I was inspired by dragging old body boards skin diving looking for tako in Kaneohe Bay in my youth. I saw the Bully Board and rescue tow sleds and the idea hit me. I wanted to make a board to help the shoreline skin diver. I designed this so the diver can tow the sled behind him/her, stash their stuff on the board and hop on the board, grab the handles and kick their way back to shore if they are tired (especially for older guys like me).
There are sets of leash plugs on the top and bottom for towing. Plugs for the bungee cord and a rear plug on the rear deck to attached a fish stringer line or “ku’i”.
The core is a stringerless #2 EPS, epoxy resin and the bottom is glassed with 4 and 6oz and the deck is glassed with two 4 oz. with an 8 oz camo fiberglass cloth inlay. The rails are thick and boxy to maximize floatation, the bottom is concaved with a set of twin FCS fin boxes. The dimensions are 4’ x 29” x 4”. The finish is acrylic sealer.
You have the option to remove the dive flag and bungee cord, pop on some fins and do some bodyboarding. It is really a giant bodyboard specialized for diving.
That blue board is a crossbred downwing - Surf SUP. It is stringerless and will be super light. I wanted to build a SUP for my grandaughter that can keep up with my race SUPs. She is 12 a pretty good paddler and I think she will blow me away on the downwind runs on this board. I need to get it done by Christmas. The Camo glass was from Fiberglass Hawaii. It was a sample piece that was the right size to do this inlay.
