my new board hand made.

[Pierre]

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.

[andygere]

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!

[Pierre]

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.

[andygere]

Thanks for the info, sounds like a neat board.  Photos didn't show up, could you try to post them again?

[Pierre]

my board...
i hope pics will be passing that time!

[Pierre]

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.

[Paddle-Plappe]

Eh Pierre!
I'm thinking about next shape. About foam, do you know this site:
ATUACORES  ?

[Pierre]

Yes Plappe, I've seen, but thanks to remind me for next. I plan something a bit longer and thinner!

[stevenson91@cox.net]

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

[Pierre]

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)