Best rail surfaces??...Please help

Alright I know trex is great and home depot carries it....but its expensive. Also I know of starboard or pvs sheets, but home depot nor lowes carries it. Any other materials that are good for home made rails that are inexpensive and work well???

I know Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene is what they use to make snowboard rails...idk about wake tho. might work? someone will chime in tho.

Originally Posted by ilikebeaverandboats

I know Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene is what they use to make snowboard rails...idk about wake tho. might work? someone will chime in tho.

Yup HDPE (high density polyethylene) is what i would use kina expensive but will be worth it b/c you wont trash your board as fast.

I once used a 1/2 sheet plexi on top of a wood base and it worked well but then it started to chip in the corners and thrashed my board.

use pvc sheeting over trex. trex slides so much slower, you have to keep wetting it, and it hurts like a mother when you fall on it.

Yeah I've looked for pvs sheets but have had no luck. Home depot and lowes don't carry it and my local lumber yard said they could order it for me but it would be 450 dollars for a 4 by 8 sheet......that's ridiculous

ill see if i can dig up the site that I ordered my HDPE. You can get it "recycled" its basically just old cutting boards melted down haha. I remember it wasnt too expensive.

Ill keep looking for the site, i ordered it about a year ago so i dont remember and my quick search didnt turn up much.

heres this site. Isnt the recycled stuff, but they have some good sizing options. itll get pricey quick! http://www.professionalplastics.com/HDPESHEETSRODS

thanks for the link! Im building a 25 foot incline thats 10 inces wide. Now I assume the dimensions are in inches. That gets expensive so quick. How do people afford building home made rails. Im probably just going to result to pvc piping. That stuff is everywhere and its cheap. Cable parks must spend a fortune on their floating rails!

FRP wall panels are worth considering. The rough side is too slippery when wet, but the smooth or back side is reasonable. We used it on a kicker and it held up well.

PVC is where its at. Never understood the Trex obsession. PVC slides just as fast but is a smoother slide, its cheaper, wont tear your board up as bad, you really dont need to wet it unlike Trex and it doesnt hurt when you fall on it.

I have 1/2" thick white poly pro sheet 3ft x 7ft in stock at the shop. Double masked. PM me if your interested. Seems to work great!

Originally Posted by bobenglish

FRP wall panels are worth considering. The rough side is too slippery when wet, but the smooth or back side is reasonable. We used it on a kicker and it held up well.

Only problem is the edges are razor sharp so be careful if you use it on a rail

Joe B, how do I send you a private message, I have never done it, Im really interested if they aernt terribly expensive

check this page out... these guys are out of Ontario, Canada:
http://www.backyardrink.com/snowboardpuckboard.htm

here's there prices for 50' rolls of 1/8" puckboard

ROLLS 50' long and either:

4" wide ea. x 50' @$22.95

6" wide ea. x 50' @ $39.95

8" wide ea. x 50' @ $49.95

12" wide ea. x 50' @ $65.95

Thickness is approx. 1/8 "

I would love to build a rainbow rail using this stuff.

I was reading this. We just built an a-frame and we have been trying to figure out what to put on it. How would pvc work? Been looking into that. Also, What do yall use to float the sliders? these 55gal drums sometimes give us fits. So what are some things yall use? Thanks!

we use the cased in foam that marinas with floating docks use. Its pricey, but we have been fortunate/unfortunate to have a lot of severe weather here destroy some marinas and ta-da, all of a sudden theres free floats for our rails everywhere.

also, Ive never hit a rail topped with pvc pipe but it seems like a great solution that is cheap with few downsides, but its not popular to use anymore on DIY rails. Can anybody shed some light on the downsides to pvc pipe that made this surface go out of style?

Originally Posted by beretta5spd

check this page out... these guys are out of Ontario, Canada:
http://www.backyardrink.com/snowboardpuckboard.htm

here's there prices for 50' rolls of 1/8" puckboard

ROLLS 50' long and either:

4" wide ea. x 50' @$22.95

6" wide ea. x 50' @ $39.95

8" wide ea. x 50' @ $49.95

12" wide ea. x 50' @ $65.95

Thickness is approx. 1/8 "

I would love to build a rainbow rail using this stuff.

THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! We are about to surface an 80 ft. asymmetrical rooftop to flat and this stuff might be cheaper than the stuff we were going to use.