Hollow Carbon and Balsa project

[Surfdad]

In between the Core-cell project I'm finalizing a hollow carbon and end grain mat project. It's almost done. I'm bagging the bottom carbon and hopefully tomorrow will bag the top skin. Leaving just the hotcoat. Then, I intend to drill a hole into the EPS and dissolve the EPS core with Xylene.


The Carbon is a great look.

[Lunchbox]

That is going to be a sick looking board...

Nice work as usual Surfdad...

[Surfdad]

Thanks LB,

There is something about carbon that just looks cool, isn't there? I had some bunching issues on the bottom that caused a few resin veins. You can see it in the left sort of upper side of the picture. That one is barely perceptible by hand and will polish out without drama. I have some bigger ones along the rails especially at the nose. Maybe as large as 1/32" so that will require attention before moving on to the deck lamination.

[Jason B]

Damn. That's sick!! CF just looks gnarly. I wonder if it would be hot on your feet while surfing.

What the heck do you do with all of these boards?

[da.bell]

I think you found a groove in the market with the carbon fiber board. How heavy is this going to be when you are completed?

[Surfdad]

Hey JasonB,

When the CF is in the sun, but not in the water it gets pretty hot, but once it hits the water or you're splashing it, it seems to be fine. That is a concern though with expansion and contraction, so this board will have a goretex vent installed. It will allow the inside air to escape as it heats up and expands rather than causing a delamination.

I agree with you guys, the CF is a sweet look.

Hey Da.bell,

This board is being built to be extremely stiff. As I mentioned above, I'm going to use a Xylol washout to eliminate the EPS core...I guess that I should fill you in on the whole process so that it makes sense.

The design goal was to duplicate an Aviso or HydroEpic hollow carbon shell board. I didn't want to use a mold for a one off project, so I shaped an EPS blank then covered that with 8 oz carbon. Next I built balsa rails and attached balsa end grain mat to the deck and bottom. Now I am laminating an 8 oz carbon exterior. After I have that done, I will drill a 1" hole that will be used for the goretex vent and also to pour (repeatedly) the Xylene into the core of the board to dissolve the EPS core. HOPEFULLY, leaving a hollow board with balsa sandwiched between two layers of 8 oz carbon.

My estimate of the board's final weight is in the 7 pound range. WAY TOO heavy to be a serious performance board. I just don't think that I could go any lower with the carbon fabric weight and still retain the stiffness to allow it to be hollow.

What's interesting to me, is that Balsa or really any wood, transfer feel exceptionally well...far greater than foam. Foam, EPS, PolyU, PVC, SAN or PMI dampens that feel, whereas wood transmits it directly. Wood, however, is inconsistent from piece to piece and is heavy comparatively speaking to most foams. The hollow shape is exceptionally lively. It's snaps back and you feel every ripple in the water. It's funny, it also has a drum affect - when the water hit's it, it resonates. I guess it could always be used as a bongo drum if it rides like crap.

If the weight could be lowered to the 4-5 pound range, the concept has some potential, but I think as it is, it'll just be too freakin' heavy.

[da.bell]

When do you plan to put this board into the water for it's maiden voyage? Personally, I am more interested in how hard you would have to work to stay in the wake in relationship to how fast the board responses to movement. Is it possible to reduce the weight to 4-6 lbs? How about only doing the underbelly of the board in carbon fiber?

[Surfdad]

The shape and outline are "borrowed" from TWP Bullet, so it's plenty fast. I may make it a quad, so speed won't be an issue. Hollow construction is a little cumbersome on these small boards. The foam inside is so minimal, like for this project, the foam core weighed in at 8 oz...so hollowing it out saves virtually no weight. However, it offers a significant resistance to crushing, by separating the two skins. Attempting to compensate for that void requires such strength in the skin that it significantly outweighs the core that was removed.

The "hollow"'ness of the board is what gives it any ride quality, with that it's just a tank...actually even with it it's pretty tank'ish.

You could easily build a carbon board with just 1 layer top and bottom of 5.7 oz glass that would come in at 4 pounds or so, that would give you the look and a decent ride. I do believe I have some 5.7 oz around, so I may try that and leave the foam core intact...somewhere down my list of projects

[LovinPowell]

Okay, now I'm confused. Is this a continuation of your other thread, "Composite Sandwich Construction Start to Finish" or is this another project that you have started?

With tax season at the doorstep, how do you find the time to do all this, I barely have time to stop and eat, and you are out playing with resin and fiberglass.

[Surfdad]

Hey LovinP - separate project, this one has been in the works for a while. I'm just incredibly organized! As I was telling someone on the corecell board thread I had that board broken down into steps by day - I'm still ahead of schedule, so I went back to this build.

I've always said that we can find time to do the things we want to do...get the chores done ASAP and then play later. Although tax season will no doubt NEGATIVELY impact my board building.

[mtnsmith]

Man I love the look of raw carbon. I am trying to track down a clear coated cf fairing for my motorcycle and am thinking I will buy a cf hemlet this year as I am due to buy a new one, $700 is a pricey helmet though. My friend has an icon carbon wakeboard, too bad they don't make them anymore. It looks sooo nice though. Good luck with your project, if they ever go into production I think I would be in trouble, I would need one immediately.

[Surfdad]

I'm guessing that you'll see tons of carbon wakesurfers available this year from independent manufacturers The board is now completely encase in carbon.

[da.bell]

Quick, go patent the idea.... You could make millions.

That is a very sexy board IMO.

[Surfdad]

Great idea, except...I stole the concept. I'm trying to think of all the folks that already have it...Aviso, Lost, HydroEpic...a bunch of folks already beat me to the punch.

I think that this design could have been pulled off with three layers of 6 oz and no wood and that would have made it stiff enough to be hollow, without the weight. I also think a single layer of 6 oz top and bottom over an EPS core would be a cool board and that, I'll bet, is what you'll see a bunch of this summer. Last year Walzer offered a carbon model of their board, my hunch is that you'll see almost all of the competitive manufacturers offering a carbon model.

[da.bell]

But they don't offer the "Surfdad Signature Carbon Fiber Wakesurf Board".