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Hi Guys

Here are some of my "Doors" that I have been making for friends of mine.
165x49
Stainless inserts
Wood core
Full glass skins done in vacuum bag.
Textured bottom skin.

The weight came out the same as a real Spleene Door (Monster) and they really fly upwind.
Nice riding board with the OR pads and straps.

They look beautiful and professional. I'd love to see more pics.

Yea, beautiful. Please post more details how you put the glass on, how did you wrap it around edges?
Is it epoxy/glass or polyester/glass laminate.

Wood core out of two layers of ply?

Great job.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

The trick of getting the glass to wrap around a straight edge is the vacuum bag. When you put the vacuum on and the bag starts conforming to your board I go around and "pull" the extra bag material down around the "corner" this pulls the glass, perf paper, and peel ply tight to the board material. When I do my boards I do two separate vacuum bag processes, one for the bottom skin first, then one for the lighter top skin. I end up with two layers of glass on the edge of the board with this system.

I use West System Epoxy for my layups, works nice and I can get it locally for a good price.
The wood cores are two layers of 1/4" plywood.

We rode these boards the other day head to head with a real Spleene Monster Door, and guess what? Both riders liked these better than the real one! Mine were a lot drier with no splashing off the front of the board. The real Spleene Door was a much wetter ride by far. I changed the end contour and fin placement of the board from the Spleene Door.

Here are some more photos for you.

Some of the mini production run that I just made.

The bottom of my boards utilize a "disturbed boundry layer surface" that I think really works. Think of a smooth golf ball versus a dimpled one. The dimpled one will travel farther with less effort than a smooth one.

what is the thinkness of each wood layer?

how do yo get the dimpled surface?

What did you use for the dimpled surface? I have been looking for a good vinal table cloth but havn't found just the right surface yet.

These boards look really nice,
but the benefits of a dimpled surface?
I have to say I am quite skeptical.
The situation with a kiteboard is very, very different from a golf ball, to say the least.
Lots of engineering info on the subject if you want to dig around for it.
But if the boards work, they work, and they look nice too.

BWD

Having been involved in the aircraft design business for over 30 years has been rather interesting for me to say the least. Everything from structural design and assembly to flight testing of new aircraft designs has taught me to have an open mind when applying established theories to nonstandard applications. Funny things happen when you least expect it, and the rough bottom surface of these boards is a prime example to this.

Like I said above, we rode these boards side by side with a smooth bottom Spleene Door and we found that the rough surface gave the board more "feel" and felt more alive under foot.

It works well enough for me to start applying the bottom surface treatment to some new boards that I'm presently working on.

Thanks for interest and comments.

ONE