Steering system questions for new build...

[SUPflorida]

Started another board to help even up the difference between my wife's kayak speed upwind compared to my speed on 12-6 SUP. I am battling the pros an cons on length and right now I have it hot wired (foil and outline) at 16'-4 x27.5" I have not reached the point of no return yet so I can shorten it up to 14'-0" or something in between if I so desire...but 16-4 looks very sweet.

Besides the weight (14 lbs at this point without taking any meat out of the rails/deck and no bottom nuances), indoor storage issues...one of the biggest hurdles is going to be a steering system.

The one that SIC has on the F16 V3 as seen on YouTube looks like a plausible solution. I can fabricate the foot steering peddle and the crossbar to fit up on the rudder post...the adjustment screws may be a little difficult to find in stainless.
I'm really most curious about the tubing buried in the board to run the cable through (although I would use spectra instead). Anyone actual see how mark puts them in? What type of tubing is used that the cables won't end up sawing through it where it changes directions? Maybe super tough hydraulic tubing?And how about where the tubbing exits the board? Looks like a lot of leak potential there. Is it as simple as routing a minimum slot for the tube and bedding it flush with the deck foam with glass bubbles/ Epoxy? The tube would have to bond really well to the epoxy if that is the case.

One or more of you must have dealt building a steering system from scratch before...how did you go about it? What did you do that you would change on the next one? Your insights appreciated.

[PonoBill]

It's standard drip irrigation tubing. The lines don't have the kind of tension on them that would cause them to saw through, even using stainless cable instead of spectra. You'll probably find spectra's creep to be a constant adjustment issue. I made up some low-creep line once by running unidirectional (unbraided) fibers up the middle of braided spectra kite line. Pain in the butt, but it eliminated creep. The tubing runs fairly straight, and in fact you can run it on the deck of a board by just gluing it down and then making a channel in the deck pad.

You might be able to buy a complete A.S.S. assembly from SIC. Not hard to make, but it's an evolved and refined product. I've always thought it made more sense to put the batten on the rudder to allow more precise rudder positioning and to make the batten much lighter since it wouldn't have to keep the control lines under tension. I did a half-assed job of fabricating a version of this on my F18, but shifted focus to RC rudders and never developed it properly.

[SUPflorida]

Bill...thanks for the quick response....does epoxy bond well to the drip tube?

I like your batten on the rudder idea better than up front but would it be vulnerable to getting damaged by a leash hanging up on it? And since there seems to be a tendency to fall off the rear section of the board equal or greater to forward, getting raked over it could be painful.
Since you had a functioning board I am assuming you already knew the optimum location to put the peddle...in not going to be so lucky...so far the boards I have built paddle best when standing right over the handle (longitudinal balance point on land) so that's were I will start and make a telescopic peddle like SIC to give me some board trim options. Do you find it better to error on the side of a little too far forward? Or to the back?