DIY
Fri, 08/03/2012 - 11:50
Diy directional project
Wide board with wide tail is all you need in light air.
This DIY project is 1 in” thick 21 wide with a 14 in” tail
Gos Up wind in 12 kts with a 11m while surfboards and big kites are B&F’in
In 14 kts.. having a blast….
For you do it yourself’ers
1in” home depot expanded polystyrene foam
1.5 mill okoume deck and bottom
4 mill okoume parabolic stringer (stringer first then top and bottom for i-beam strength)
two 5/16 red ceder strips on the rails (then shape)
tail block/ nose block
whatever ever fin boxes
race light construction
NO GLASS!
(add one layers of 1.5 okoume on deck and reinforce foot pad area with another layer of okoume for jumping)
I Laminated everything with west system epoxy and 403 microfibers
tools – jigsaw/ router /sander/ bar clamps
finish with epoxy
get your shapes here and print
http://www.blendingcurves.com/temps
1’ to 1 ½ of tail rocker and 3- 3 /4 to 4 in” of nose rocker will cover most conditions
Keys to this project
Rocker line template
Make a simple rocker table with your rocker line. ( three ¾ 1x5 pine box with plywood)
Cut your stringers and rail pieces to your rocker line.
Just use weight/bar clamps and outline foam cutoffs to glue up the stringer/rails
ROYOS
Rock on your own shit
Fri, 08/03/2012 - 13:28
#1
Nice
Some inspiring build techniques here. I want to do build a board of my own since I have all the necessary skills from just being a geeky build whatever I can engineer.
Does the stringer and the rails provide enough durability?
too bad my current living situation doesn't warrant any build activity 
My tools sure do look lonely piled in the closet.
I would say I am doing just fine on my big twin tip down to 8 knots though, but not with an 11m kite!
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 09:58
#3
Looks great! What made you go
Looks great! What made you go the all wood instead just use glass like surfboard construction? It seems to me this is more work than the glass layup method. I've built all wood (plywood) light wind twin tips with no glass and was also thinking of building a light wind surfboard with the pink foam stuff and just glass epoxy. What kept me from doing it, you can get pretty cheap surf style kite boards used. The plywood twin tip made more sense to me as it was really cheap and fast to build. Anyway, your board looks fantastic, great work.
Sun, 08/05/2012 - 12:13
#4
"Green"
Building a relatively “ green” board was my primary reason for going with wood.
Over the years I’ve built 30+ boards. Mostly wind surfers some surf boards, lots of plywood twintips. polyurethane / polystyrene blanks and polyerster/ epoxy resins and fiberglass are toxic. The dust, fumes waste etc… suck! This directional has no fiberglass and very little resin compared to a traditional shaped board. The xps foam manufacturing process can produce Hydrofluorocarbons, so im looking for a “greener” blank . Like honeycomb cork ????
Mon, 08/06/2012 - 22:55
#5
I built a board with the Home
I built a board with the Home Depot pink foam. It turns out that it outgasses when it gets warm in the sun. The fiberglass bubbles. I keep bubbles from getting worse by always leaving the fiberglass side face down on beach. The bottom side has wood layer so no problem with bubbles there. Also, it doesn't do it in the water because the water keeps it cool enough. The pro foam (divinycell etc) is way expensive but the pink foam bubbling is a pain.
Mad Cow: pink foam and plywood twin tip surfboard
Chris
The parabolic stringer and ceder strip combo make for a very strong rail,
After 6-8 sessions I cracked the 1.5 deck ply at the front strap, I continued to ride for two hrs, jumping hard on a 9m day and I couldn’t break the rail, so I peeled the pad off
And added a full layer of 1.5 ply under the pad with another layer just under the foot straps. I’ve ridden another 5-7 times, lots of jumps and all's fine so far. Added a vent plug too.