Experimenting With Hand Boards

My 'puter wood identification needs some work!
I'll be down to enter that comp if I get these finished up by then. I won't have any to sell this time around, but seems like it could be fun.

Looking good man! I should have made a router template like you did so I can replicate these a little easier... maybe next time.

Definitely 100% success.
After seeing the one with the strap I had a face-palm moment. As a sailor I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN a quick trip to West Marine would be all I needed. Thanks for posting a close up of the brand HARKEN... I feel like an idiot for not thinking about using halyard stop/guides.

How does that one with the ladybug and flower print work for you?

 

I've got an idea about what I'm going to do and will post it up when I do it. Still finishing the boards, so will probably address the straps next week sometime.

Thanks man! Mine are prototypes, so they could spontaneously combust and create a sharknado the moment they hit the water for all I know. If these work good, I'll be confident enough to bust some out for some folks.



Oh yeah, I finally did a rough measurement on mine. They are 12.25" x 7.25"

 

Haha! Classic.

Emass: All waterskis used to be made from wood. I learned how to waterski on a set of **** Pope Jr.'s made by Cypress Gardens Waterskis--they were pretty ubiquitous around here. I still have one that we use as decoration in the house but is currently in a room under redecoration. I'll post a pic of it when I get a chance. I used to have an old Cypress Gardens trick ski but it got lost in a move at some point (ie a chitthead roommate probably absconded with it). Those are pretty rare.

 

OK, OK!!!!


B======D Pope

 

Alright! I finally got a chance to give them a spin for about an hour today in 2.5' @ 10 second low tide waves from 11a-12p right on the South side of Crystal--it was surprisingly lined up pretty nice but a little fat then pitching on the inside.

I don't have any swim fins at the moment and there was no way I was going to use my 4' long spearing fins without my pink tutu and glow sticks, so I stole my wife's fins..... They're big on her and she wears neoprene socks with them, so I thought I would be ok although tight.... Well.... Let's just say I've got 5 blisters on the tops of my toes that I just ripped off and applied liquid bandage (been a long-time user, best first aid item ever) on top of them. Not sure I have ever felt pain quite so acute--liquid bandage always stings but this was insane. Anyway, back to the ride report...

I caught about 15 or so waves with each board to see if I could tell a difference in the different bottom designs. The one with the Wenge stringer and the vee through the middle tracked a little more straight than the other with deep single concave and keels--but that was about all I could tell in this preliminary session. Both boards gave me a good bit of speed down the line as they should, I out ran a couple of the mushier waves.

They both really turned on in the steeper, barreling waves. It was like stepping on the gas as soon as I got in the pocket, I was able to keep up with the barrel until it finally closed out. Again, it didn't matter which board I was using, so I'm sure it's just the effect of using a hand board (which I'd never done before).

One thing I'm going to do on the next couple I make is to considerably foil the rails. These two have really full rails and I want to see how much a change in that variable affects the performance.

Here's a pic of them after their maiden voyages:


The straps are quick and dirty. I went to a hardware store and got the following: nylon fairleads, 3/8" stainless screws, 4' 1/2" poly strapping and 1/2" strapping buckles. Once I got home I got really safe and pulled out my wife's sewing machine--but it couldn't handle the thickness, so I had to do it by hand. I suck at sewing by hand, so we'll see how long my handiwork lasts. I have yet to cut up an old wetsuit to sew together some sleeves to go over the strapping to make it a little more comfy (even though they are by no means uncomfortable how they are). In any case it should be a nice aesthetic touch. But, at least they are adjustable so my friends with monkey hands and those with "soft hands" can give 'em a go.

Next time I'm also going to figure out how to put some leash plugs in them--I have to experiment with how much depth I can take out of them without affecting their strength.

 

Man, this thread got away from me! Thanks Gaff!
I didn't glass the wooden ones, but I plan to do the loop thing on my next experiments.

Thanks man! They're performing very nicely.

 

Aaaaaaaand speaking of my newest experiments:

I've got a couple irreparable poly boards hanging around and I've been trying to make some space in my shed, so I got a bright idea this rainy-assed morning. I pulled out this old mini longboard (about 8') my dad found god-knows-where a couple years ago and took it over to the shop with the intent or ripping all the glass off. I grabbed the Dremel, threw on a cutting wheel and sliced a line all the way around the rail line (I'm gong to once again pre-apologize for the poor picture quality and not taking enough photos--I got in a safety-induced zone):

I think you can see the cut and the crap-tastic wax job on the board



Then I ripped all the glass off. The deck came off in almost one piece but the bottom was a b!tch.

After I stripped the glass, I took a pull saw and ran it down both sides of the stringer then cut each side of the blank down into pieces (no pics ..)

I took one side of the nose, pulled out my original fish template then put some scaling marks on it, messed around and eventually came out with a smaller pin tailed blank:


I broke out a Sure Form and some 120p sanding screen and set about cutting a serious single concave that runs from the nose then turns into a double barrel vee kind of thing through the tail. I put some really knifed upper foils on it:

 

Tail View:


Front View:


This one has almost zero rocker.


I then figured I could bust another design out while I was feeling inspired, so I took my fish template and traced it onto another block. Instead of doing the fish tail I wanted to do a half-moon so I pulled out a 5 gallon bucket lid, got it lined up and traced it. Then on to cutting the outline:



I wanted to try something different again, so I decided to put some nose rocker into this one. After some reference lines and fervent stroking of the Sure Form:

 

Since I was "doing something different," I decided to put a forward vee on the nose that carries to the rocker's entry point then dug out a large concave in the middle with slightly smaller ones going to the rails.



Again, I put some serious knifing into the rail foils:



I'm not sure when I'm going to end up glassing these, but I think I'm going to try and shape a couple more designs while I'm at it then glass them all at the same time. I'm thinking I should try some of that bedazzled artsy fartsy chitt and do some experimenting with cloth underlays, resin tints and the like. We'll see.

I'll post up the other shapes as I make them. It's time for dinner now.

 

I'll try and remember to have a real camera on me next time. Those pics SUCK!

 

Well, I shaped out another wooden one... this one is going to be auctioned off on Friday (12-6) at the Hope From Helen Benefit... Blockade Runner, WB 6:30-9:30 for those in the area interested in attending.

I used my same old fish template but widened it out by about 1/2" at the widest point as well as lengthening by around 1". I was aiming to make something with more planing surface to use in more mushy waves. I also added a concave deck, more overall concave on the bottom with more flowing transitions, an 80/20 knifed rail at the front entry going to a harder square rail pretty quickly at the mid point and holding through the tail. I also gave it more rocker in the nose. Too bad I will probably never get a chance to see how this one works....

Hand Board Porn:

First a couple comparing to my original design:




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