My new board is almost ready.
Dimensions: 278 x 75.5 x 10.8 cm ( 9'1'' x 29"3/4 x 4"1/4 ) nose 55 cm ( 21"3/4), tail 49 cm (19"1/2) quattro fins ( with center box and mast box for lightwind windsurf option)
Fabrication is a bit strange: plywood deck and bottom with styro foam rails and inner structure, epoxy glassed and the weight, hmmm confidential!
Rails and width looks very fat, I hope it will be handy enough in small to medium waves, I was a little afraid to make it too thin because my present board is a 12 footer and I wanted a good stability despite the length. finally I'll get very heavy tanker. but it will float!
remains to do: sanding ( let's resin cure and it's cold...) final coat and deck pad stick.
test ( cross fingers) and pictures soon.
Having built a hollow wood SUP, I am interested in you hybrid technology. I've read about others using wood/foam/hollow technology, and would love to see photos. I'd really be interested in the weight!
Hi Andy,
your bord's very nice, mine's built mainly with 2nd hand stuff!
Unfortunately I didn't take pics of board under construction.
here few pics of board (almost) finished. deck and bottom are 5 mm plywood glassed with 1 x 200g/m2 canvas,. rails are styrofoam glassed with 3x200 g. inside: 1 centre girder supporting fin boxes and mast box, foam transverse every 10"/25 cm, and 4 longitidinal stiffeners under deck.
weight? it's very heavy, I just checked now: about 17 kg if my scale's not lying. so i'm not very happy ( a bit upset) for that when i see some boards under 10 kgs!
but i'm sure i'ts very strong, and I get a good control in windy/choppy conditions.
I tried it yesterday , nice session with Plappe in 2 to3.5 ft waves with strong offshore wind and current. the board is very stable, almost as my 12-footer, due to width and rail thickness.
it's fitted with 4-fins, fore 13cm(5"1/4) and aft 11.5 cm(4"3/4), and turning too much while paddling. take off needs some efforts due to weight I presume?
Riding control : I got some trouble starting my session, there is not so much drive due to thick rails and aft small fins. but after couple waves I got use to it and done pleasant rides. it's very fast down the line ( tail rocker 1"1/2 only, nose 5") but there is tendency to nose dive after a top turn. it looks very pleasant in small surf.
I'll try next time with bigger fins aft or 2+1 fins.
Thanks for the info, sounds like a neat board. Photos didn't show up, could you try to post them again?
my board...
i hope pics will be passing that time!
yes!
as you see it's much less beautiful as yours, Andy.
bottom is one singleplywood sheet 5 mm.
it's heavy and to get a V aft you need a straight rocker line on the aft 1''/2.
the middle is slightly concave.
it's very stable and I think about rebuilding bottom with foam to get more V and little thinner rails especially on aft part. thickness can be reduced by 1/4" without problem for my weight.
weight can be reduced using 3 mm ply wood. I used too thick because I got this plywood 4 free!
I fitted a centre fin abt 5 inches and removed 2 aft twins fins, it works good in very small 1 ft surf upto 4-5 ft waves I did not try in bigger waves.
Eh Pierre!
I'm thinking about next shape. About foam, do you know this site:
ATUACORES (http://www.atuacores.com/surfshop/infos.php?lang=1&info=16) ?
Yes Plappe, I've seen, but thanks to remind me for next. I plan something a bit longer and thinner!
Pierre, thats a very sweet piece of work. It had to be much more difficult to work with 2 such different materials. You must have learned a great deal in the process. If you can do that with plywood and foam I'll bet you could build a killer board in the conventional method. I wish I had time and the space to try it. Keep at it and let us know how it rides in bigger waves.
Glenn
Hi,
I've been shaping some boards for me and few friends ( windsurf and surf) since 1982, mainly using foam blanks but in 1983 at 18 I built a windsurf speed board (9'10" x 20") in 3 mm plywood. this board was done on a plywood structure with square rails, and was not glassed except rail edges.
The main problem with that concept is bottom shape: if you want a V- bottom you need to split bottom piece in 2, what I didn't make now (I did it in 1983)
so my board works fine in small surf, I catched at max 5 ft waves with not so much power.
you can see how V and concave can be done by using small pieces of strong paper and make a model board in it.
second problem is not twisting the board: I used a table and bubble level to make sure all OK
If I do it again that way I should:
-use thinner plywood( 3 mm)- use center stringer thinner and wooden longis abt 10 mm section 1/every 3 inches longitudinally
-build up deck first on the table.
-use EPS for rails ( lighter weight )
-split bottom in 2 to give some V- bottom on all aft part.
but such a board sould be used only in very small surf or for cruising/ racing
my next SUP for waves will most probably been done with EPS /epoxy similar to Plappe's board ( but different shape)