Carbon Fiber Wakeboards

(jklein) · (jklein) **Join Date: May 2001** 06-28-2005, 11:04 AM

I know carbon fiber is about 4 times as expensive as fiberglass, but it's also much stronger, lighter, and stiffer than fiberglass.

I wonder if using this material to build a board could give a rider an advantage?

Comments welcome.

cwbguy133 06-28-2005, 12:15 PM

Isn't there a point where having too light of a wakeboard would be a bad thing? I don't know, but it seems to me that if the boards got too light you could loose some of the feel and not be able to preform as well.

jws 06-28-2005, 12:18 PM

It seems to me most of the weight these days is the bindings not the board itself??

cwbguy133 06-28-2005, 12:37 PM

yeah...boards weigh like nothing...and the bindings weigh 3-4 lbs...i duno, just think of how light carbon fiber handles are...under 10 oz's...think of that on a board...i think it'd be strange

(rootc) · (rootc) **Join Date: Aug 2002** 06-28-2005, 12:42 PM

Bryce - I couldn't imagine a board that was too light.
There seems to be lots of materials for manufacturers to look into that haven't been explored in the wakeboard industry. I'd like to see a board with bamboo stringers. Also, keep in mind that if you use stonger materials such as carbon, then you don't need as much material to maintain structural integrity. One more thought on carbon, It's significantly more difficult to work with then foam.

cwbguy133 06-28-2005, 12:44 PM

yeah...I don't know, i'm just a drugged up kid hahaha (surgery haha). There are a lot of materials that need trying. But i can't wait to try some of them. See what it turns our like

bdub44 06-28-2005, 12:54 PM

wouldnt it be easier to just eat mcdonalds less often and lose the half a pound yourself rather than pay the extra 300$ that a carbon fiber wakeboard would cost?

cwbguy133 06-28-2005, 12:56 PM

hahaha lol...good stuff. but on a serious note...i think that weight on you is different that in a board...swing ratio and stuff...

*eats a hamburger* ;)

(stephan) · (stephan) **Join Date: Nov 2002** 06-28-2005, 1:00 PM

Absolutely!!! Just ask Da Moose!!! His Shred Sticks will take you to the next level faster than any of these "imitation stamped out" copies.

Many boards do have a thin carbon sheet to add rigidity to the deck. You can't have a 100% carbon fiber board, you still have to glass them. The fact is you don't want a board that doesn't flex at all. It's been done before and i think the benefits don't match the costs.

My uncle works for Disney building rides & was inspecting my board & asking the materials involved. I told him about the previous use of aluminum honeycomb & carbon sheeting. He told me there is a composite material that weighs 1/3 of aluminum honeycomb and is three times as strong. Imagine that!! The stuff is just super expensive & difficult to work with. There are other options just not ones with a cost feasability that we will accept.

(isler) · (isler) **Join Date: Apr 2003** 06-28-2005, 1:10 PM

Carbon Fiber has been done before... (not just by the Moose)

Russell Gay, the waterskiier, was with a company called Exocet. They made aluminum honeycomb cores with carbon fiber around it, for a very lightweight product. They produced wakeboards and several kinds of skis. I actually used to ride an Exocet way back in the day... here's from an old press release from 1997 or so:

"High-performance wakeboarders should be happy to hear that custom builder Exocet has created a new board, the Rail, that it's billing as the world's lightest - under 4 pounds. With a 100-percent aluminum honeycomb core, the Rail has a 2.5-inch tip and tail rocker. Call 407-656-8518. "

I broke my Exocet within about two months.... turned it into a pretty sweet wakeskate.

Mike

(socalwakepunk) · (socalwakepunk) **Join Date: Dec 2002** 06-28-2005, 1:32 PM

The old Iconn Carbon (Kovak) & Carbon Best boards...

(isler) · (isler) **Join Date: Apr 2003** 06-28-2005, 2:12 PM

True true, almost forgot about those...

(electricsnow) · (electricsnow) **Join Date: May 2002** 06-28-2005, 9:10 PM

Wasn't connelly's "T2" also a carbon fiber wakeboard?

(iamnathanhudson)

DA MOOSE!!!!! HA HA HA HA!!!!!! LMAO!!!!

(buffalow) · (buffalow) **Join Date: Apr 2002** 06-29-2005, 7:48 AM

I rode the T2, Iconn Carbon Best,and many other attempts at carbon. The reasl issue is that the material is brittle when laid up and so once it starts to get weak in snaps easily. Pat Connelly used to make me custom carbon boards that were super light, but would snap after about 2 sets. I undesrtand there are sevveral companies working with all new materisl for '6 which should make boards lighter and stronger. I'll believe it when I can ride a board for more than a day.\

(partydock17) · (partydock17) **Join Date: Apr 2004** 06-29-2005, 9:10 AM

I know that NICE bindings has that RG1 Carbon binding that has carbon fiber in the baseplate.
Also when we first started wakeboarding along time ago, my buddy bought a Hydroslide Carbon 12 that had Carbon Fiber inserts for strength (or something like that).

gruelie 06-29-2005, 9:39 AM

Hyperlite bindings also have carbon fiber baseplates.

(team_o) · (team_o) **Join Date: Jun 2002** 06-29-2005, 11:31 AM

Sorry but that's actually a "decal" applied to the plate...

mile_high_rider 06-29-2005, 12:33 PM

"Sorry but that's actually a "decal" applied to the plate..." Sweet ricer bindings! can I get a bright yellow honda emblem too?

(cable_rocker) · (cable_rocker) **Join Date: Nov 2004** 07-02-2005, 12:38 AM

the problem with 100% carbon board is that the board ist to hard and have no!!! flex.

thats make the landings very hard!

new wakeboards from germany have try some carbon boards and have built a few one.......

and at my home cable is a guy how build a 1:1 copy from the 2003 parks from carbon and i cann tell you it rides not good.
from these day i now a board need to have a little bit flex!

(magellan) · (magellan) **Join Date: Feb 2003** 07-02-2005, 5:36 AM

Hyperlite bindings also have carbon fiber baseplates.

Wow, you were run over by the Hyperlite marketing bus a few times.
Did you know the Bio2 core pops harder than the Bio1?

(malibuboarder75)

What about that wakeboard that was 'bulletproof' because it was made of kevlar.

(leykis1o1) · (leykis1o1) **Join Date: May 2005** 07-04-2005, 10:54 PM

my buddy "legendary "Lonnie Toft" rides a custom homemaade carbon fiber over wood core wakeboard..thhe thing is heavy!!

(da_moose) · (da_moose) **Join Date: Feb 2004** 07-06-2005, 12:44 PM

Pat P ,the carbon dosen't make the boards land hard it's the SHAPE.I wouldn't ride anything else,it keeps it's shape on landings,so your board doesn't PUSH WATER.
If your not riding a"Hy-Energy Rip Stick... your just riding a board.

wickedwake 07-06-2005, 12:53 PM

a what?

(pierce_bronkite)

quote:
If your not riding a"Hy-Energy Rip Stick... your just riding a board.

And where can I get such a stick?

(electricsnow) · (electricsnow) **Join Date: May 2002** 07-07-2005, 5:11 AM

lonnie toft, as in the guy who had the pro model snowboard called "the flying yellow banana"? If so, that's freaking awesome. Tell me more...

and how in the hell are you all not through picking fights over moose's surf style wakeboards? Move on...

(leykis1o1) · (leykis1o1) **Join Date: May 2005** 07-07-2005, 1:36 PM

yah Lonnie Toft the guy who invented the snowboard...yah that guy is 50 somthing now and can do back flips and every other trick with no hesitation just one trick onto another nonestop...better than some of todays pro riders...anyways yah i wakeboard with him at lake Nacimento at "club chuck" ill see lonnie this weekend

(electricsnow) · (electricsnow) **Join Date: May 2002** 07-08-2005, 2:19 PM

That's so cool. Today I bought the snowboarder magazine buyer's guide and it was really sweet because there was a picture of steve caballero riding that flying yellow banana in 1982 or something. It's a hot picture...and those boards are HIGHLY collectable!

Anyway, I'm glad you posted because that was an interesting bit of information.