swell / chop, there might be some tail lift as opposed to the water just rolling over the deck…So far (after three sessions) it feels faster and is definately quieter…
Q2: So far the board has been only on cold glassy lakes…My other boards were similar up front and getting pushed around wasn’t an issues even on some howling wind days in Eastern Washington State in the summer…I think that whaterver board you have, you figure out how to make it work and adapt to that, then it’s just normal…Get on another board and it might feel weird…Better / worse…???..Don’t overthink it and enjoy the day…
Q3: As I replied to John, this board is about as close to optimal weight given the materials as I can imagine…To me the breakthrough of the design is the elimination of stringers and ribs, yet still be stiff and strong…Really surprised how stiff the deck is…The carbon fiber tow on top of the basswood stiffeners is the key…Think shallow, narrow I-beam…I’ll be building a surfboard with a similar internal structure soon…
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