Building a basic longboard
 

So in another thread people were discussing longboards for cruising around on days you can't be on the water.

Has anyone tried making their own longboard before? I have existing trucks, wheels, and hardware from my skateboarding days, but no deck. I also have some scrap 4' sheets of 1/2" plywood.

Would taking the time to cut out a longboard shape of it, weatherproofing it with say polyurethane or paint and adding some grip take be worth the time spent? I don't plan on doing anything crazy or bombing hills or anything, just something basic to cruise around on from time to time. Would it either have too much or not enough flex? I know some people build their own by laminating several sheets of thinner plywood together and putting it in a mold. I have no interest in building a mold or doing any of that. I'm not looking for anything fancy. I just want to see if it's even worth the time undertaking this as a project.

If it will fail miserably and break or ride like crap then I'd rather just buy a deck and save my time, but if it would work I'd rather make it myself with what I have on hand.

compound fracture

Huh?

Sounds like you're ready to make one. Just do it. It's not like it takes long to cut out a basic shape. Then you can test it and she if it's worth finishing.

Sorry can't help you but would like to see what you come up with. The thread in the Wakeboarding section where the guy built his own Wakeboard was quite Intresting and i followed it. I would encourage you to post up some pictures of what ever you decide to come up with. You might find some experts comming out of the wood work.

I built a skimboard in 7th grade wood shop, like 25 years ago. It worked, ok. I'm sure you can do this.

The interesting thing about a longboard is, flex seems to be part of the design and I'm sure the shape and the thickness of the material you use either promotes or limits the amount of flex. I know you're talking about building a basic one. I've seen some guys in the city writing long boards that flex Street surfing it's like they can use the kinetic energy in the flex to propel them forward. I'm sure anyone could cut the shape and mount some trucks on it and be done with it. May be the greatest poster in the wake world history will appear and tell us all the magic secrets to building the most awesome shred rip stick longboard ever created. And how he single-handedly is the godfather of long boarding

Paging Da Moose!

I think after my balance board build I'll start on it and post in here as a build thread on it. I'm in the mood to build stuff lately.

I saw this cruising craigslist the other day. Had the same thoughts that I could make one myself. Keep us posted.

http://tuscaloosa.craigslist.org/sgd/4404501605.html

I think one thing to keep in mind is that I believe that longboards have different wheels typically than your standard old school skateboard. Not sure that you'll be able to re-use everything.

Might as well try it. And as I'm sure you're not the first person to make your own longboard, why not research it? (but not limit yourself to WW as you're not getting much DIY longboard insight here)

BTW, the other night when you asked me about making your own longboard, I thought you were talking about this:

http://jillandsteve.files.wordpress..../longboard.gif

instead of this:

http://runlikemonkey.files.wordpress...d-imag0027.jpg

Also, what shape are you going for?

http://www.windwardboardshop.com/lea...ngboard-decks/

Holy gigantic Jpegs batman! (takes up the whole screen and has a message, "This image has been resized, click here to see the full size" :eek:). Also yes, I was talking about skateboard longboards not surfboard longboards.

I have looked into it, most use a few layers of thinner plywood oriented in perpendicular layers and have them glued together and put in a press to get the curve into the board. Since this is a one off, I don't want to build a press just for one board.

I have looked at longboards and most seem to use the same type of wheel and truck setup. A loose truck for easier carving and bigger, softer wheels to make sure you can go over small rocks and holes without being put on your face.
I have 2 sets of wheels and trucks. My venture trucks have bigger gummy wheels mounted on them and are looser than my Independents with the huge off road wheels on them. I would most likely be using my ventures for this project.
I think my hardware will work, I was just more or less questioning the wood. I don't want to waste my time on something that would just break or handle like crap.

Also the shape I'm going for is something like this
http://www.daddiesboardshop.com/rayn...kateboard-deck
Fairly symmetrical, thick in the middle, but tapered down, but not too radically on the ends where the trucks go. This is the baseline shape I'm thinking of making, something like a little mix of a pintail and a drop down.

Look at the DIY link I posted.

This looks like your style of "press"

http://cdn.instructables.com/FM6/ENP...8IM.MEDIUM.jpg

Not a bad idea for a basic press. I am trying to accomplish two things with building stuff lately.
1: get stuff I want
2: get excess scrap wood out of my garage and making it useful.
3: I enjoy making stuff

Buying a sheet of thinner plywood would defeat purpose number 2. If it doesn't work out with what I have, I'd sooner buy a premade deck than buy a thinner sheet of plywood to make one.

cut wood, put trucks on and ride. Not that hard. Only starts becoming more difficult if you want to start making it fancier. You could easily reproduce whats listed in that Craigslist add. Or you could just get a piece of 2x8 and put wheels on it.lol. Sky's the limit

That's what I was thinking. Going to give it a shot when I'm done with my balance board project. I'll keep everyone updated.