4kg to 6kg boards in 8ft to 8.5ft length. Glassing schedule, thoughts.

[surferazul]

Aloha to all from Spain, thank you all for contributing in this forum, wich is a pleasure to read, this will be my first post, after some years of only reading and learning from all of you.

I just came some days ago from the Spanish sup nationals and some people were riding 5kg-11 Ib boards. I got a friend that owns a board (New Advance) similar to leco Salazar or Renato Wanderley model in 8.4 x 28 in 6kg-13 Ib and just watched the infinity blurr sup model in 7.11. Following here the entry on their blog. They claim it to be only 9Ib, pretty impressed!

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"First SUP model shaped/designed by theBoehneBros

Dan and Dave Boehne have been making some SUP surf protos for the last 6 months or so. Thinner, narrower, extremely light and meant to be ridden off the tail. Incorporating some of the Infinity short board theories, we have come to this new model the "blurr". This is as high performance as it gets...

Specs:
7'11" x 26.5" x 3 7/8" (this particular board is good up to 170lbs for an experienced paddler)

weight:
9 lbs (ya no shit)

Construction:
EPS w/ stringer, S-glass, Carbon patches + strip"

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*(I believe this must be 1Ib foam with stringer)

Well, now here is my question, I own a 8.4 with 110 litres stringerless that weights8kg-17 pounds complete with pad and fins, and would love to go lighter for the small waves, at least to 6kg-13pounds.

I am wondering if i go stringer less again, what glassing schedule can i use that would make the board durable enough for waves in the 3-5 foot range max, I weight 185 pounds, and have good balance.
I just want to experiment a little and see how fun would it be to have a light and small board for small to medium waves.

I was thinking in a 6+6oz top/ 1.5 Ib foam stringerles / 6oz bottom. schedule
Then patch-reinforce the top mid area of the board and wrap the rails with a layer of carbon fiber also 6oz. Also a nose to tail strip at the bottom of the board 3-4 inches wide as they did in the blurr model looks like a good and light idea to me to get some more strength into the lam.

What do you guys think? Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on this?

I know I could do some vacuum , pvc or cork, and 1 ib foam etc to hit the 9-10 Ib but i would like to keep it simple if possible. and my goal is to hit the 13-14Ib if you guys think it is possible with a light lam.
Best regards, and thank you in advance.
Carlos.

Pd: In the pic, me last week in north Spain. (excuse my english if i have any grammar or spelling mistakes please, I am self taught;)

[Dwight (DW)]

The factory in my town does 1.5 lb EPS stringerless with 2 layer 4oz S bottom and 2 layer 4oz S deck.

The boards I shaped are 3 layer deck 4oz S. My 7'10 x 30 came out 13.5 lbs bare board.

The next board I shaped was 7'8 x 29.5 and it came out the same weight, bare board. But this one had a 4th layer deck patch of 6oz E to stop heel dents.

Go 2 layer 4oz S deck and bottom if you don't care about heel dents. Pros don't care about heel dents.

[colas]

I know I am a bit off topic here, but I think you should try to go shorter. A 5'11" board will be mind-blowing in small waves compared to a 7'11", even if it is 2kg heavier... even a 6'11" will be better.

Otherwise, I was wondering about gaining weigth in the blank by digging holes in it (chambering) to gain weight, especially in the front... or managing to use dual-density foam, lighter in the middle... but I have no direct experience...

[surferazul]

Thanks a lot DW! That is valuable info, specially knowing u have already experienced it (i don´t mind about heel dents). It is not easy to find s-glass (at least in the suppliers i have checked, please if anyone know a good source in Europe and don´t mind to share, it will be much appreciated.)

Colas, thanks also for your idea. I thought about drilling holes already but the foam of 1.5 in 110litres would be around 2kg- 4.5 IB the foam, so I think i still have plenty enough with the remaining 8-9 pounds for the lam including all the fibers, epoxy and fin boxes. The drilling would be interesting if someone hit the absolute lightest weight (but that is not my goal) There are ways to achieve that super light minimum by using 1Ib foam and vacuum with cork core mat 2mm or airex-divinicell pvc and light density fibers S-glass/E-glass or carbon, but that would be a lot of work, time consuming and would need a lot more of preparation and money. At the moment i want to stick to a more traditional lam, and this is also what most of the pros are using. I think 6kg-13Ib is a very sweet weight for an 8´4 x 28.5 x 4.25 that is the size I am using and loving.
About shorter boards... I believe they are fun, and believe they work well but i personally like the glide of an 8-8.5 and the ability to catch the wave a bit earlier than the prone surfers, but yes that is a bit off topic, and what i am interested here is on people sharing their experiences or ideas on a board that is light and that are not worried on dents as DW said basically what pro riders use. regards

[K-541`]

 That's funny five years ago who would have used the words glide and 8ft to 8.5ft together.

[srfnff]

DW helped me immensely with numerous glassing questions. He is the man. I just took possession of my third SIMSUP http://srfnff.blogspot.com/2011/11/simsup-3-first-paddle-surf.html (125L) and besides performance design enhancements, I was going for a board as light as I could get it, without it falling apart. My shaper Kirk McGinty (L41 Surfboards) used a 1.5 lb stringerless blank and the only viable glassing option I had that would almost ensure the lightest weight was vacuum bagging, which was done at the Stretch factory in Santa Cruz CA.

We decided upon a "normal standard" SUP schedule which is: 6+6oz. deck; 4+6oz. bottom and a deck patch. Four fin boxes, handle, leash plug and vent plug brought the finished weight to 15.2 pounds. This is 4.5 pounds lighter than my second SIMSUP model (127L) which has a similar glassing schedule.

Fins will add a little more weight and for now to maintain lightness I'm gonna keep a deck pad off the board and just wax it like a conventional surfboard.

Next time, depending upon how #3 holds up, I could go with a lighter glassing schedule. And unless another option arises, I'll stay with vac bagging for reducing weight.

BTW, if I spoke (or wrote) Spanish one-tenth as well as you speak English I'd be stoked. Kudos!