Whoa…what’s with the plywood layers? That’s just going to make it heavy.
Just make it like a surfboard…foam, fiberglass and resin. 3 layers of 6 oz. fiberglass on each side. This is the proven method, and will get you a board that works.
You can experiment with the plywood layered model on your next one.
Carl,
The League of Lamaroos is an eclectic society of pronators.
Benevolently ruled by The Grand Poobah. Secret code word and handshake not required.
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AAAAHH… confusion has taken over… If I find a really light 1/8 inch ply would that be alright, or would it get to saturated with resin or what… Why not plywood… I would like to try this… but I would like something tried and true… I think i’ll stick to what i can find… and ya… Do you think that i would beable to find something like the high density foams at a marine shop… for like boats and things like that? I was thinking about working on one up in Alaska while im visiting family and my mom’s boyfriend is working on his plane (fiberglass and foam constuction) So he can give me tons of tips on how to make it stronger and better from the get go… Good stuff… SO NO PLYWOOD… Just foam, Or plywood and foam… how much heavier would it be to use thin plywood despite using just straight foam?
Average weight of my kiteboards made with top and bottom cheapo (heaviest) Luan 1/8" ply sandwiching 5/16" styro core is right at 6 lbs.
Board siziing averages 5’ long by 16" wide, with 14.5 wide nose and tail (asyms).
About 1.5 lbs. heavier than a production wake/kiteboard of the same sizing, but about $500 cheaper.
I know you want to build something yourself, and that’s great. But if you actually want to make something that is usable, don’t use EPS or XPS foam from home depot. Your board will literally fall apart in a couple weeks. Even if you cover it with 6 layers of 6oz on both sides, it’ll fall to pieces.
Get some Divinycell from Fiberglass supply. They sell it by the square foot so you can get just enough for your one board. By using Divinycell, you can put a civilized glass job on it (3x6oz top and 3x6oz bottom) and it’ll last a long time.
If you want it to be accurate, then yes, a rocker table is necessary and easy to build. It’s not foo foo and is standard procedure for building a skimmer. You could do it with dowels, but then again, you’ve got a nice piece of foam so why not do it right. Your success rate will go down dramatically without a somewhat proper form to laminate to.
Again, if you want to use this board, don’t depend on gravity to weight it down. Use some sand bags or something soft to put the rocker it. Don’t worry about concave – high end skimboards don’t have it and it’s useless.
I am confused here. Ive heard that the home depot foam will fall apart and ive heard that it will work good. I went with the home depot foam because i want to try and keep this project under $100 but the divinycell is quite pricey. should i glass the home depot foam or just spend the money and do it right? and how about that last a foam?
thanks for all the info
Jon
http://skimonline.com/equipment/board_building.htm
Scroll down to Foam Boards, should help you out alot. Lots of info on that site.
Here’s some interesting shapes done with poly:
Use the Home Depot foam, it will be fine. It’s not the foam that makes it strong, it’s the fiberglass. That’s why you need to use 3 layers of 6 oz. glass on each side. This is enough to prevent pressure dings on the deck and be able to withstand the impact of some serious shorebreak. I have boards built this way that have withstood several summers at the Wedge and some gnarly 10’ shorebreak in Cabo. Just take the time to do a good glass job and your skimboard will last forever.
Here’s some interesting shapes done with poly:
That’s where I stole my shape from, it looks great, though I’m not sure if it’s gonna work in our SoCal waves.
Almost 1 1/2" thick at center, crowned deck, surfboard foil, rounded pin tail… almost looks like a grom board
looking at the maui skimboard site it shows the different chararistics from their skimboards. Such as the cut tail and squish tail… It says that these handle better than a common pintail, does anybody know if this is true or not? Should I just stick to the common Victoria skimboard look?
Thanks,
Max
They claim the maui ones are usually only used on big shorebreak… the way I heard it was that because of the thickness they don’t glide as far… but if the boards planning, thickness shouldn’t matter…
I dunno man, I only chose that style because I was making mine out of a PU blank and I didn’t think I could shave a flat, even board at only 3/4" thick.
If
I don’t know if it’s still the case, but at one time, those Maui boards had a lot of rocker. They work good in some places because the beach is steep and the shorebreak is right on the beach. But if your situation requires more glide out to the waves, then taking out most of the rocker will give you the glide you need.
I’ve built many boards that were 1.5" thick and the thickness doesn’t affect glide. But it’s important to thin out the rails to give you more bite on the wave. Skimboards don’t have fins to help make the turn, so you are relying on the rail to do all the work. The rail is the fin on a skimboard.
I’ve tried different types of tails, but I think the round pin is the most versatile in small to medium waves. When you do your off the lip into the pocket on a smaller wave, you need to use as much of the rail as you can to carve around. The round pin seems to fit better. For your first one, I’d go with the a round pin and then experiment with your next.
Listen to Anton! He knows whats up.
Don’t use the maui design. Go with the common Victoria design and use 3/4 divinicell. Thickness does have a major effect on your riding.
Ok… I should be able to do this actually so its KILLING ME THAT IM DOWN HERE IN PORTLAND RIGHT NOW… And will be heading up to alaska shortly. I guess i could make it up there… I have some friends that are REALLY good at fiberglassing foam… so then i will just ship it or fly it down… THANKS EVERYBODY SO MUCH… I really appreciate all the great help.
Max
Just a few more questions…
Where should the rocker start approximatly on a 57 inch board… What would be better for northwest waves… 2 or 3 inches of rocker in the front. If i laid grip pads in the back and the front would they help with keeping the foam from dinging and delaminating… If the foam delaminates is there anything I can do to fix it?
Ok thats it for now…
Thanks,
max
skimboard rocker is up for debate. The steeper you beach and the heavier your waves typicaly the more rocker you want. If you ride a steep beach with a nice shore break you probaly will want to have a continuous rocker on the board. If you need to plane out haveing a flat spot will let you plane better. You should check out www.exileskimboards.com for good descriptions about rockers. Putting traction on your board does help with preasure dings but the spot you need to worry about most is the rails and nose for delaming.
I havent had much of a chance to check out many beaches in Washington… I have a feeling that I might be riding rather small waves… At close shore break, My friend says that its a waste of time and money to build a foam board… I really have my heart set on building one, but now I’m hesitant because of the lack of waves in the Puget Sound area… And I dont feel like driving 4 hours to get down to oregon to go skimboarding… where I know people surf and that stuff… I dont know… Plywood is fun, but I really wanna step it up a notch… I know that Would need to concentrait the rocker in the nose, because of the lack of wave power… What do you think, Should I go for it or not? I have the money and the time… Its just a matter of waves I guess. man, west coast drama…
I would try to build it, at the very least it will be a fun project. You can almost always find some skimable waves somewhere. The steeper the beach the better the chances of shorebreak. The good thing with a skim is you can really ride liners that only break knee high. Make your board have a very flat rocker so you can get the most out of weak waves and side slip out the furthest. I would get a video or at least try to download a bunch of clips off the net, this will really help you to know what kind of beach to look for and give you a better idea of what to expect out of your board.