Re: plywood surfboard

Posted by Alan Speakman on Oct 31, 2006

Hi Landlocked,

Some thoughts...

* To give you a direct answer to your question, yes, I THINK your design would probably be strong enough... And if, during the process of construction, it became apparent that it wasn't going to be strong enough, you could beef up the spacing of the ribs... A few quick tests will answer that question pronto.

* But I think that there's a much more insidious problem afoot... That of epoxy/glassed "sealed" spaces and water sneaking in via creeping osmosis, capillary action, or just plain voodoo... Somehow, moisture always finds a way into a �sealed� wooden cavity, and eventually causes rot. (Take it to the bank.)

* A suggestion... Suppose you put a few 1" holes in each rib, (nothing that will compromise the structure of the rib itself), and then use screw-in deck plates on the top of the board, fore and aft, (see: http://www.clcboats.com/kayakgear.php) to ensure that water/moisture never gets trapped... (As a bonus, the screw-in plates would give you minimal storage area for things like a cell phone, GPS, MP3 player, sandwich, power bars, car keys, etc.)

* You might want to check out Bolger/Payson... I think they experimented with a a plywood wind surfer...

Best of luck!

Alan

In Response to: plywood surfboard by landlocked on Oct 30, 2006

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