Kiteforum.com

I'm a new foiler. I have a Liquid Force fish foil setup. I also acquired a Slingshot foil, but I don't have a board for it. I don't really want to move my LF board back and forth from the LF foil to the SS foil. I would love to try the Dwarfcraft, but I'm cheap. I started reading about building a DIY board, and I would like to give it a try.

Based on what I've read, and given my lack of any board building skills whatsoever, I think a solid wood board (pine and/or cedar) is the best plan. I traced a basic side outline of my LF fish foil onto a 2 x 4 turned sideways, giving it a little more nose rocker and shortening the profile from 5'3" to 56 inches so it fit into the 3 and 1/2" of the 2 x 4. It is about 1 and 3/8" thick all the way around. (See the attached pictures.) My plan is to duplicate the template 14 times (for a width of 21 inches), glue them together, cut out the nose and tail, sand it, stain the individual boards, and put on a layer of epoxy.

I'm posting this to see if there are any obvious pitfalls I'm missing. Obviously, one concern is whether the board will float the foil, so my plan is to put it together roughly (before sanding, staining, and epoxying), take it out into the water with the foil attached, and make sure it floats. If so, I'll plan on drying it out, sanding, staining and epoxying. If not, I'm not sure what plan B is, other than try to use a hole saw or jigsaw and create some air chambers and trying again.

Anyway, am I missing anything else? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

I'd use cedar rather than pine, we have made several paipo boards from cedar, if you carefully select your boards you can find really light ones ( the lighter the color usually the lighter the board) look for boards which have the grain somewhat follow your rocker. the slingshot NF2 is heavier than the LF , But I would think there would be no problem with a cedar board floating it if you make it as light as possible, You could also cut out center areas of each profile especialy in the front half of the board, leave a few in the middle of the board solid,( maybe just a bunch of holesaw holes) I would stagger the cutouts so they dont all line up( for strength), this would make a semi hollow nose. if you use 2x6's or 2x 8's you could probably arraing two profiles from each board and allow for a thicker board overall although you may then have to go with 1x6 or 8.

It's going to be very heavy unless you can remove a lot of wood from the middle of each board before you glue them together.

I built a cedar alaia once upon a time, fairly light, but nowhere near as light as the one I purchased that's made from Paulownia. Worth investigating the cost of boutique lumber before you start building, makes a huge difference in performance and rot/mold resistance since you can just seal paulownia with linseed or tung oil.

Paulownia is so satisfying to work with. I made a few alaia boards with it. It is a bit heavier than balsa, but way lighter than heart cedar or redwood. Some say it is the strongest wood there is by weight. Trouble is finding it these days. I think it got very popular with Ski and board builders. It is easy to find saplings though? I would like to farm it, but nothing grows where I live. Beats the hell out of foam and fibers.

The Hover Glide, I assume? Even if you diddle with the bolts to get it to fit, it won't work well on the LF Fish unless you ride strapless cos the balance is wrong. So if you're going to copy anything, copy the DC or the AA anyway

I decided to put the board build on hold. I'm slowly getting touchdown jibes, and the volume of the LF rocket board has been really helpful in keeping the board from sinking as I switch feet. With my non-existent boardbuilding skills, it seems like I will progress faster if I stick with a production board made for beginners. I may revisit the idea of a build after I can get through foiling jibes/tacks. Given my current rate of progression, that'll be in about 2-3 years, if I'm lucky.

Thanks for the tips!

Here's my wooden board builds. Works good, lasts a long time!

Bluecrewmark wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:36 pm

Here's my wooden board builds. Works good, lasts a long time!

These boards look great . I've got some questions about the paipo -I'm lining up a similar construction project, so I'd like to pick your brain

1. How thick did you make it?
2. How much does it weigh?
3. How stiff is it? Any noticeable flex?
4. What wood did you use for the stringers?
5. Did you glass it?

6. Which SS inserts?

If we look at the Hoover, it's got 32 inserts...That is a LOT. If strapless, no worries.