Bomb-proof Directional Board

Ben · Since 28 Jun 2005 43 Posts Hood River

5'8" Monkey Wave, 5'8" Rodeo Fish and 5'7" Kite Tow - your welcome to give em a spin when I see you at the beach.

aksurfer · Since 30 Aug 2010 92 Posts Anchorage, AK

Find a good shaper, have him shape you an epoxy board and glass it with a bamboo deck. Very strong but not bulletproof and you will be happy with the performance vs riding a log. I jump on mine strapless, not huge but above average and it is holding up great.
I use www.pyzelsurfboards.com

Hein · Since 08 Mar 2005 1314 Posts Possessed

Some things to fly in the face of current thinking:

Bamboo on the deck looks pretty, even sustainable for those drinking the Koolaid. Stiffness far from the n.a is a bad idea. Carbon on the deck or anywhere for that matter is also bad news. Expensive too and one could say its sequestered. ha ha. Stress concentrators should be avoided. Same story on stringers.

Doyle does have a good plan. H80 is too stiff, however, and he has to make his boards small and thin to make it work. no float. H60 could do with the proper laminate. He might do well to bury some of that so hated EPS deep inside where it can't get wet. Or make the center of his cookie out of H45. Idea is to decouple the bottom from the top but to move the vulnerable shear plane inside closer to the n.a. Such a great board but then FCS. what gives?

John B's boards are works of art. "wood is good" they say but the beauty of that longitudinal grain that makes the tree stand tall is not where it's at on the deck. lot's of stringers and bulkheads to concentrate those stresses. Run the grain across the deck instead. But that's ugly. Damn wood and it's good looks.

Do the natural frequency test. Does it ring? Cartilage doesn't like that. A lower resonance frequency is better and may let you avoid the surgeon later in life.

Shape can solve a lot of problems. Then design a structure and laminate to suit. Sorry but it's beyond the carpenters. But not the realm of PHDs. Common sense with a healthy dose of engineering understanding will take you there. Read and learn. Then build and succeed.

My go to board is 6' with a full EPS (happened up on a semi full from Mexico where the styrene gas is less regulated) It has magic rails. I jump it with reckless abandon 4 years running. An asshole who hates me even tried to run it over with his twin. It shrugged it off. I put my heel through the top of the rail. Biscuits fixed it and it hasn't budged yet. It weighs 5 1/2 lbs with fins and a thin pad.

No, I won't build you one. I offered for a time but now you can't afford it.

nickdward · Since 11 Aug 2008 130 Posts Seattle Stoked

Get a surftech (or any of the other sandwich construction boards mentioned) for cheap that will ride like a cork or get a sweet custom

Hein · Since 08 Mar 2005 1314 Posts Possessed

A lot boards with stiff reinforced decks and skins experience 'lock up'. They flex to a point (usually not much) and then abruptly stop. It's like bottoming out a suspension which causes to it to kick back and potentially pitch you off. You need decent suspension travel with a soft bump stop to stay in control and protect your body and the board.

bwd · Since 04 Aug 2007 385 Posts Obsessed

Hein you're a guru around here but it's an empirical situation.
Maybe if Bellacera says his boards are strong, the question should be,
"who has broken one?"
Wood might not be so bad...
What about the new firewires with paulownia skins and buried glass over EPS?
Is that bad because of the wood on the outside?
Is it good because the glass is nearer to the NA?
Last bit is kind of rhetorical -it's too soon to know of course, just throwing it out there...

Hein · Since 08 Mar 2005 1314 Posts Possessed

The problem with wood is the desire to show it off and make dubious claims of sustainability. So cosmetics and being green ends up trumping structural behavior. Ever seen a wood skinned board with the grain running across the deck?

barfly · Since 31 Mar 2005 1216 Posts Portland BRACKISH

Good post.

For economy sake I agree w/Nick. The TL2's have been great for me if you're interested in epoxy. They have the suspension for the most part and are durable.

In the past I have had problems on these boards when strapped (pressure dents and cracking) so don't use them strapped anymore but still they're pretty burly even if strapped.

The best improvements for the TL2's is to create two fabric or carbon patches where your feet go and across the deck. This may reduce the performance some but allows for the flex.

Hein would probably say that this is a hack, and is, but has worked well for me.

Here's where I reinforce. Note that the back patch is in front of the forward thrusters. This is b/c the heel dents happen typically b/c of the pressure you need heading out through the break and your foot is forward for speed. When you are ripping a wave your foot goes back but for me it doesn't spend a lot of ride time there when I'm pinching hard to stay upwind and where the pressure on the deck is the greatest. If jumping a lot you could put patches all over but IMO just defeats the purpose. Try to minimize the risk with the least amount of weight and performance degradation.

Da Yoda · Since 12 Mar 2009 79 Posts

I had started a similar thread on BAK...
http://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10020&hilit=bomber

I've been using a 2008 UG FreeWave which has held up real well. I'm into strapless airs, so this board has taken a beating like a champ.
The FreeWave was eventually reshaped & renamed the Kipuna. Now it's called the NewWave by Axis www.axiskiteboarding.com

The other boards that fall into this category are...
Amundson Freestyle Wave
Nobile Infinity
Litewave DV8

Wink

Gman · Since 11 Feb 2006 4911 Posts Portland Unstrapped

bwd · Since 04 Aug 2007 385 Posts Obsessed

i only make pizza board, but if i made a sandwich board i'd try this recipe:

barfly · Since 31 Mar 2005 1216 Posts Portland BRACKISH

good point bwd, but my boards are uglier

bulae99 · Since 12 Jul 2006 1692 Posts XTreme Poster

That is a great board!

Hein · Since 08 Mar 2005 1314 Posts Possessed

yummy shark bait board.

george · Since 13 May 2012 33 Posts

This is a great discussion, however realistically speaking, for the aging hacker (ummm...I'm asking this for a friend...) that likes to ride the Oregon coast shore pound in 25-30kt side-on winds, do these subtlities of a surfboard make a big difference? I've ridden 3 very different surfboards in these same conditions and they are all a lot of fun, and I don't think I can tell the difference of where the neutral axis is located. Two were kite surfboards, one a fish and one a squash tail, and the other one a pure surfboard, from 3 different manufacturers.
Again, acknowledging that one is not the best rider, and never will be, do people here think that this type of rider will have a better experience on a 'better' board?
I ask because I will be in the market in the future. I don't mind spending more, if the ride will be significantly enhanced. Thanks for your insight.
George

ldhr · Since 21 Jul 2009 1490 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

seems like everyone got off topic on their own agenda.....
the guy was asking for a board that's damage-proof for luggage handlers, nothing mentioned about ride quality or how it holds up to actual use on the water.
"not worry too much about the airlines smashing it up".
If that's your main criteria - it's more important how you pack your board than what it's actually made from.
I travel (often) with normal glass boards in a well-padded bag plus extra padding from my wetsuits and kites and bubble wrap. No damage in the past few years.
But - if there is damage by baggage handlers, most often it's a compression ding.
It's important that it can easily be repaired.
With a glass board I can squeeze a little Solarez and be on the water in 15 minutes....or find a local repair person.
If you have bamboo, wood, or other exotic materials, good luck getting a repair done by yourself or overnight. Maybe you can Solorez - I don't know.

Finally - back in the windsurf days I had a F2 board that was plastic over foam. It was durable, ding-proof, and it rode great. Tiga also made one.
I'd love to have a kite surfboard made from same construction.

bwd · Since 04 Aug 2007 385 Posts Obsessed

Well, bic made them of plastic in the early 2000s, my first ride ever -in DR.
No idea how long they made them or if they sent any to US.
Board was a slightly egg-ish, kind of big guy shape, 6.5 to 7 feet I think.
Actually better than the sky pirate but would feel pretty sluggish compared to a shortboard on the wave I would wager.

Re: neutral axis, it's engineers' lingo, but I guess you could "feel it" if you snapped your board and ran your hand across the foam in the middle....

For air travel put pipe insulation foam on your rails, something over nose and tail, fins off, use a coffin bag, the kind that costs money, put a wetsuit or a folded up kite on each side of board, you should be good. Take a ding kit and some duct tape, stickers ...