Hi guys
I got a 10m2 Cabrinha Crossbow and a 128cm board and I weigh 170 pounds. But unfortunately the winds here are often under 15 knots. My small board size coupled with my lack of experience results in me needing winds of at least 18 knots to get planing properly and being able to ride upwind and jump higher than 1m.
I rode my gear in about 17-18 knots a few days ago and found that my technique was improving but I still need a board for sub-16 knot winds.
Therefore I am planning to build two boards of my own with 12mm plywood. I've read up a lot about board building so I got a good idea of what I want to do. But I'd also like to hear what you folks have to say.
Have any of you done something like this before? What worked, didn't work? What coating material did you use(I read that 3 coats of hardwood floor varnish should do the trick)?
Dimension-wise I was thinking along the lines of a 150cm-155cm x 50-ish cm board for light winds (little to no rocker) and another one of around 140cm x 44-46cm. Am I heading in the right direction?
I got my plywood already. Don't want to get the coating till I've heard the experts' opinion. Hehe. I don't want anything that needs to be super light just a nice old board that gets me on the water in less than 15 knots and cruises along nicely. The wind does blow above 20 knots every week or second week but a week off the water is too much. 
Looking forward to seeing your comments, criticism, opinions, ideas and advice.
Hope you have stronger winds than I do!
Cheers guys.
Mozzie
12mm ply. Cut it into a nice TT looking shape 135x48cm. Paint it red with polyurethane paint (because red is fast). Whack on a set of pads and straps. Fins are unnecessary. Go kiting. I weigh about 80kg.
Don't make it too long. Length makes for flex and flex makes for rocker and rocker is slow.
Thanks Gorgo. I think I will go with those dimensions you gave me. It's surface area is actually bigger than my planned 140cm board. Thanks. I will give it a bash.
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
12mm ply. Cut it into a nice TT looking shape 135x48cm. Paint it red with polyurethane paint (because red is fast). Whack on a set of pads and straps. Fins are unnecessary. Go kiting. I weigh about 80kg.
Don't make it too long. Length makes for flex and flex makes for rocker and rocker is slow.
Rocker is bad for light wind. But at the same time is good for chop and swell and white wash. So a completely flat rockered board is **** for any other than pristine flat water.
I went the other way and cranked some rocker into mine. I can ride head high plus waves on it!... But I'm in a wave location.
Also too much width will mean the board get is hard to control when the wind gets up......
I like 45cm with. Still enough width for light wind 10-15 knot stuff. But not too much with for when it gets 15-20 and I'm still on the same board.
The first board I made I laminated two sheets and put some rocker in it. It worked ok but the sheets started to separate over time.
The next board was just a slab of 12mm ply and my body weight put rocker in it and the rocker stayed put after a few sessions.
I am in a big chop location so there's lots of short, steep waves to deal with. It is a bit optimistic to expect a couple of inches of tip lift to make much difference to hitting a wave. I never had much problem. I ride my short, wide TT in the surf a fair bit. It's great at low tide when there's not enough water for a surfboard to ride over the reef.
The width thing making boards hard to control is a bit of an urban myth. When I started building board people said I couldn't go more than 39cm wide and I hade to offset the straps to heel side. This is not true. You want the stance dead on the centreline to get the maximum lift possible from the planning area.
Width can make the board a little skatey, but all you have to do is focus your edging technique to compensate. It's not that hard to do and it makes you a much better rider.
Should have gone down to the local surf shop and brought a larg wooden skimboard. They are fun as and really good for the lighter stuff
Excellent info from all of you. Thanks a lot guys!
Will try and start working on my boards today. Ok so board between 135-140 x 45-48 seems like good dimensions. Should i just round the corners or try and make a curve in the rail like a normal twintip has?
If your going to go sub 140 then stick to 48 wide. Also stick to rectangular shape. The more you radius the shape the less surface area you have in the water and thus the worse upwind it goes. But the better it carves, the better it slices through chop.
I have 2 boards. Both 145x45! One is my light wind stormer. The other is my high wind wave muncher. I take that out in up to 50 knot gusts and triple head surf conditions!... The difference is the outline shape and the rocker.
Thanks Plummet. Will keep that in mind. I'm thinking like a 142×45. That one for like moderate winds up to 18 or 20knots. When the wind picks up I love my 128. Really fast and good carving. I got my first board started. Cut out the blank with a handsaw yesterday(jigsaw without blades isn't effective). Smoothed the rough edges with a file. Still gonna sand down the sharp edges with sandpaper and work on shaping the rails nicely. Then paint it and put on the footstraps. Will put on the pics this afternoon
What sort of bolts do you guys use when building your own board, for the foot straps and pads?
I read that T-Nuts that have been epoxied into the board are a good way. But unfortunately I don't have access to those so just using normal stainless steel screws that came with the windsurfing straps. Gonna make sure to seal the area around the hole properly so water doesn't get into the board
12mm marine ply
Tapered down to approx 4mm on edges
Almost no rocker on middle 2/3rds of board, slight rocker/kick on ends
Concave along middle of 2/3rds of board (helps with tracking and makes it stiffer than a flat profile tapered the same)
Brass threaded inserts screwed and epoxyed into the board
I weigh about the same as you, and my biggest kite is 10m^2 and this board gets used more than any other board of mine.
2 layers of 4mm ply, carbon fibre strips, 200g/m2 fibreglass. All done with epoxy. No rocker.
Select to expand quoteCJ2478 said..
I weigh about the same as you, and my biggest kite is 10m^2 and this board gets used more than any other board of mine.
2 layers of 4mm ply, carbon fibre strips, 200g/m2 fibreglass. All done with epoxy. No rocker.
Nice CJ!
What winds can you go in with that plank?
Also, why the raised bit in the middle? For the strap screws? Any pics of the screws you used please?
Select to expand quoteMozKiter said..
I read that T-Nuts that have been epoxied into the board are a good way. But unfortunately I don't have access to those so just using normal stainless steel screws that came with the windsurfing straps. Gonna make sure to seal the area around the hole properly so water doesn't get into the board
Yes,
you have access. I am selling this for years:
For M6. Hight is 8mm in total, 19mm bottom plate.
The postage is about $8 to anywhere in the World for up to 20 inserts.
Select to expand quoteLoftywinds said..
CJ2478 said..
I weigh about the same as you, and my biggest kite is 10m^2 and this board gets used more than any other board of mine.
2 layers of 4mm ply, carbon fibre strips, 200g/m2 fibreglass. All done with epoxy. No rocker.
Nice CJ!
What winds can you go in with that plank?
Also, why the raised bit in the middle? For the strap screws? Any pics of the screws you used please?
Thanks
its 1460mm x 460mm. only 20mm of curve in the last 200mm of the edges. for anyone who wants to reporoduce one I can email the paper template with this curve that I calculated.
The board is 2 layers of 4mm, and that middle bit youre referring to is the top layer of 4mm that is inset from the bottom larger layer. This gives it really nice flex at the tips, enough thickness to set the inserts in, and the required structural integrity that the middle of the board requires.
I used the threaded inserts that the above poster mentioned (pretty sure I bought them off him..) and highly recommend them, especially with the nylon cap that is very useful so that you can glass over them. The bolts holding the straps down are just regular M6 316grade stainless steel that I cut to the correct length through trial and error.
With a 10m switchblade I can stay upwind in 13 knots. The best thing is because it has no fins, you can ride on the thin slick of water that is produced when a wave draws back out to sea which creates apparent wind (ie water flows in the opposite direction to the wind direction). When riding like this and in straight onshore wind I have been staying upwind in winds recorded at 8-10 knots (lots of working the kite though) thanks to the extra apparent wind effect created by the water draw back.
edit: I have ridden this board up to 30knots with a 9m kite. Thisd was pretty much survival mode, but the board still handled surprisingly well, just needed lots of edge pressure.
Nice board CJ. Looks pretty cool. That wind range is pretty wicked for a homemade board. I have cut the blank for my board so far and sanded it down for a smooth finish. Will post a pic now. The curve was hand drawn on graph paper and then traced onto the wood(thank goodness for having had engineering graphics and design at school for the freehand drawing skills)
Just an update. My board has been completed and today I have finally gotten a chance to test it out. I rode it strapless at first. Nice wind around 18knots. Shallow water and a few sand bars in 5cm water.
I was beyond surprised at how good this board rode. It was flying upwind like crazy. On one tack I go upwind and the other tack I surf in the small waves downwind back to where I started. And being finless I could just skim over the sandbars no problem at all. Later the wind died down to about 11knots. My kite was struggling a bit to fly properly but I was still able to cruise along very nicely on the board. Testing session was an epic 4 hours.
It went so well I decided to cross over to the nearby island(about 1.5-2km away with the tide at it's state). The chop was a bit challenging without straps but I made it across and back without falling off. If I did fall off I would've been able to stand in any case since it is a tidal flat and the tide was going out.
So all in all. very pleased with my build. Works very well! Dimensions 150cm x 50cm
Hi Moz,
Did you end up putting any rocker in the board at all? Any PICS of the finished product?
Board makers are smirking at this thread I bet. DIY is the way to go really. Learn and appreciate
Select to expand quoteColoColo said..
Board makers are smirking at this thread I bet. DIY is the way to go really. Learn and appreciate
Are you saying professional board makers are smirking because it can't work as well as a commercial product? Or because they think people are on to something good?
When I built boards I had any number of people telling me that the design would never work and would ride badly. I proved them wrong time and time again. When it comes to a light wind TT, the only way a commercial board beats a home made plywood board is in weight and durability.
post some photos of your local spot to Mozambique is allways nice to see. im not sure how you are for transport but if you are using a bicycle i have managed to whip one of these up in villages im sure are even smaller then yours
surfing-waves.com/howto/make_bike_rack.htm
just remember you need to secure tops with rope or bungy strap. failing to do so means the weight of the board bouncing up and down will eventually pull the rack from your bike.
Hi Bigtone. No didn´t put in any rocker. There was a slight rocker in the wood as I bought it so there was a slight rocker. The wood also flexes a bit. Water was quite choppy yesterday but it didn´t have a problem getting over it even without footstraps.
I agree. DIY is the best. Then you can make it the way you want plus it is an awesome feeling riding something you made. I can´t think of one thing I would want to change about the board. It is perfect for my location. Nice and shallow water for literally kilometers.
Gorgo. I was super surprised by how light my board was, just a tad heavier than my 128cm board.
Kozzie. I live across the street from the beach. So just carry everything over the road, inflate, give pump to family member to carry back and off I go. When I´m done, deflate, roll up the kite, put in my harness with my bar, carry that in one hand and carry board in other. Presto. Home in 2 minutes.
Will go take a picture now.
Select to expand quoteMozKiter said..
Hi Bigtone. No didn´t put in any rocker. There was a slight rocker in the wood as I bought it so there was a slight rocker. The wood also flexes a bit. Water was quite choppy yesterday but it didn´t have a problem getting over it even without footstraps.
I agree. DIY is the best. Then you can make it the way you want plus it is an awesome feeling riding something you made. I can´t think of one thing I would want to change about the board. It is perfect for my location. Nice and shallow water for literally kilometers.
Gorgo. I was super surprised by how light my board was, just a tad heavier than my 128cm board.
Kozzie. I live across the street from the beach. So just carry everything over the road, inflate, give pump to family member to carry back and off I go. When I´m done, deflate, roll up the kite, put in my harness with my bar, carry that in one hand and carry board in other. Presto. Home in 2 minutes.
Will go take a picture now.
Hate choo!
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..ColoColo said..
Board makers are smirking at this thread I bet. DIY is the way to go really. Learn and appreciate
Are you saying professional board makers are smirking because it can't work as well as a commercial product? Or because they think people are on to something good?
When I built boards I had any number of people telling me that the design would never work and would ride badly. I proved them wrong time and time again. When it comes to a light wind TT, the only way a commercial board beats a home made plywood board is in weight and durability.
Yeah, the later. +1 with you man
Select to expand quoteKIT33R said..
Shinnster - light wind machine.
It doesn't have to be a Shin, but I reckon true kite surfing is really a surfboard with wax, you and a kite. Thanks for sharing the vid
There's the pics of my board and my kiting spot. Still havent put straps on. But it is fun riding like that. Surprisingly easy to waterstart in deep water even without straps.
You can see the island I cross over to in the background. Total of 4 crossings so far. One with the strapless board.
Hope you guys like the board
