10' 7" Wave Lake

[Mataco]

I decided to make a board for my brother's wife. A beginner wave/lake board. Here are the dimensions.

[Mataco]

I made the core from 1 lb. EPS from White Cap,printed and did templates from MDF. cut with a wire and used paper template for the outline and cut it as well. Had to add some divinycell end pieces to get to the final length but they should help with the strength in the nose and tail.

[Mataco]

I shaped the blank with a big V bottom the whole way.

[Biggreen]

Nice looking shape. I'll bet you've moved from just Xmas card to gift card along with Xmas card! Nice!

[Mataco]

I used 3/4" divinycell to add some reinforcements for the fins and the leash. I decided it would be a twinser quad for there ability to go in shallow water and wave riding. Then I vacuumed a layer of 1/8 divinycell to the bottom. The top is next.

[surfcowboy]

I love seeing the blank done from the ground up.

Is this for wake surfing or like Great Lakes waves?

[jrandy]

Mataco-
Thanks for posting your build, compsand stuff is really interesting to me.
Did you glass under the D-cell?
Thanks, J

[HopkinsSUP]

I am going to build my own board, one of those projects for the winter i think, did you buy a foam blank or start from scratch? 

[surfcowboy]

Hopkins, he mentions hot wiring the blank so that's probably block foam.

I have to say, I'm backing the ground up approach but if you want to sort of tackle one problem at a time, I chose to start from a cut blank and just learn to do the 100 other things you have to do on a board. Depending on shipping costs, it might be a good way to start. In the future I plan to take one from the ground up but I wanted to reduce the already huge learning curve and finishing out a rough cut blank is a pretty good challenge in and of itself.

Check out some hot wire rigs on the net. People do some cool stuff though. I geeked out for a long while before I bought a shaped blank.

[HopkinsSUP]

Thanks  for the info.  I figured on buying a shaped  blank mostly because   (like you said) let's  keep  this simple to start with.   I have quite a bit of f/glass experience on my boats and am pretty  psyched about making my own board 

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[Mataco]

I haven't replied because I was on vacation at a lake which was part of my inspiration to build this board.

jrandy - I glassed it with 6 oz. s-2 as a gravity lam first on both sides so when I vacuum the d cell it won't warp in the bag.

HopkinsSUP - I bought the foam as block from Whitecap, not the greatest foam but only $65 worth and when sandwiched it seems to be plenty strong. I spent a lot getting all the hot wire stuff and you have to make templates for the sides with MDF first. So, if you don't have experience and the tools I think surf cowboy is right about buying a precut blank.

surfcowboy - It is for my brother's wife to keep at their house in Capitola but they like to go to Tahoe and she is a beginner SUPer. She won't be charging big surf and they have a high schooler that will probably use it here and there.

I have put the D cell on the top I'll post a pic tomorrow.

[Mataco]

I use hot air gun to thermoform the Divinycell prior to putting it in the Vacuum Bag to laminate. It wasn't my best job but it's on there and I'll fix the little issues that it has and do a final shaping. The top sheet is a pain but worth the effort to have sandwiched rails for strength. I know it will get beat up.

[Mataco]

I finished shaped the blank. I put in the handle and the leash plug. Then I put on a cloth inlay with the vacuum. I put a layer of 4 oz. on the top and hot coated it. It looks messy because I will add a foam deck covering and wanted to save the white pigment for the rails. The bottom looks bad too but it has release ply on the cloth still and it will peel off to look clean before it gets glassed.

[PonoBill]

Nice looking ride, ought to be super stout with that full sandwich. I make small parts that way but haven't considered doing a board. What's your target weight?

[Mataco]

I don't look to get a certain weight. I want it to be around for awhile and ride nice. The board weight only matters to and from the water, once it's floating the weight is one a small factor in the performance. I do know from destruction testing with a hammer this construction holds up nicely to impact. I like a board to have balanced strength, where the top and bottom covering are very similar in strength and flex so there are few weak spots. With just a layer of 4 oz S glass under and over the sandwich it comes out pretty light.