Backyard Kite Surfboard Builders - what are you working on?

I've been mucking around with building a few boards in the shed since December - mostly poly blanks with stringers, mix of glass / carbon / innegra, epoxy resin and now vac bagging - great fun.

May other backyard builders out there? What have you been working on?

Five boards so far, from first in Jan'17 to latest in August '17;
4"11 Vader copy - too many materials to mention, hand layup, PU blank epoxy resin.


Botched shape, but great construction - 6' Wainman Magnum copy, Balsa Deck with carbon polyflex glass. First Vac Bagged board.

5'2" Vader copy - exposed cork deck with Carbon tail and rails. Cork goes really well (grippy, doesn't affect flex).


First surfboard and resin tints - 6'4" Hypto Krypto shape - 6/4 4/4 glass.




Latest board for a mate - 5'2" Vader with bat tail and flyers. inserts, detailed resin tints - best one so far. Dek layup is Cork, inegra and quad poly flex with reinforcement on the heels, bottom is carbon tapes in the middle, then quad polyflex and 2x 4oz glass (solid board). all Vac bagged.

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davnom said..
Great jobs,ever tried to work out what it costs for each board,roughly ?
would love to do that but can't stand the smell of the resins and vapours thinners ect.

Depends how much 'fancy' glass/ carbon etc you put in. The hypto copy is pretty ordinary constuction (just st 4 and 6 oz glass, epoxy resin), its probably $250 all up in WA (blanks are a bit more expensive at $120 odd).

The last board there with reinforced strap inserts, cork, colour and fancy glass (inegra abd carbon) was closer to $500 in materials.

On smells etc - its not bad with epoxy - much lower VOCs than poly snd you can remove the use of acetone if you want. Still wear a mask because of the amine in the hardener thou which can have long term ill affects.

"mucking around with building a few boards in the shed " ???? Check out the shed - thats not just mucking around!! LOL

I 'muck around' fixing boards but 'your' shed beats 'my' shed hands down!! Nice boards :-)

Plus a kids board right?

Your run rate is a board a month!

Far out!! Where do you kite?
wouldnt mind seeing some of these at the beach...

wish i had the skills and time (and shed)
have tried to prod a mate who does a few diy boards to post here but he never does.

Please keep posting finished and during construction board though, even though I can't contribute, I enjoy looking at them. Have heard good things about the cork for absorbing energy, haven't ever ridden though and no idea how it lays up, or eventually effects flex

Home made in '83, last surfed in '84, might give it a run this weekend just for nostalgia

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FOT said..
You're right on getting the bug.... may have over invested in the setup in the shed..! Good fun thou!

@Sanded im using futures and 5 hole strap plugs from shapers. Keen to try some of thst basalt and flax cloth with the cork!


.... no other shed shapers out there??

Good to see your experimenting! The Basalt innegra hex weave we do has had good reports for kiteboards!! and the Flax is getting popular. With Cork is would go pretty epic!

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Mark _australia said..
Almost done - 5'9" x 19.75" x 2" - 24L. Single concave into slight tail vee, 50/50 hard-ish rails, conventional toe and cant, but bit more tail kick and a fat ass.

I haven't built a board for while (only do repairs now) but needed an off season project. I don't kite either so its all for the love!

XPS, corecell inserts in foot area, normal surfboard glassing schedule as no point wasting heaps of materials on a prototype!

Looks nice! Like the wide tail. How was the xps to shape?

Its not that wide, well not unconventionally wide. Maybe bit of an illusion in pics
Son says its like a fish, but not so he has named it the Mulie hahhaha as you never know it might stink

XPS was a prick but having said that my planer needs new blades. Plus you want it rough anyway to avoid delam. I only used it as I got a sheet of 100mm that was bent so nobody wanted it and was half price. The bend was damn near a rocker line :)

I can see why XPS is nice it bends a long long way before snapping. Probably why its a bit harder to shape. Its just that damn delam problem if you don't rough it and let it offgas and even then it won't handle a hot hot car in summer. Thus the corecell under the feet as normal heel dents would delam on XPS.

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Mark _australia said..
Its not that wide, well not unconventionally wide. Maybe bit of an illusion in pics
Son says its like a fish, but not so he has named it the Mulie hahhaha as you never know it might stink

XPS was a prick but having said that my planer needs new blades. Plus you want it rough anyway to avoid delam. I only used it as I got a sheet of 100mm that was bent so nobody wanted it and was half price. The bend was damn near a rocker line :)

I can see why XPS is nice it bends a long long way before snapping. Probably why its a bit harder to shape. Its just that damn delam problem if you don't rough it and let it offgas and even then it won't handle a hot hot car in summer. Thus the corecell under the feet as normal heel dents would delam on XPS.

Hi Mark, nice effort.

Unless you put some divini cell / PVC under the feet area those XPS boards will delam every time, the problem is not the adhesion to the foam, its the foam getting crushed and breaking off, this will start under the impact areas. not worth the heart ache if you dont use PVC aswell.

PU is still the best for boards that you want to last.

Hi wind board just finished

5'3" x 18.5 - 18L


Hi density foam underfoot (BTW as did the other one Sugarqube, its not my first rodeo )

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FOT said..

SugarQube said..

Mark _australia said..
Its not that wide, well not unconventionally wide. Maybe bit of an illusion in pics
Son says its like a fish, but not so he has named it the Mulie hahhaha as you never know it might stink

XPS was a prick but having said that my planer needs new blades. Plus you want it rough anyway to avoid delam. I only used it as I got a sheet of 100mm that was bent so nobody wanted it and was half price. The bend was damn near a rocker line :)

I can see why XPS is nice it bends a long long way before snapping. Probably why its a bit harder to shape. Its just that damn delam problem if you don't rough it and let it offgas and even then it won't handle a hot hot car in summer. Thus the corecell under the feet as normal heel dents would delam on XPS.

Hi Mark, nice effort.

Unless you put some divini cell / PVC under the feet area those XPS boards will delam every time, the problem is not the adhesion to the foam, its the foam getting crushed and breaking off, this will start under the impact areas. not worth the heart ache if you dont use PVC aswell.

PU is still the best for boards that you want to last.

100% agree on the PU comment - in kitesurfing where weight isn't really an issue (unless you're into full on Mitu air style), PU let's you use a much simpler and cheaper construction (avoiding HD foam sandwich etc).

On a cost basis, an eps blank when bought in bulk (20 blanks) cut from foam runs around $30... But you need to buy ****loads so not accessible to most backyard shapers, an needs $70+ of hd foam, or carbon etc to get the strength for kiting.

I've been buying blanks from Colin Earle Surf Supplies - good range of Burford Blanks - Burford Blue are the strong ones which Delta use, I'd you're vac bagging you can get away with green (slightly lower density)...

Do you shape your boards in WA Sugarqube?

FOT, pretty sure ive seen some of ur boards on the beach. looking good!
Ive been using std PU surfboards from VON for around 10 years now and get good lifespan out of them.
After trying some paralell rail boards, i think the stiffer rails is what makes them more efficient for going upwind and creating a different feel.
They are really fun when waves are puss, like our std downwinders. kind of like a mix between a twinnie and a surfboard.
My theory is a PU board with innegra continued up the full rail or 75% instead of just the tail like most surfboard shapers do, with std glassing should work. Keep those rails stiff to stop the torsion. I recon when you start going heavy glass the feel goes to crap.
Sheesh $250-500 bucks, got my ears pricked up to throw some beers your way together with some of my shape ideas...

Those look awesome mate??
You've obviously done it before!

Below are some pics of my first ever build last year.
$15 foam blank
Couldn't afford a real blank ($300 plus with freight??)
Didn't have a plan apart from wanting to do channels on the bottom like a Firewire evo.
Strange carbon pattern on deck was a combo of not having a plan and the resin going off so just slapped it on fast??
10-12 Oz of cloth to reinforce weak blank.
Its a super fun board. Sounds hollowish when riding??. Goes well in chest to over head waves. Holds the rail on the bottom turn and skatey off the top.
Was worth the effort despite not having the right tools for the job.

Enjoyed the process and will do a super cheap dodgy job again some day!

Looks awesome Rich, still need to see it in the flesh!

The Evo looks like heaps of fun heyJoe, where do you ride it?

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jefster said..
Just finished a Xmas present to myself. Took it out for maiden voyage yesterday in mushy shore break and so far pretty happy with it.
6/4 oz top and bottom with an extra 6oz patch under feet.

Your front fins look really towed in; unless it's a photo angle thing!

They do toe in a bit, pretty much point to the nose.i think the photo makes it look a a bit more of an angle.