New Board

What started as part of Jeff's "don't call me later for dinner" challenge, ended up with a mind of it's own for me.

I wanted to make a light board, but one that would be very durable and high performance. In the end, I've been very happy with the board and the performance. Also it is a great feeling to ride something you have created with your own hands.

I posted up a bit on the “EPS Construction Thread” but thought I would outline the full process here.

Getting Started:
- Roofing felt to draw the outline
- Shaping/Glassing racks made from a design on www.surfersteve.com


Materials:
- Resin Research Epoxy
-2 layers of 4oz E-glass fiberglass on each side
- Futures fins
-2lb EPS foam sheet
-Spackle to "seal" the blank from the resin


Tools and misc:
- Various Sanding Blocks and pads from 16 grit to 150 grit.
- Hand saw, jig saw,
- Electric Planer
- 2ft level and bullet level
- utility knife
- exacto knife
- chemical resistant tape
- plastic calibrated mixing cups
- mail scale
- 5ft straight edge
- duct tape
- surform pocket plane
- respirator
- paint mixing paddles for resin
- scissors
- plastic squeegees
- latex gloves
- drill
- that is all I can remember right now... I'm sure there are several other things I forgot, but this seems to be the basic list

Sheets of foam -- the blank slate


The shape coming together


Bottom concave design


Finbox ready

Fiberglass and Resin curing on the bottom

Ready to ride

Seems like I was able to get quite deep and still recover. I think this was at around 11mph on my Malibu Vride - probably around 15ft back or so...



Overall, very pleased with how the board rides. Next one I'll probably place a small trailing center fin to play around with...

oh yeah - forgot to mention the dimensions:
4'7" x 21" x 1.75"

also - out of full disclosure: i weigh 200lbs

(Message edited by smedman on October 29, 2007)

thats awesome! im envious of you guys with the time and knowledge to build these boards!

a couple of pics of my bros

Nice board. Isn't it fun to ride something that you've made? That's a nice goofy wake. I've got an enzo and I can't get my goofy wake that good. What is your set up?

hey Matt, como estas amigo?? how's that noserider coming out? thats a very cool board man... love to ride one of those... I have no idea about shaping a board hahahah maybe you can help me with some info

Hey Matt,

There are actually two wakes pictured here. The first few shots are on the V-ride. We center and surfside tanks full (500 and 250 respectively), along with about 500lbs-ish additional sacs in the surfside locker, then a very small sac (prob 100lbs in the ice cooler behind the driver.
Driver and passenger (200lbs each).
Wedge down.

The last two pics are on my buddy's moomba LSV (24ft i think). Probably only 500 in back, 400 along the side and 3 people in the boat.

Rob - I'll pm you with some tips.

LSV - 21
XLV - 23

salty - thanks - it must be the xlv 23ft

Awesome board, but how did you get the rocker in the nose? Did you glue the fin box directly to the styrofoam? Did you glass before or after you inserted the fin box? Where did you get the foam? Just a few questions, Thanks.

Matt, nice work! you inspired me to take on a fun challenging winter project.

Hey Ronnie,

All good questions... I actually glued the a piece of foam on the nose and shaped it out.

For the fins - Futures - it is best to insert the fin box, then glass over them to hold them in place. There are actually three layers of glass over the finboxes.

Foam - if you aren't in a major city it can be hard to find someone to cut you a piece for just one or two boards... I've seen pictures of boards made from Home Depot foam, but HD here in Austin only carries 1" thick sheets of EPS (and I think it is #1 density) I wanted to go with 2# density - there is a guy here in Austin that makes UAV airplane wings for the government. He sold me some foam sheets -- 2# density - same stuff the pros often use for EPS/Epoxy boards.

GP - cool - go for it! Keep in mind that laminating in the winter can be a challenge - you'll want to make sure you have a warmish (70F-78F) room to do your lams. When I did this board, the first coat of resin went on great (was in late afternoon early evening) dried up nice and tight. It was a bit later went I started the second coat and I had a window open in the garage/playroom/occasional glassing bay, and the temp was dropping outside. 2nd coat really didn't dry until the next morning, whereas the first coat was dry in 90mins...

Anyway, good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

"there is a guy here in Austin that makes UAV airplane wings for the government."

ha ha some stealthly stuff

Matt, thanks for the reply. What kind of glue do you use?

Ronnie

I just used Gorilla glue for this one. Super strong and soaks in and bonds to the foam.... but a pain in the butt if you put too much and have to sand it down to make it smooth to the foam shape. (Not that I ever did that...)

I think you could do it with regular old elmers glue as well. Takes quite a bit longer to dry though...

Another option is to glue it together with resin.

How did you route your fin boxes? Did you buy the futures jig?

Hey Matt- nice job on the board,your boat throws a sic wake if you can surf 15 feet back. Great pics, your wife must be a good photographer, tell her to get one of you doing a faceplant lol.

Cool, finding the foam has always been the problem for me. I'll check some of the hardware stores. #1 density will not work well?

hey Matt -- I did it without the futures jig. well, actually I made a "jig" with a few layers of duct tape, then just a 3/8" drill bit (by hand) and some sandpaper. good times but a lot of work. can be done though...

since i'm going to try to catch up Jeff on number of boards... ha ha i do have the futures install kit on order though

You have a LONG WAY to go, to match my board count, rookie!

Matt E, the futures jig really makes the process so easy and the depth is accurate each cut. Set it and forget it. Pricey if you're only doing one board, but if you intend to make that 999 mark, you'll appreciate it.

Ronnie -- not sure about #1 density if you want to build something that will last... or if you want to pull a Jeff W and cover it with d-cell... maybe if you put a few extra layers of fiberglass for strength... i would ask Jeff his thoughts on #1 foam - he has a bit of experience with it.

thanks Theresa -- actually most of the shots were from my buddy mario - pictured in black by the bridge. my wife does always seem to get pics of faceplants or "banana splits" though -- i'll have to dig around and see if we can get some up. ;)

here's a couple of pics of the wife from this past weekend on the new board. 3 weeks from delivering our 10lb 8oz baby girl (C-section, in case you're wondering )

She's had an amazing recovery and couldn't wait to try out the new board. I think part of why she's recovered so well is that she was wakesurfing throughout the pregnancy.