Hi I have my web site up and runing now where I have info on design consepts dealing with kiteboards. Have a look.
http://www.dereck.com/kiteboards.htm
Thanks and great forum toby!
fly safe
regards,
Dereck

Just surfed your site and found it a pleasure!
Great looking boards with great features! Your knowledge and
experience in board building shows!

I'll definately keep you in mind when I look for a board.

Hope it all continues to excell ; )
Best regards,
Kaito

Kaito,
Thank you for your kind words.
I enjoy what I do and one of the most enjoyable things about making cusotm boards is actually communicating with the riders themselves and getting to know the people that ride my boards.

fly safe and best wishes.
regards,
Dereck.

hey derek,
Your boards look cool, and the web site with the info is very usefull.
I just started building my first home made board and I found the shape of the BRAT board very inspiring, so I decided to make a very similar shape to my board, just that mine will be a little longer: 124CM X 38CM.
I hope you dont mind...


I use a plywood core with polyester glass lamination.
I hope it will not turn out to be too heavy.

Thanks you for the inspiration!!!

Ron
Israel

NO Ron, Of course I don't mind. The Brat is a great board. Hope yours works out great too.
I am glad you liked my site. Thanks.
One of the many advantages of high density foam core over plywood is that you can change the profile to adjust the flex patterns. This is hards to do with wood, but give it a try...maybe a little extra glass between the footstraps to stiffen the center section maybe?
One recommendation...use epoxy instead of polyester...against wood it has much better bonding propities which you need for marine use and flex qualities. Polyester does not flex like epoxy so it will crack or delaminate.
Being a small board you shouldn't have too much of a problem of weight.
Have fun, and keep us advised.
Thanks again for cking out my site.
regards,
fly safe.
Dereck.

Derek,

Thanks for the tips.. still got some questions:
1. Foam- What type of foam do you use? do you use layers? (Ply Foam) what is the cost of foam and where do you get it from?

2. Flex- yes, i will add a glass layer in the middle of the deck, to stiffen the center.

3. Epoxy /Polyester- Epoxy is 5 times more expansive here than polyester, so for the first board i used the cheaper thing. I hope to progress as my skill will improve...

4. Rocker shape- My rocker came out that it is flat in the center of the board and from about quarter board distance from the tip it stating to raise towards the tip, having 4.5 CM rocker hight at the tip on 124CM long board. (i.e: rather than having a circle shaped rocker, i got more of a snowboard shape rocker.)
Hoe do you think it will affect the board behaviour???

Thanks

Ron

Hi ROn,
1. I use davinacell high density foam.
I do not use layers, just different thickness from 1/2 to 3/4 inch depending on the board and flex I want. You can get it from any advanced marine store that supplies high end resins and marine meterials. It is quite expensive and normally comes in sheets of 4X8 so you get a few boards out of one sheet.
2. As far as the rocker shape, for a thin board that will flex, the static state rocker shape is not relevent at all. Like a snow board don't be fooled by the static state rocker. When it is being used the is very different. The middle of a snow board sometimes has an inverse rocker. This is done to stiffen the middle so that under load it will not flex as much as the tips but the middle will flex (and have a curve) to the designer's goal.. If the snowboard was super stiff with the rocker you see it will not work. The kite board is the same. You have to design the rocker into the flex. So, even though you have a flat section in the middle you actually will get some flex in the middle but less than the tips and that is good. Unless I know exactly the flex propities of the board it is hard to tell you how much static rocker to put in. Hope this makes sence.
If you totally flatten the middle and stiffen it too much and have sort of flipped tips and it will not work too well. But also keep in mind that on thin boards the foot strap placement is very important as well and dramatically effects the flex. A wide stance flexes the middle section and stiffens the tips and a narrow stance allown the tips to flex more and stiffens the middle, all effecting performance. I recommend you set up your foot strap inserts to give you some options of widening or narrowing your stance so you can experiment with it. I have no experience with plywood boards. But it is cheeper and the beauty of it is that you can experiment without too much cost attached. So don't get too caught up with details too soon. Make it, try it and have fun during the whole process.
fly safe.
Dereck.

dereck

Thanks for the answers,
see the board in process here...

(YOU"LL NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THE LINKS BELOW INTO THE BROWSER>>> THEY JUST DONT WORK ON STRAIGHT CLICK)

http://www.geocities.com/ubwt142/board/board1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/ubwt142/board/board2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/ubwt142/board/glass.jpg