Office was closed for 3 weeks so I had a chance to get in an build a new board to replace the re-purposed twin tip I've been using for 6 months. The main aim was to make something with a bit of volume and to make it strong enough to take a beating while I learn how to ride in the surf. My old board cracked when I hit a sand bank at speed and over the last month of so its taken on a lot of water!
Its 125 x 43 x4cm with about 80mm of rocker starting just after 1/2 way. Core is XPS foam insulation board bought from our local hardware chain called Bunnings. $12 for a 30mm thicksheet that we enough to do the board and then some. I put 3mm ply top and bottom over 2 x 7 mm marine ply stringers. With 20mm Tasmanian Oak blocks where the foil connects and where the footstrap inserts go. Then to top it all off 10z stiched e-glass top and bottom and q-cell/resin filler (because the stiched glass has large, random voids between the weave. Final step was to use sugar/resin to create the grip on the deck.
In hind sight I think the ply was unnecessary and leaving them and some of the extra reinforcement out would would have saved a whopping around 1.3kg. In the end the board ended up the same weight as my other one so no gain there - 4.3kg. Too heavy to be a last attempt at a board but great to have something with enough rocker to recover from a touchdown and some volume so i don't spent nervous time dangling in the water waiting and hoping it will float back to the surface.
Here's some snaps of the construction as it progressed.
I haven't had it out on the water yet but tomorrow looks promising!!