Author Topic: Ke Nalu Board?  (Read 8563 times)

LM

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Ke Nalu Board?
« on: September 21, 2014, 10:32:39 PM »
...Kind of, it's mine so of course I'd logo it with Ke Nalu. But so much of what I have gleaned from the pages of the Zone went into this board I wanted to share it with you. It's my first "short board" (7' 10") & I wanted to make sure I didn't go too small yet still get what I wanted out of it. After what I had read on some of the volume threads I felt pretty comfortable at 119 liters (I'm about 187 lbs.- 85kg). It's meant for pretty choppy/crappy conditions, head high to slightly above, so that's where the width came in (31.75"). I'm really happy with the weight at 7.5kg. There's some cool technology that went into it. It's neither a China board or Cobra & I had the freedom to be a part of the building process so it was a pretty fun project. The bottom is a single concave working into a slight double into the V & exiting with flat panel V (kind of a reverse V in the release). All pretty standard & what I'm used to riding on prone boards. Now I just have to see how it rides. What do you guys think? (By the way, not really thinking of getting into the board market at this point since it's pretty oversaturated as it is; but now I have the facilities I'll be able to make some custom boards again for myself...& maybe a few others if there's interest).


PonoBill

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2014, 06:40:29 AM »
I like it. If the V in the tail is not too pronounced and you can stretch it out to a fat guy 8'6" X 32 1/2" I'll take one for sure. I even like the color and I love the logo. Actually, how about Yellow and Red. Might as well be consistent.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

breakbad

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2014, 08:04:52 AM »
Where's the 'Buy Now' button?

Fog City Rider

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2014, 08:56:19 AM »
Wow, looks niiiiiice.   

Is that exposed wood on the rails?  Do tell...
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PonoBill

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2014, 09:51:48 AM »
Yeah, those rails and the tailblock are just wicked looking. As you know, Diane and I were vehemently opposed to making boards, but it's 100 percent your choice now, and that looks pretty special. If you could get the price right I bet you'd find a market anywhere Ke Nalu paddles are sold. I suspect Australia would be all over that like white on rice. Post it on Seabreeze and see what happens.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2014, 09:54:09 AM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

SlatchJim

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2014, 10:50:55 AM »
The rails, tail block and decking are gorgeous. I'd be so tempted to make this one a wax job. 

PB, it's time for you to use your considerable intellect and come up with a clear deck pad.  The market is here and now.

PDLSFR

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2014, 11:42:11 AM »
Any thoughts to what an estimated $$ Price might be after considering production, profit, shipping, etc ??

My guess would put it between $1,400-$1,800.
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Sup-position

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2014, 06:16:13 PM »
Just say Ke Nalu and have an instant Fan Base...

Go Lane...
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stoneaxe

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2014, 06:21:48 PM »
Ooooh!
Bob

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PonoBill

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2014, 09:47:16 AM »
One more thing, I'd set it up for Quad plus a center fin even though the tail is probably pulled too much for really good quad use. Of course you can just go to a nub center fin to get that skaty feel, but having the option would be good and you don't have to compromise thruster position to get it to work. I love the quad setup on my Foote 9.0--sometimes.

Don't forget if you decide to actually produce these commercially that you need to figure out the warranty issues and keep your thumb firmly on quality.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

stoneaxe

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2014, 02:03:39 PM »
Aaaah!.... ;D 8)
Bob

8-4 Vec, 9-0 SouthCounty, 9-8 Starboard, 10-4 Foote Triton, 10-6 C4, 12-6 Starboard, 14-0 Vec (babysitting the 18-0 Speedboard) Ke Nalu Molokai, Ke Nalu Maliko, Ke Nalu Wiki Ke Nalu Konihi

cnski

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2014, 07:18:53 PM »
Very nice Lane!! So when is the first KeNalu surf trip and where??

OUTSIDEWAVE

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2014, 05:58:21 PM »
cool looking board though it looks like it should have a 5 box set up so you run quads.   Maybe another size up for us less than stellar athletes? ssay 9 * x32 about 165 ltr
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LM

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2014, 04:31:39 AM »
Boy, I feel horrible...I have the "notify" selected for many threads & I just don't seem to get notifications anymore. I don't have the time to drop in here as much as I'd like & honestly I tend to almost avoid it a bit since I seem to spend hours reading every time I come here...good stuff but hard to justify the time...Anyway, sorry for not responding to anything here yet. I thought nobody noticed. I'm happy to see the comments. A LOT of thought went into this board & a lot of time reading stuff here went into it too. I simply can't afford to make mistakes since it's so difficult to get gear here.

Since I blew it, I won't try & quote everyone I want to, but respond to those that've asked:

Regarding buying them...honestly I'd love to be able to supply some, board building is a nearly lifelong passion of mine & something I really enjoy but I'd need to be able to fill a container to justify it...maybe it's worth it but with the board market as saturated as it is I don't know how I'd do. I DO feel I could be very competitive with pricing, especially when considering what some of these boards are selling for. I'd need to do a good cost analysis before I could even guess but it seems doable & since I'd be doing it largely because I want to rather than NEED to I'm not totally profit driven.

This was the first board I ever designed on computer & since I suck at that sort of thing I had some help...some really qualified good help. It's actually VERY cool to be able to look at the board (and sections of it) how it will look finished. Hand shaping all you can do is imagine. What's also cool is it allows you the ability to make changes easily to customize things...& that was one thing I had in mind if I were to try & do something with these, try & bring a bit of custom to production. It's easy to change lengths, widths, thicknesses, everything. (I'm probably boring a lot of you that know computer design but it's all new to me & I'm fascinated by the possibilities...That's one thing that's also been cool about the paddle blade designs, without giving away any secrets, they are basically computer designed & hand refined...but that's a different topic. We have a really cool process though).

The exposed wood on the rails; this part of the construction I was totally unfamiliar with before this & was surprised it could work. It's basically stringers running down the rail rather than down the middle. If any of you are familiar with firewire surfboards it's similar to what they do. The friend of mine with the factory that build this wanted to leave the wood unpainted since he thought it's a unique design feature, for SUP (I believe) it is but originally I didn't really want to make a big deal out of it & thought the exposed look would look weird. BUT I realized with it being a SUP the rails are likely to take a bonk every now & then & where the wood is is right where that would happen. Sure you'd still need to repair over time but you wouldn't be taking any paint off. Part of the thinking behind this build technique (not just the "rail stingers") is designing in a bit of flex. That's the reason why the bamboo on the deck is at an offset angle. Subsequent layers underneath run the other way. I'm really curious to see if I can feel any difference but I don't have much of a baseline for comparison since I've never ridden boards similar to this yet (regarding size/volume). I like the tail block too & if there's any production they'll be even cooler, this one is all balsa. I thought about not putting a pad on it but I hate dealing with wax on SUPs. I should have thought about being a bit more creative with the pad though, maybe made a sort of mosaic or something...I got lazy & also just wanted it done. I waited much longer than expected. PDLSFR that's pretty much spot on what I'd be hoping to be able to do for pricing. If this were production I would set it up for a quad but I knew I wanted it as a thruster so I left it at that. I've got a couple different back fins to try. I have a 5 1/2" Lopez that I really like the look of & am hoping it's not too small...especially since the other one is 7 1/2" & I think that'd be too big. Running FCS M7 side fins. Not sure who cnski is but if you're an Aussie you're probably in on that conversation. Our Australian rep has been trying to put a Ke Nalu trip together over the past month or so. Our first thoughts were Namotu but it's very difficult to book the whole place out. If I recall it's pretty much booked except for one week & it seems like it was during a less than optimal time. We didn't like the idea of 10 or so guys showing up when other "proners" would be there. That'd be one way to be really hated really fast. So we're still looking.

I'll try & pay a little more attention now that I know the notifications aren't really working...sorry about that & thanks for the comments. Keep 'em coming.

PonoBill

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Re: Ke Nalu Board?
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2014, 06:11:19 AM »
Contact Dave Kalama, he's hooked up extremely well with the Namotu folks.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

 


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