Kite surfboard design/drawings

[Dengan]

I was thinking of having a go at making a kite surfboard and have found someone who would cut the blank to order. Is there anywhere to get design and drawings for the cnc machine? Wouldn’t have a clue how to draw myself! Had a search around but couldnt find much.
Cheers

[thewindego]

boardcad.com

[TomW]

Akushaper. Takes some skills

[longwhitecloud]

Cut and paste these days, also has article on how to copy a board you like that you can make edits to also.

Go to a shapers computer today and they will have a huge library of shapes that they can tweak easily... they are pretty much doing as above...


Some basics:
soft rails
wide tail - less control in bigger surf , although straight rails are better for cruising around
wide - slower
short - better turning arc
wide at front - in the way for hard turns - although you can go short and stumpy
too much volume - boards back half sit out teh water too much - cannot sink tail , bite into wave

https://www.shape3d.com/Warehouse/Default.aspx

Where to get cut:
https://www.shape3d.com/CNC%20SCAN/CncS ... dUser.aspx



i think a shaped blank is around $140 last time i checked

[Dengan]

This is fantastic stuff guys- big thanks- im getting reading and planning tmrw. Cheers all

[Dengan]

Hi all,
Did a bit of reading and here is where ive got to in my research. Glad to get any feedback on any of this!

Volume
-i read 1litre / 3kg, but i think that this is for a surfboard, so for kiting, i would get away with something less. At 70kg, that means 23litres, or i was thinking a bit less at 21litres?
I believe my current north wam 5’10” is also 23 litres and that feels like more than i need in most conditions.

Materials/construction:
-id like the board as light as possible, so was thinking EPS core. A layer of 1oz cloth/epoxy to seal. On top of which one layer of 2mm cork followed by 0.5mm bamboo veneer followed by 6oz cloth/epoxy.
-no stringer
-rails: same construction (no high density foam or additional glass)
-high density foam just for finboxes
-thruster set up only to limit the number of fin boxes i have to install!

Method:
-quite like the sound of vacuum bagging. Seems to me that glassing under pressure puts all the materials under tension and results in the most solid construction. However, it also seems like a large outlay for compressors etc, also since i will likely make too few boards to justify the spend. Any huge improvement with vac bagging or good enough to hand glass?

Ive looked into shapes too, but have more work to do there, thanks for all the links!

Cheers all

[BWD]

Learn to wet out glass and bend it around curved shapes on a smaller scale before trying to laminate a board. Calculate the amount of resin needed to get a 50/50 lamination and make it work.
You can use wood, scrap foam etc to practice this.
There are benefits to working with a shaper or “foam cutter” amd benefits to diy from block foam or rough shaped standard surf blanks. If uou want to “be a shaper,” you have to do the shaping.

Dont mess with bamboo and cork first go around.
Cork is heavy as lead. Bamboo is heavy too.
Both are best used by experienced builders with superlight foam 1-1.5lb/ft^3. Or to make a board heavy.

How you get your blank ready is up to you, cnc milled or hand shaped....
Use 2lb/ft^3 foam. It holds up and is much easier to work with for beginners.
Use epoxy resin.
Use only denatured alcohol as a solvent/cleaner. No acetone.
Use 6oz E glass.
Use a layer of 3mm 60-80lb foam, divynicell or corecell, as a deck reinforcement. Also a good reinforcement to set fin boxes in.
Deck layup is one layer glass under the dense foam, 2 layers over.
Bottom layup is 2 layers glass, 3 layers over the finboxes - just make an overall tail patch, not individual patches. Edge of patch should be Vee-ed or scalloped not straight across board.
For kiteboards, make sure the finbox reinforcement goes all the way from the bottom surface to the deck. An easy way to do this is to route your finboxes then drill some small holes (3mm-ish) around the perimeter through to the deck. When you set the boxes let the holes fill with resin, forming columns that carry force between box and deck.

If you want more flex, lay one layer of the glass at 45 degrees. Buy 50 or 60” wide glass, it facilitates this.
If the board is too flexy, add uni carbon strips afterward. If you want lighter (more delicate), use 4 oz glass except for the first layer on the top of the deck. You can also use 4 oz under the hard foam of the deck, 6 isnt needed, but it is easier and chesper sometimes to buy more yards of one kind of glass, and 6 oz handles easier.

Infusion and vac bagging are cool but unless you are a super expert you will likely do plenty of hot coating and sanding even with these techniques. Just try to figure out wet layup before messing with vacuums etc.
With care and practice, excellent results can be achieved without a lot of extra tech, consumeables, tooling and complication....
Watch jimmy lewis videos on youtube and follow kazuma (matt kinoshita) on instagram. The content is solid gold, given away for free.

[Dengan]

Thats great BWD, thanks for taking the time and writing the clear instructions.
Id read plenty, but nowhere did i see such a simple step by step details. All very clear.
makes conplete sense to start simple and avoid vacuums etc, which is what i suspected.

Will also keep it to a glass only board until i have more experience, i suppose with the three layers of glass and high density foam this will be comporable to veneered boards in terms of toughness/durability?

Still looking into shapes and will revert when ive made more progress there...

Cheers

[BWD]

Learning what you like as a rider, and can accomplish as a builder, is a long and fascinating journey.
When I started kiting quite a while ago with limited budget and a primitive "industry" around the sport, DIY seemed to be the best way forward.
Years later, it has made me more comfortable buying a high end hydrofoil, since I figured out how to make my own boards a while ago realizing some savings in money and aggravation, if not time.
If you put in the time and effort, after a few builds you can make yourself a great board with your choice of materials for a few hundred dollars.
Don't be discouraged if the first try or two aren't quite right.
Really basic things like figuring out how much epoxy to fill the voids in your foam surface or porous veneer, and how to make sure you are using 200g of resin for 200g of cloth, etc. (buy a scale), go a long way to getting a product performs like commercial ones, even if the paint job is amateurish -or none. Finishing is another journey, one I am less invested in.
If you go for it, also pay attention to personal protection -masks for sanding, glasses or goggles, no acetone (soaks through skin carrying whatever is dissolved in it into your body), etc.