MyPaipoBoards Forums

Well its not that big - but pretty close!
New to the forums (hi all) I've been looking at building a paipo/bodyboard for awhile now. made a few stand up boards in timber. HWS and EPS cored timber planked. never worked with foam - gotta start somewhere.
Dredged the prone forums for quite sometime, and have loved a lot of the boards. I keep coming back to Jeff Chamberlains mega platter, mainly because i'm an oldish fat bastard and need some float - no not really - i also like what jeff said about it being fast and not bogging = making sections.
Decided to get on aku and make a rough blank well oversize. Then hack, slash, scrape and scrub at it with a sureform and sandpaper.
its EPS
5'4" by 26" i started with - i'll measure again soon
got more and more carried away with the shaping - was going to be a bit of a plank. now it has a hydro (caramaran style) bottom with a center concave, hull entry but when i was cutting the facets i like the chine - so it now has a chined/hull entry. scooped deck and a small scoop-S deck in the bow. whew. i don't know if my glassing skills will be upto this or not time will tell........
does anyone have any idea of the benefits/ pitfalls of the chine?? - looked pretty isn't quite good enough
glassing.having no stringer i was thinking 3 layers of 6oz and epoxy - two heavy ? too light ?.
fin layout - I've marked out hanalei fins quad set out and marked/measured it from the far end of the board, anything better?
legrope - plug - gotta be strong and i'll be using a leg rope. any different ideas on an installation/ diy one
anything else anyone can tell me / critique away please. all helpful criticism will be gladly appreciated
will add pics shortly - back to work

okay for a few pictures ....
see if i can suss this out

It looks like it will fly! I used 3 layers of 4 ounce with epoxy resin plus a gloss coat on mine. And it is plenty strong. Mine is only 52 inches with no stringer. It is very stiff with no flex. I love epoxy. I got out of the surf at some rocks the other and banged it a little. There were only some scratches. On my other polyester board I would defintely had a crack. You might not be able to duck dive very well.

5'4" is about right for a Klingon handboard. But I think the triple 6 ounce glassing might be too much. You should get a lot of strength from the concaves once they are glassed.

"KLINGON HANDBOARD" we are amused - don't ever drop in though will you!!!!!

but seriously folks - what would be a good glassing schedule/amount to use? i will be using epoxy, and have 6oz glass - 2 layers and a deck patch or two in a few strategic areas???

Regarding the glass schedule, I guess it depends on what you are wanting to achieve. My boards have 3 x 6 oz, John Galera's board is 2 x 10 oz. His boards were made not to break in Hawaiian surf. My boards do a bit of travelling so durability is important for me. My boards also come into contact with rocks now and then, as well.

Another consideration is the type of waves you want to surf - if there is a bit of chop, the extra weight can come in handy.

A stringer + multiple fin boxes can also add weight. So when thinking about overall weight factor these in, if relevant.

My boards all poly boards. I know some guys can do very strong epoxy boards. Swaylocks may have something.


Bob

Most high quality classic stringered fishes have 2 layers of 4 oz with a deck patch and 2 layers of 4 oz on the bottom. It looks like your board is stringerless. Multiple layers of 4 oz are stronger than multiple layers of 6 oz. Three layers of 4 oz is stronger than 2 layers of 6 oz etc. Also epoxy is a lot stronger than polyester. Also are you going to put a gloss coat on it? That will add strength. Also sealing your eps with micro ballons and epoxy adds strength. My board with 3 layers of 4 oz top and bottom with a gloss coat is almost indestructible.

Glassing schedule info - lots of stuff here. Generally the consensus is 3 x 4 will be stronger than 2 x 6, but there seems to be lots of other variables including foam type.

Bob


http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/tests- ... structions

http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/does-nu ... ers-matter

http://www.swaylocks.com/groups/glass-s ... longboards


http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/eps-glassing-schedules

excellent reading there thank you. there is certainly a fair bit of conjecture - not that its unusual from swaylocks ! but everyone is on the same wavelength that multiple laminations are better/stronger than less no matter what the total glass weight will be - as in 3 layers 4oz or two of 6.
since I've already bought 6oz
i think I'll go for two layers of 6 on the bottom, two on the top and maybe a patch or two around the fin/tail area.
a deck pad seems a good idea as well due to the lack of shock absorption laying down (rather than knee flex standing up) so that will provide more board protection as well.
cheers guys - any other blindingly got pointers???????

I once met a guy that glassed his bellyboard in white epoxy, and used some sort of white sailboat paint for the finish coats. So it was both strong and had good UV protection. It definately looked like a Federation bellyboard.

If you've done an AKU drawing, what is the volume and thickness? Are you going to be duck-diving much or are you planning on surfing those left points?

Fin placement is one area worth thinking a bit about. Can't help you on that one (I prefer finless or smaller fins, though am experimenting with a bonzer).

Bob

sorry no aku shape other than a big oversized lump of foam that i got from the styrene guys. tell the truth i don't know how many liters it would be. tried mocking up a few aku shapes and got a few ideas but in the end decided to slash and scrape away at it.
duck diving - not a lot i'd think but time will tell. fins quad hanalei's set up for quad, pretty close to the rail which is going to hinder tight arc turning with the width, but i'm happy to go fast, make sections - swoop a bit - who knows it may surprise.
left points - i hope so.

How thick is the board going to be? Jeff's interview doesn't seem mention thickness but in this post http://mypaipoboards.org/forum3/viewtop ... =314#p2345 the board referred to on page 1 is 3 1/4". Sub 2" is pretty standard for other boards.

I'm been to NZ three times (mid 70s, 1998 and 2012) but never got as far north as you. Furthest north was Murriwai where I met Dave Jackman and Tony Butt.

Bob