I beams going in…
I put some rocker in the front of the I beams.
Using the sail making tape as a guide and then following with a new and untried glue…
Very cool stuff Brett.
I believe these latest creations have commercial potential, assuming of course you have any aspiration to become a member of the Surfing Industrial Complex (SIC).
+1
GREAT STUFF
Thanks for the props guys, its a lot of fun making them too. Ive handed out the past three mats so I might keep this one for myself.
Ive had enough interest to start a small business but I wouldn’t know where to start !
Determine how much one costs to make – including materials, your time and an acceptable profit. Price it accordingly.
Make one sell it.
Make another sell it.
Make 2 sell them.
…
If people stop buying, stop making. If demand surges, expand accordingly.
Do not make any more mats than you are willing to lose the cost of producing.
Materials…$25 per mat
Time…1 day per mat… maybe $200
Might be simpler to get it done overseas, I think one of the current commercial mat makers gets his done in Asia somewhere ?
The hardest decision is…if I start making mats it will eat into my other experimentation time !!
Already got the next mat lined up, an asymmetrical.
Autonomy to pursue what interests you is a premium commodity.
You can say that again brother…
Years ago I started my own business to create things from my own mind…(and to be able to surf more)
But I ended up mostly building things from others minds (Mostly because it was their money lol)
And I was able to surf very little…
For myself I found the pressure of having to make a profit from what I built overshadowed the joy I got from the process of creating things…
I’ve been much happier separating the two, (though I do get to be fairly creative at work which is cool)…
It’s a shame you live so far away,
The company I work for has an Eastman fabric cutting cnc,
It could cut out a month’s worth of material for you in 10 minutes…
Wooddave, having the fabric Computer cut would halve the time spent making a mat.
But like you say, you could devote your life to something you believe in and end up missing out on the truly enjoyable part. I quickly learnt that in 1977 shaping surfboards… I thought I’d spend more time in the water testing boards but barely had the time to get to the beach.
heres the asymmetrical outline… The plan is to make is so you can flip it over for lefts or rights, and put in a sleeve on the inside rail and use a flat glassed ‘springer’.
And as as easier way to take off, a loop at the tail to hook your knee into and use the bouyancy of the mat to ‘pop’ into the takeoff.
The “springer” is it similar in function to a baton strip in a sail ??
to keep the mat from folding up?
The fact that you can flip the new one for lefts or rights is a pretty cool feature…
Exactly like a sail baton, from earlier mats Ive found you only need an inch of semi-rigid rail to get lots more control with inflatables. So this mat will have all the standard pliability but under the inside rail a sleeve that runs the full length where I can slide a variety of springers to vary grip and control.
Here’s a few boards at the front door that need testing.
I’ve seen the first one, (man you gotta get that thing in the water)…
The third one looks to me maybe like a bodyboard foil hybrid ??
Why two fins so close together in the back?
The second one though is a little harder to figure out,
,maybe a mat with a flat laminate framework inside??
Either way you’ve been busy,
The asymmetric shape mat you’re developing now seems promising,very simple and adapable
I could see having a trailer full of those on a beach somewhere making $$$ on rentals and sales…
The foil board looks like you have added surface piercing outer edges (45 degrees) to the foil bottoms for final trim speed and tracking.
You guys are too good, I’m not showing any prototypes any more !!
I only recognize the surface piercing 45-degree concept because that was an idea I was working on too, albeit a somewhat different approach.
But my time and resources are limited, so I have returned to un-finished earlier projects.
Impnteresting observation with mats…
take an empty mat 25" wide X 44 long, inflated its now 20 X 41…
it loses more width due to the direction of the I beams.
Also if you ride a half inflated mat with only ~ 25 litres why build a mat with twice that volume ?
new skins for the asymmetrical…
alright !!
you got the screwdriver for the ‘wavefins’ , I see , Brett !!
unreal , let us know how they go , please ??
cheers mate
ben
ben, ill give the fins a go and let you know.
With this mat Ive designed it so that the perimeter becomes an inflated rail thats almost a separate compartment from the body. The whole mat runs at a low pressure but when you squeeze the rail, only the perimeter rail inflates to a much higher pressure, while the main body of the mat retains the low pressure pliability.
The effect should be like the hard glassed rail of the grey hybrid mat, but being totally inflatabe. The interior area of the mat wont have any straight I beams but will have a random series of connectors between deck and hull to increase the flexibility of the fabric.
The perimeter I beam will follow this line…
It looks like you have come up with some unique innovations for mat design. With the independently inflated rails, you can also create and test different rail diameters/radii/thickness – cool way to dial in performance with rail shape and tautness/rigidity, using air. With your new-found inspiration/muse, all you need now is a way to create 60/40, 70/30 and 80/20 rails.
I like it …
When I started making mats and hard-deck hybrids I thought mats were as evolved as other craft but theres a lot of room for new ideas and experimentation beyond the rectangle.
Ive thought about making 60\40 rails but now modern shortboard rails have moved on towards almost 50/50 rails which is basic mat rail shape anyway. But Im sure any shape is possible with mat rails. Or even making a Dolphin Tail shape !
To change the rigidity of the inside rail I’m installing a larger pocket thats a part of the outside rail (in DARK BLUE), and it should be right where your outside hand sits.
This pocket has a large volume so when you need to increase the firmness of the rail during a turn or on a steep wave you squeeze this pocket and it compresses a big volume of air and it should up the pressure immediately and significantly around the entire rail.
The main body (Light Blue area ) of the mat retains its pliable low pressure.
