My FIRST board, (before the molded Foam & Carbon) was 3/8" ((exterior ply))
from Home Depot. 4oz glass with a bit of 50K carbon uni & epoxy finish.

I made the rocker with strips of various thickness wood, Taped to the cement floor.
I pre-cut the board 1/2" Larger than the finish outline then tossed it into the Hot-Tub
for an Hour ; took it out & placed it on the rocker-table with Bricks on top then let
dry over-night.

Took 3 tries before it took to the desired shape.
Jumped into building a Mold for a carbon & Foam one, the moment i saw how the
plywood one looked !!

I recommend Ya make your first board a BIG one, & don't spend a Lot of time on it !!

This was my first Carbon & Foam one , it's a 158 X 47 ; still ride it in light wind :

Bille

Yeah it's quite a big board. I figure for starting out it will make things easier. I can always cut it down later or convert it into a table or wall hanging. Just set the rocker today so I'm going to leave it for a day or so and see how it turns out.

The set-up is about 3cm of plywood underneath the board and a couple of cases of pop just off center on both ends. Here's to hoping it turns out well.

dry plywood wont keep a curve. You either need to glue 2 strips together or dunk your board in water, get it comlpetely soaked and then put a curve on it, the wood will keep a curve if you bend it wet

I did soak it down pretty good before placing it in the set-up. I guess I'll just have to see if it was enough.

You need very little rocker to make a decent board, even 1 inch of rocker might be enough.

Has anyone tried to bend the plywood with a steam cleaner. A friend of mine was did this for other purposes, not for a kiteboard. As I understand high temperature softens the glue in layers of plywood, so after cooling playwood keeps the current form.

I would think it would work. I've heard of some guys using irons to steam the board. Could be worth a try.

Just pulled the board off the "rocker table" and it looks to have work quite well. There was a few spots where the veneer lifted but a little wood glue and some clamping took care of that. Going to give the glue 24 hours to set and the stain it tomorrow. I rounded the rails slightly with a power sander but imagine they would still be considered a straight rail.

Finally stained the board and it looks to be ready for either sealer and the mounts for the footpads and fins. I think I may want to epoxy the board yet in which case I assume that I'll need to place the mounts first. Any suggestions for a good mounting method for the footpads? I was thinking of using stainless steel T nuts.

There is some discolouring on the board, I think just due to an uneven surface. It looks much worse in the picture than it actually is.

stainless steel t nuts work fine.