Can this be wakesurfed?

[Surfdad]

I love that! It's always such a compliment to hear someone start a build or consider it citing me as an inspiration. I get a little over the top on some of the materials, but that isn't needed. You'll find that the board you build is one of the best boards you've ever ridden. I'd be happy to help out with any guidance and I really encourage you to pursue it!

btw Thanks!

[Timmy!]

I think I have your email address...I will either shoot you an email or send you a message on FB when I am ready to start buying supplies. I have a couple of other small projects that I have to finish first.

[Surfdad]

Cool! Let me know if I can help.

I finished the top lamination and it's stiff enough to ride. I'm going to glass on some fins and attach the traction and I think she's ready to ride. The "naked" weight is around 2 pounds 12 ounces. I have a little flashing to trim that will get rid of that extra 0.9 of an ounce. The traction and fins will probably add close to a pound, so I'm hoping for a ready to ride weight of 3 pounds 12 ounces.

[NICKYPOO]

Now its lookin like something! What did the thickness end up at?

[Surfdad]

It's right at 3/8" all the way across. So that's max thickness and at the rails also.

Glass on fins and a "sotra" hot coat curing. OH! and amazing artwork also!

[NICKYPOO]

Wow. Look at that machine. It looks fast. 3/8". That makes me giggle. I want one. How durable do the rails seem?

I like the graphics. Seriously.

The fins look big in that pic. Which fin are they?

[Surfdad]

Those fins are Future's F4 template. A Doug Haut design. They quote them as:

Height: 4.38 in. 11.1 cm
Base: 4.22 in. 10.7 cm
Area: 14.22 in². 91.74 cm²

They are very similar in size to the 3/2/1's that James likes. You're right it's a good sized fin.

Thanks on the graphics! I stole it from this tuner magazine. Someone had done that sort of ripped and connected box theme on their car, but the boxes were all real small, I swear it must have taken them 2 years to tape it off! It looked cool.

The rail question is a good one. They are flat'ish so I'm thinking they'll not be quite as suspectible to rail dings as a round rail, but like you note they're 3/8" thick that's not much material! They do have a double wrap of 6 oz carbon, so maybe it'll be enough to stand up to some rough handling.

We are going to take it out for a test today. We're hosting the folks from Paradise Custom Wakesurf boards who are out from Thailand visiting family here in Cali. They are big into Carbon Fiber and molding so it will be interesting to talk shop about this super thin board. Reminds me somewhat of the good old days of wakeboarding with Tony Finn and his skurfer. No one wakeboards with a 3 inch thick skurfer any more.

Anyway, wish me luck that it doesn't snap on the first ride!

[Timmy!]

Wow! Looks great, look forward to seeing the test ride results.

[Surfdad]

This thing was crazy fast! It has a little flex issue, but nothing that a "stringer"'ish bit won't fix. Super responsive rail to rail and as fast as anything I've ridden. There is no such thing as "float" once a board is on plane, I'm convinced of that. I can see where it would help folks with bad knees, but it's a NON-FACTOR once the board is on plane. Also, thickness isn't needed. Folks might LIKE thickness, but it's not needed for wakesurfing. Next up is making it stiffer!

[Surfdad]

A few more

[Surfdad]

And a video of the maiden voyage

[NICKYPOO]

But did you like it? Did I say it looks fast?

The rails look a little grabby up around the forebody. Perhaps a little shape on the next one? It looks like a blast. Actually it looks a lot like the Walzer except better.

Did James ride it?

[Surfdad]

The water was crazy cold and we had Laurent and Pan out from Thailand (and they wanted to see James RIDE not break my board ), so James opted OUT of riding this crazy thing It wasn't as stiff as it needs to be, but once it is, I think it'll be incredibly fun. I enjoyed the ride yesterday but was overly concerned I'd snap it in two.

The whole shaping process will be weird, because I don't really want it to be more like a regular board. I'd like to see what it can do as is, maybe forcing some changes in the way it's ridden. In terms of turning, WOW knife-edge is right. On the lip it was super loose.

I just need to address that stiffness issue and I think that next prototype will be killer.

Thanks for following along Nick!

[NICKYPOO]

It looks like its flexing up between your feet. Is that the case?

"Thanks for following along," he says. Dude you're building my dream board! Thank you.

Speaking of which, what is the cost of this little beauty looking like? What are you going to do about the foam on the next one? What are you going to use for a stringer?

[Surfdad]

Yeah it was flexing at the nose and behind my feet. I'm going to cut it open and look for delamination there. If it delamed because of that stupid PolyU foam, that's the reason, if it's still all connected in there, then it means some lengthwise stringers. This board ready to ride was 3 pounds 9 oz, so there is LOTS of room for some reinforcement.

There are some foam filled honeycombs available that I might try if the issue was a delam or just an area where I didn't get foam into the honeycomb. That was a mess and I think contributed to the flexibility

If that wasn't the problem and it's just too thin to prevent the bending loads, then I have a few options. One is slightly thicker, say 3/4" thick. Another is a few vertical carbon fiber stringers running the length of the wakesurf board.

You're right though, this thing was so fast down the line and would turn so fast and tight.