So far I’v got the 2# EPS slab rockerd with the hotwire bow, the outline cut and 3/4 of the top rail shaped. Tri fin tallons by MauiTechtonics 2 x 40cm and one 38cm. I’v got 3 tuttle boxes wraped in 1/4" divinycell and a bunch of 5 hole strap inserts from chinook. Haven’t decided if I’m going to wrap them in foam. Going to put a bit of the divinycell on the nose as it will add impact resistance and I borked up that part a bit when I hot wired the rocker in. Layup might be 6, 6 bottom with 6, 6 top and an extra layer of 6 on the deck with two more around the heal areas 4" and 6" past the heal areas. Rounded edges on all the glass patches. Burt Rutan has a fetish for circles for a reason. The first four videos of the build are up on my YouTube chanel.
Finished off the bottom rails. Did them with less emphasis on the paterns and more on making it smooth balanced and flowing. Turned out nice. Gave the board a nice sand with some 180 grit. Light spackle mixed with the denautred ethanol. I mixed it a little thiner than mayo. Leaving it unsanded untill I glass it. Don't want any water or oil contamination. No touching the board without gloves from now on. The finboxes are wrapped in 1/4" H80 Divinycell epoxied with 8 oz coloidal cilica and 6 oz slow resign reasurch epoxy.
Behold fin boxes! The router jig is all set. Now I need to mark the finbox locations and carfully rout them out. The router it probly the most dangerous tool I own. Looks kind of intimidating with such a long bit.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFa3wHZS97I[/youtube] Fin boxes routed with a 2.5 inch cutting length double fluted 1/2 inch bit. For the jig I stapled some 1/4 inch strips of birch to Masonite at a 90 deg angle. Cut into some scratch foam to rout out the Masonite pattern. The bit wasn't quite long enough to go all the way through the board so I drilled a pilot hole through then flipped the board and routed to the edge of the cutout from the top and aligned the jig on those spots. For the side fins that wouldn't work as the top is domed out. I used a hand file to cut out the remaining bit on the tops. I'll update with the finbox install next. The boxes fit nice, tight and square.
After the slots are routed nice and tight. Fit the finboxes dry to check the aligmnet. Set them flush on the bottom then marked the deck side with a pencil. Used my band saw to cut off the top of the boxes. Consistant rail profile with a nice flat contour over the spots the side fins are at so it was easy to just set the bandsaw table to the correct angle and cut. I masked off the deck areas. Mixed the slow RR slow epoxy with the coloidal cilica filler mixed roughly 3oz epoxy and 4 oz cilica. Thin layer on the board and the boxes and slid them into place. Set them flush with the bottom of the board and checked the alligment. The center fin needed a little bit of adjustment. Used little wedges to get it line up just right. Scraped off the extra epoxy and bobs your uncle. It looks like a board now.
I built a big 3-finned raceboard fatty last year and it worked me so hard I hurt for a week! I went back to building wave boards and light air pointers. I guess I’m just too old to take up racing again…your design looks competive but I thought they made anything over 25" wide illegal? Have fun riding it !
There’s something wrong with the responce mech. at Sway’s lately…
If I reply to your post the RE: tag is fixed in the original posters i.d. … Not to the latest contributor to that thread…
Anyway … I know what you’re saying dude…lol …And I much appreciate your concern… I’m 55…
But for the record I’ve owned/built race windsurfers, so I know how much it works your feet, achillies, calves, ankles, and legs in general… The further out on the boxy rail your feet, the harder to ride…
Perhaps you’ve confused me with the original poster (gbleck)… Which ain’t me…
If I don’t like the race board I’m going to build, the local Polish Canadian kiteboard crew that I hang out with will eat it up… I love these guys… No extreme weather, wind or water temp distracts them from their goal… A K- board session… no matter what…
My apologies… I thought Kiterider posted this thread…my eyes are not so good anymore at 57 but I’m serious about how difficult it is ride a race board versus a wave board. My first race board session was like trying to learn how to kiteboard all over again hence the soreness. The weirdest thing happened when I finally got those big ass fins planning going out a mile and discovered I could not get on a plane coming in! I made my fin placement too far forward like the pros ride, that was a huge mistake it looks like your design is a little more conservative than mine was so it should be easier to ride.
I like a good workout / working over when I ride. Odd that a good part of the hardest of hard core Illinois Lake Michigan crew is polish too. :) The design is kind of loosely based on the top end pro boards. I actualy would have probly just bought one but the waiting list is a bit long and I won’t be good enough to realy get to the top end of the ride for a while. It’s more fun to do the Jedi knight thing and build your own anyway. The max width for the IKA box rule is 70cm with a 190 cm length. They also are now going with a production division this year with a min 30 boards for a run. The non IKA rank for points races are all open devision still though so we can test new ideas. The fins are 42 cm 4 deg front with 38 cm 0 deg in the back. Finished sanding and fairing the bottom finboxes yesterday. I don’t know if I am going to fip it and do the inserts next or laminate the bottom then flip and do the fin boxes. If I do the lam first I don’t have to worry about dents on the foam. The 2# eps is fairly resistant though.
Anyone have a good sourse for the thin 1/8 closed cell foam? Jamestown distributors only has the 1/4 H80 Divinycell and I’m thinking that is a bit thick. Going to full wrap the next one. I’v got a nice vac bag system from building twin tips so why not use it. Wanted to keep it simple for the first one. If the shape decent I can tweek it and do a sandwich carbon build. Going to go 2x6oz E glass top and bottom with a lot of deck patch reinforcment. Also have a FCS plug for the deck so I can mount my herocam. Putting a leash plug next to that so I can safty the cam if the mount lets free. Should be sweet. Should also work as a safty for my gps. Going to velcro that on.
Noah’s Marine has 3mm. or 1/8" thick Core-Cell… You can get it in various densities 4 to 6# being the most common…
They have a core-cell offcut section on their website and usually have some great deals…
Unfortunately shipping large rectangular pieces of foam is pricey due only to the box size… Best to search out suppliers in your Illinois area and pick it up…
Go with Core-Cell, it’s a better product than H80,imho…
