Hollow Wooden Cedar Strip Kite-Surfboard

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

Well I've been working on a cedar strip surfboard and consulting with a few of you like Kayakdoc and SmallWave Steve and Eric F. Thought I'd share a few photos of the process. In the design I'm working in extra reinforcement like extra fin blocking and extra ribs around feet pounding areas. And will use some carbon fiber in some spots in the final lay up under the glass. I'm not going to make my own fins but rater put some Rob Machado Future Fins in for better performance. So far the weight is not too far off the board I've taken the DIMs from:

[eastside]

Very impressive piece of work! Hopefully it will float

[Martin]

Greg, the craftsman at work!
what does the deck weigh? Approx.
And what is the thickness of the deck?
Assume the bottom is the same.
martin

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

you know I don't own a scale and everyone keeps asking me that. I hold it in one hand (the deck and the bottom with ribs) and it's slightly heavier than the Slingshot board being held in my other hand. I still have to glass it as well. But the wood is 1/4" cedar and will be faired down in many spots when I shape the rails and put a concave in the bottom so that will drop some of the wood off. if I do another I'll start with slightly thinner decking and use more carbon fiber.

[Martin]

Thanks, Greg.
Looking forward to seeing it in action!
That is if we ever see the wind again.
m

[shaggy]

She looks like a beauty Pasta. Nice job. I've been thinking of making a cedar strip longboard for years. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[juandesooka]

maybe the only problem......too nice to use! Is it a kiteboard? Or is it art?

Laughing

[windaddiction]

Maybe a SUP for the next one? I like how you are using stuff you just got at the hardware store!

[~~~~~4j~~]

Wow, that is going to be gorgeous. Thanks for posting, and keep the photos coming!

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

Well there is only so much I can do to get the weight down. So I went and drilled out lots of holes where I hope the extra wood was not needed. Kind of like bridge construction engineering guesswork. Then I took a deep breath and I took the plunge. I glued the deck on! And I'm used to driving to the clear cuts for my construction materials, so the clamping system is essentially junk plywood that was lying around from numerous other projects. I see everyone on the internet using fancy clamps and even PVC sliced tubes. If my clamps were not enough I was ready for shims. They are free as well. But I didn't need them. The Gorilla Glue seems to be a nice product for this. I tested the deck fitting to the ribs / rails for the best possible contact evenly over the entire board but inevitably I'll miss spots so the Gorilla Glue expands to fill the void and the expanded foam is pretty hard when dry. I fixed my North Whip that was 1/3 delaminated and it worked for that. Time will tell if it will stand up to the pounding of kitesurfing and impacts of landing jumps. But it must be stronger than a foam blank with stringer! The back end is really a hodgepodge of pieces fitted in between the stringers for fin blocking that I will streamline and simplify next time.

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

..oh.. and the surf board building inspector made a visit!

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

and the rails are a bead and cove router patters so they fit together as they go around a corner for maximum gluing surface. Here is an image that shows it well. My board has only about 4 strips since it's such a tight rail. this image is a much larger longboard with many. I might not do this next time and just go for a solid steam-bent rail.

[KUS]

I love the fact it is made from a renewable resource... (at least in most parts of the world if we manage not to clear cut everything and all the soil washes away) Nice effort. You may get some orders

[steve-0]

Nice work Greg! I hope Im there when you bring her out for the first run.

[thankgodiatepastafobreaky]

Time to fare down the decks ans shape rails!