Latest (maybe last) travel board

General Discussion
1
First of all, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Larry Alison and Robin Mair of Probox for their support on this project. It wouldn't have come together the way it did if not for two of them. From input on the design, to making sure I had my fins prior to my upcoming trip, to pulling untapped boxes off the assembly line so I could mill them for my clamping assemblies, they were right there with me the whole way. If this were an isolated incident, I might just chalk it up to enthusiasm on their parts, but they've both been incredibly supportive to me since I've started dealing with them. I use probox because it works really well for me, but I'm vocal proponent because of their willingness to go the extra mile.

On to the board!
This
one is a two-part board in the same style as the last one I did with
Spindrift. There are a couple of differences though. First off, I made
a 1.5" carbon fiber tube and rod for the center, to avoid having to
mess with multiple rods and keeping them aligned. Secondly, I used some
center boxes from probox as my milling stock to make my clamping units.
This was a huge improvement from my previous units, both from a
materials perspective and from a ease-of-production perspective since
they already had a big center channel built into them.

Finally,
and here’s the development of which I’m most proud, the tail of the
board has a removable section.

6’2" N14.25 M21 T13.25 2.75"Thick
6’7" N14.25 M21 T16.25 2.75"Thick
The
removable section is 5" long, so that makes the 6’2" have a centered
widepoint, and the bonzer rounded pin has a widepoint 2.5" forward.


I
was definitely experimenting with the resin on the bottom lam. I’ve had
some ideas about doing combinations of clears, tints and opaques over
wood for a while… As you can see, the results were kind of a mixed
bag. It’s interesting, but definitely not exactly what I expected or
hoped for. That’s why I experiment with personal boards, not customs.

The
most difficult part of the whole process was figuring out where the
tail section needed to be cut away to make sure the finboxes were in
the correct locations for both the quad setup and the bonzer setup…

No,
wait… The most difficult part was fitting the pintail section back to
the rest of the board. I re-molded that particular joint five different
times before I got mating surfaces I was happy with.

Outline and cutlap:

Bottom lam:

Center joint:

Tail joint, with same bolt used in center joint, captured nut in board:

All the parts:

Tail off, 6’2":

Quad:

Bonzer fins courtesy of Probox, custom cutaway base bonzer center to fit the pushed-forward center box.

 

I probably wouldn’t have even done this one
except for the fact that I booked a ticket to Nicaragua and THEN
figured out it was during the embargo period, so it was built from
necessity more than anything. The thing that got the wheels turning on
this one was the Bing “Synchronizer” I saw featured on the Proboxhawaii
website. It has the same idea of a bonzer/quad combo board, but when I
saw it I knew there was just no way the fin locations would work
without changing the tail itself…   I love bonzers, and I love my quad, but only if the fins are in the right locations.  For next time, it might be easier to just do 6 fin boxes.  :slight_smile:

Total weight is 10 lbs.
About 3.5-4 lbs heavier than it would have been without all the
hardware. Not light, but I made it a bit more volume than my regular
boards to compensate for that. It’s pretty low flex through the whole
board. There’s kind of a threshold thickness in these compsands above
which you don’t get that crazy flex, and this is definitely thicker
than that. But that’s probably good in that it won’t have any strange
flex patterns as a result of the center joint since it’s solid as a
rock.

I’ve taken it out once as a quad on a waist-high day here,
and it was very skatey and fun. Actually very similar to my everyday
quad, it also shares the same hard rails and flat bottom as my quad,
ala GG. I just got the bonzer fins yesterday, and I’m sure I won’t see
surf here in the next couple of weeks to justify taking it out, so that
will probably have to wait till Nica.

Ok, complete and correct (was working from memory last night) dims are:
2

jarrod !

thanks heaps for sharing the stoke

that is the best and most creative thing i’ve seen on swaylocks for ages !!!

cheers

ben

3

That thing is just insane. I can’t wait to hear the ride report after Nicaragua!

4

wow

5

You mean we’re gunna have to wait until you go to Nicaragua before we get a full ride report?!   aaaaaaaaarrrgh!

 

I love the swirl man, looks incredible to me.

The travel boards must be going together much quicker now that you’ve got a few under your belt eh.

6

Very cool! I like the changing tail concept. Really got me thinking, but I'll probably just leave it at that, thinking! Looks like lots of effort, but it sure looks like it paid off.

7

Wow, that is really creative, and nicely executed.  I love the color work too.  It will be interesting to hear how it rides and holds up to travel.

Any plans for building these for the masses?

 

Mike

8

A little off topic, but is the embargo for all airlines to Nicaragua during the summer or only the one you’re flying (I do note that Continental is a problem)? I’m possibly planning a trip there in the next 30-60 days and completely forgot that such things even existed. If you don’t know right off - no big deal - I’ll do the leg work (research) on my own, but just thought I’d check in case you’d already looked around.

 

Thanks (and nice job on the board).

9

Jarrod -

Unf'ingbelieveable! 

10

unbelievable!

 

So when are you going to make one with interchangeable rails…?

11

yeah!!

even though you dont think the glassing worked out great

i just see a beautiful painting ! great colors, and some depth in the image as well

stiff board is good in hollow waves

first guy ever to make something like this? outof all the million trillion people that populated the earth?

yeah!!

12

holee cow.  ingenious. very nice.  good move on the probox boxes.  

So you think a single 1.5 inch tube is better than the two smaller ones?  Pope went with only two clamps instead of four.  I’m going with one deck box and two small tubes on the bottom.  Tubes on the way.  The guys at Carbonfibertubes were super nice and accommodating with my project.

Love to hear how it goes in Nicaragua.  sorry we can’t hook up there.  We leave Aug 14.  All the best.

13

buck the system!!!

14

When are you making the the 3 foot centre section longboard option?

15

AMAZING!

16

Would solve a lot of hassle at the airport in Nantucket. Last trip, I was told the board could not go home with me… but it got there ok. Seems a smaller plane goes from the island, but a bigger plane to. Had to hang out for 9 hours waiting for a flight that used a bigger plane.

17

Man, Greg...

 

I just spent an hour typing a good response about the tubes and clamps and stuff, only to have it all lost in cyberspace when my computer timed out...

 

Short version:  A 1.25" ID tube is many times stiffer than a pair of .5" tubes, especially given the 1/8" wall thickness I used.  Easier to install since you don't have to keep perfect alignment.  Easier to get a really tight fit in the board, so less resin/weight in the installation.  Easier to get a clean cutout on the facing plates after the board is bisected since you can just drill a hole and use a laminate trimming bit to remove the excess around the inner diameter of the tube.

Molding your own tubes over an aluminum pipe using carbon/fiberglass/basaltglass sleeves from soler composites is a pain in the ass.   Hard to demold. Exceptionally, maddeningly, curse-inducingly, blood-drawingly difficult to demold. Use a heavy mold wax or release agent, not waxed paper when using soler's shrink tubing and a heat gun.   Make them at least 6" longer at either end than you'll want it when finished.

I'd suggest at least a single clamp, better with two, on the bottom as well as the deck, if I'm understanding you correctly.  The bottom will be where most of the flex stress is, and without a clamp you'll definitely get a gap when it flexes.

 

The three section longboard with nose and tails joinable to make a shortie is an incredible idea.  After having made an extra tail half to go with my first travel board experiment, all I can say is, good luck.  Fitting a new part to an existing board half is difficult to say the least.

18

Wanted to run an idea by the crew here...

One thing that does concern me is the location of the thru-box leash loop.  It'll be fine for the quad setup, but I'm worried that when I attach the roundpin it will tombstone like crazy.  This is especially worrisome since the whole idea is do be using this in bigger surf.

 

What about putting a glass leash loop at the very back of the tail section, and passing the leash underneath that before attaching it to the through-box cord?    Seems like that should keep the pull of the leash in the right direction, but still direct the majority of the force to the thru-box cord.

Anyone see any reasons this isn't a good idea?

19

[quote="$1"]

Molding your own tubes over an aluminum pipe using carbon/fiberglass/basaltglass sleeves from soler composites is a pain in the ass.   Hard to demold. Exceptionally, maddeningly, curse-inducingly, blood-drawingly difficult to demold. Use a heavy mold wax or release agent, not waxed paper when using soler's shrink tubing and a heat gun.   Make them at least 6" longer at either end than you'll want it when finished.

[/quote]

Very cool work there Jarrod.

Im curious, why didnt you use off the shelf aluminum tubing? Aluminum alloys are the original space age materials used in many hitech apps. Off the shelf tubing of all sorts including carbon is also available. I have a friend who builds custom road racing bikes on the side.

Also, Ive got a real stupid question: why make a collapsible travel board in the first place? I believe its airline policy to charge for ANY extra baggage especially surfboards, whether they collapse or not. The world of airline travel is not what it once was, esp after 9/11 and economic recession. As an example, golf club sets used to travel free, not no more.

20

[quote="$1"]

Also, Ive got a real stupid question: why make a collapsible travel board in the first place? I believe its airline policy to charge for ANY extra baggage especially surfboards, whether they collapse or not. The world of airline travel is not what it once was, esp after 9/11 and economic recession. As an example, golf club sets used to travel free, not no more.

[/quote]

If Shwuz can fit that bad boy in a second "suitcase" he gets charged $25 on American Airlines (according to a website that posts airline baggage fees). Considerably cheaper than the $100+ that it would be in a regular boardbag. I think the keyword here is "suitcase," mention surfboard and I bet crazy fees apply no matter the size or weight of  the bag.