Like so:
https://www.swaylocks.com/forums/4piece-collapsible
The board rides, like exspected. I had a non serious water intake in segment 3, but the construction prooved that it worked out well. If I would have to do it again, I would let the cable channels open, because if there is any leak, its easy to repair (The leak in segment 3 likely was 2cm behind the segments front within the channel, due to cleaning the channel there of epoxy residues; seems I removed to much :))
We discussed on woodboardforum the possibility of a modular build and it is possible to create a quite universal center piece with different front and tail pieces. This is actual shown in the back of the above thread, where I described my sons 3 piece shortboard. It has 2 different tails, on thruster and one single fin tail…
Regarding paddling help and self driving safeboard, I found this a quite perfect solution:
https://www.wavejet.com/catalogue/category/surfboards_3/
They design a bottom mountable jet stream engine unit, which fits under a surfboard. I have never seen one in nature, but I like the idea.
I think there’s a place for a modular board to be a big seller.
maybe it needs even more ingenuity like working on the concept of the peanut board where there no traditional template or mid rails.
Something like a central beam say 12-14 inches wide and 3 in thick, it provides th buoyancy, rigidity and rocker.
And then there are interchangeble nose and tail pieces that connect underneath.
imo wavejet miss the point of surfing . surfing is fun because its a gravity sport that uses a wave. a bottom jet is not relevant . the point of a jet would be as a paddle assist only
I’ve always thought the idea of modular, interchangeable pieces is a good idea. But, I don’t think it’s going to happen with fiberglass. My bet is that costco/wavestorm/bic will create a more feasible interchangeable board first (if they want to). Additionally, I think that could be a good thing. Imaging a ‘mostly’ fiberglass board with a wavestorm material nose. Or soft board rails. Heck, I would try that.
the modular board may work really well with the inflatable core as we discussed.
I had a guy contact me about starting a fin business, after a few minutes of chat we realised there’s no real money in it and then he mentioned subscriptions, you know like there’s a subscription shaver club where each month they send a new 5 blade razor/ shaver with a few promo sachets as well, hoping you’ll order the promo products too.
They get razors in bulk from Asia and then give them the Western markup. Posted in a standard envelope. Unit cost 50c. Retail $5. And they make a small fortune just putting razors into envelopes. All he’s doing is selling convenience.
There’s also subscription underwear, vegetables, condoms, makeup, tampons, beauty products and all sorts of crap that you can arrange to have delivered to your door. The best subscriptions are for information as they are sent electronically and the same info could go to millions of people. If Slater had started a monthly subscription business years ago selling a monthly vlog and pro surfing tips, it would have worked.
But apart from that I can’t think of anything that’s suitable for a surfers subscription.
In the end the surf fin guy wanted to do a healthcare consumables product and went with a toothbrush subscription business and that’s probably how surfers will become rich. By looking for opportunities outside of the surfing industry.
Well what about a monthly subscription for surf fins? Like Netflix (Netfins). A person can try out fins for as long as they want, return a pair and get another pair to try. If they like the fins and want to keep them, they can purchase them for a reduced fee. Heck, it could also maybe work with modular surfboard pieces. Get a new tail/nose every month. At the very least, you could do surf wax or surf stickers subscriptions.
