Thanks for the thoughts....
I used to windsurf a bit and riding windsurfers with channels I liked how they helped with grip to a point, then released the grip smoothly if you wanted to slide the tail out -like "spinning out" but in intentional maneuvers, jibes, on a wave, etc.
With a kiteboard I also like this kind of move (kind of a standard part of the kiting feeling...),
and ride in (too) shallow water sometimes also....
My latest board has a great balance for transitioning from carve to slide and back, this is a succeessful board for me, but I still want to experiment on the next one.
So just thought I'd try one with channels to use with little fins ( & sometimes none).
I am curious about the methods people have used to shape the channels....
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& @ zob:
My idea is to use wood strip core as usual.
The kind of channels I want is at the tips, for grip, with a flat or concave between the feet as usual.
I thought of 2 ways to get parallel channels in the core without a new table or too much extra trouble:
1. cut a taper into the ends of strips of the core that will become the channel(s) before gluing the entire core together. Glue the core together, sand a little to blend in the flat to channel transition, then put it on rocker table and laminate deck. Take it off table and glass the bottom as a second stage. It would be a 2 shot process, but the advantage is no need for a new complicated mold or table.
2. Glue up strip core as usual, but before putting it on rocker table use a router to route channels into the core. Glass in 2 stages as in (1.)
3. glue up and shape strip core but only glue the central part between feet so the ends of the strips are not attached to each other. Place wedges or blocks under tips of channeled areas on table to force them up at ends. Glass in 2 stages, the ends of the strips get glued together at the same time the lamination is done... Could work but maybe messier than 1 or 2....
Just some ideas