Wakeboard DIY build from XPS foam and Fiberglass

[loraerial]

Hi everyone,

I'm Loïc from France and I didn't find any Wakeboard Forum so I've decided to post my build here, hope you don't mind.
So I started to build a Wakeboard few weeks ago and I'm delighted to share my progress with you !

I wanted to build my first 141 cm Wakeboard from XPS and Fiberglass.

For the rocker table I used the rocker from a Slingshot Wakeboard I've found on internet :




Then I build the rocker table from MDF :



The shape is from the Slingshot Wakeboard as well :



For the core, I wanted to use 2 cm sheet of XPS foam.
After the cutting, it started to look like that :



For the channels, I wanted it to be simple to build, so I made them like that :



I then glue the inserts with Epoxy and made the rails from Epoxy and Micro-balloons :






After a lot of sanding, it really starts to look like a Wakeboard




For the fins, I found some nice one on Thingiverse and printed them with PLA :




I'm quite happy with the progress so far and will continue soon with the next steps.

So now I will start to fiberglass the whole board with a vacuum pump on the rocker table.
I have some question about this part and I hope you'll be able to help me with it !

For the stratification, I'll use a 200g/m2 taffetas fiberglass with epoxy but I wonder about the number of layers.
I wanted to use 6 layers for the top and 4 layers at the bottom, what do you thing about it ?

Many thanks in advance for your advices.

Cheers.
Loïc

[thewindego]

You say the foam is XPS? Do you know the density? Typically xps means extruded polystyrene and not a good core material. You sure did an amazing job shaping!
I use 6-9mm corecell M80 whichi s 80kg/m3 and a 20oz triax glass on each side is minimum ok with extra patches under heels. So your layup is ok. The core may not be. So your xps is really a big question

[loraerial]

Thanks a lot thewindego for your quick reply and your feedback

I didn't know this kind of foam wouldn't be a good material.. my XPS density is 31kg/m3.

I thought I could make it stronger when adding few more layers of fiberglass.. am I wrong ?

[RalfsB]

I have built several directional boards from XPS, a very good material; with XPS usually it is suggested to go over the surface with rough sandpaper so that the bond between the layup and the XPS is stronger and there is less risk of delamination. Hard for me to tell about the number of layers; for a surfboard it would be enough to have one 200 gram layer on the bottom, 2 on the top, maybe a 3rd layer where the feet are but that's for a thicker board. I wonder what will be the board's weight with 6 + 4 layers of fiberglass. If you are doing vacuum, you could use carbon fiber -- need less layers and it is lighter.

[loraerial]

Thanks for the advice RalfsB, these are good ones !

I made some maths.. and with 6 layers each, so 12 in total, I will end up with a Wakeboard of around 3 kg :

[thewindego]

I made windsurf b0ards over many years and the early blue homedepot xps was great. But then something in the formulation changed. You even tell by the smell when you sanded it. That newer foam delamed like hell. Google on the swaylocks forum about xps and delams. There must be a good xps but it wasn't at homedepot anymore ;(

[loraerial]

I'll give it a try with mine.. I found this on a website :



Hope it won't delaminate !

[thewindego]

Good luck. I hope you have some good xps.