Thanks Ed, I appreciate that compliment coming from you.
That stupid darkside!
I broke the gas assist strut on the darskide locker and I keep foregetting to replace it, hence the bungee cord. We "require" Dennis to sit in the rear corner on all surf outings, but when it was his turn to surf, the darkside the wake just wasn't as clean...not that darkside surfers shouldn't expect that
, but still...we thought we'd clean it up for him
It's a fat buddy, maybe half full on top of our custom fat sac. I just told Don, I think that it's 1,200 - 1,225 of water ballast.
The board that I just finished is basically a knock off of the Surftech construction process, with the exception that I'm sure they are using a mold. The materials and the glass and resin schedule I'm sure is very close...and the result was an exceptionally stiff board. In small waves, like what we have behind the boat, stiff boards work well. The fully wrapped high density foam, is nice for around the boat too...anyone that has put a pressure dent in a custom poopee or even an epoxy board knows how easy it is to dent them. This one isn't indestructible, but 5 pound density foam stands up to impacts better than 2 pound density foam...probably 2.5 times better
In reading the marketing hype about this construction process (Firewire, Surftech, Lost, etc) it sounds incredibly difficult and out of the realm of backyarders. I just wanted to prove, to myself first and to others that it really isn't as complicated as all that.
I would also think, as you point out Ed, that when you move away from a standard poopee based construction process, you open up the door to tons of options, so many that it truly is a bit overwhelming. I will be testing 4 skin material options, but even those can be refined...3mm bottom, 5mm top for example. Like you say Ed, recreationally - give me a board that works for everyone and that won't break EVER.
From a high end user standpoint things like "Give me 1.7 times more flex on the right front 18.5 inches of the board on the bottom compared to the top" are doable - not that anyone would request it, but...a custom shop could build such a board.
I've talked with so many incredibly talented and brillant folks out there and it would NOT surprize me that one of them has an idea like this that when implemented will create a magic stick.
Anyway...great fun, as you know...I hope that someday in the not too distant future we see someone or some business offering custom orders on bagged boards for behind the boat with exotic materials and builds.
(Message edited by surfdad on November 18, 2007)