I just finished my latest project. It's a copy of the board I broke 2 weeks ago. Dimesions are 130 X 37 cm.

I copied the board because it was my favourite board. I just built it from different materials and in a totally different way now. It should be much stronger now and last for ever . I also gave a bit more rocker, because it's stiffer then the copied board. Looks are also totally different. This is the best board I ever built so far.

Layup:

Durasurf topsheet
160 grams/m2 multi directional glassfibre
285 grams/m2 Uni directional glassfibre (UD)
Karuba wood core
285 UD
285 UD
Durasurf bottomsheet

Rails: coloured epoxy. Rails of the board ended up to be 5 mm thick (with laminate and durasurf)
Weight: 2,4 kg's
Rocker: 27 mm
Concave: none
Thicknes of the core: Middle 10 mm, side/ tips 3 mm.
Graphics: printed on thin paper, cut out and laminated into the glass.

Proces:

I first made a cutout of the board, out of the Karuba wood, gave the outline a nice finish and glued the epoxy rails around it. I also filled the finholes with the same red epoxy. Then again I made the rails a nice finish, shaped the board to it's final core-thickness and inserted the snowboard-inserts.

I mounted my rockertable to 5 cm's of rocker, because I knew that I would have to face some "springback" on the core. To keep in control of the final rocker, I laminated every layer seperately. I started with one layer 285 UD on the deck. Then I added the graphics to the deck and laminated the multi directional glass layer and the durasurf to the deck.
Then I started with the bottom layup. I laminated the first layer of UD and after this was finished, I added the graphics, the second layer of UD and the bottom sheet of durasurf.

Today I finished the rails, drilled the vinholes and opened the inserts. I just added the the pads straps, handle and fins and I also took some pics (picture quality sucks, because I took them with a video cam. Better pics will follow later).

This board is the best one I built so far. The finish is near perfect and I think the graphics are very good with the wood. I'm sooooo happy with the result and I can''t wait to test it!

Nice work on that board. how did you do your rails and keep the epoxy from running?

I cut out the board. I took the left-over from around the board and cut 5 mm off it (5mm bigger than the board). I put the core in it again and taped the bottom, so ÃÂ

Looks very nice!
So the rocker table had 50mm rocker, and the board springed back to 27mm? That's a lot of spring back.

Any special reason to use Karuba?

hey very very nice work...I want to build one board to...
Can U tell me please, that wood core, is that a laminated wood or its in one piece... i dont know how to explain it, i dont know english very well...is it glued like snowboard core???

what is the thickness of wood core before laminating with the fiberglass?

and if u want, can u give as a shape of board?

thx....

The springback from 50 to 27 mm was only after finishing the first layer of 285 UD on the deck. After that, I re-arranged the settings of the rockertable.

I used Karuba as a core because someone was selling these cores on a Dutch forum. Brunnotti and X-treme kiteboards also use Karuba. It's not laminated like plywood, but just strips of 1x3 cm.

The core exists of strips (3 cm wide) of wood glued together. It's not laminated like plywood. Thickness of the raw core is 10 mm. The shaped core is 10 mm in the middle and 3 mm at the edges and tips. The laminate and Durasurf added another 2 mm, so the final board ended up to be 12 mm in the middle and 5 mm at the rails and tips.

By giving the shape of the board, I think you need the outline? I would give it away, no problem, but I only have a photoshop .psd file of over 10 MB's. I cannot post it on kiteforum because it's way too big.
It might be better to just redraw the outline from watching the pictures. It's the same as this one (I copied this one):
http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2332135

Thanks for the reactions,

Jan

thanx lord, U are really a lord

Nice work!

What is the flex like and middle thickness and tip?

What did the final bare weight come in at?

Wood boards look so cool and really set apart from the others.

Cheers
Stan

2.4kg duhh
Sorry!

S

Well the board has some flex. Not as much as my previous board had, but I think it's allright. My previous board had very much flex. Although the boards are not really comparable, I've seen and ridden the 2007 Nobile 666. Flex is about the same.
Thickness of the board in the middle is 12 mm (10 mm core thickness and 1 mm laminate and durasurf at top and bottom)

The rails are 5 mm thick, and so are the tips. I shaped the core down to 3 mm at the rails and tips. 1 mm on each side was added by the laminate and durasurf. When I bend the board, it's obvious that the tips have more flex then the middle of the board.

Wood boards are really tha bomb because of the looks. I like the look of wood, especially with some nice graphics on it. On a custom woody, you should be able to see some of the core.
I still have another Karuba core, so I'm already thinking about my next board. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with it yet, but it will have red sidewalls for sure. I think I'll build a plywood speedboard first and then make the Karuba a special project.

I hope to test this one tomorrow. Wind forecast looks great (18 knots) so I think she'll go flying for the first time tomorrow