Add straps to a surfboard.

G'day, i know this has been posted many times before but i have come up with very little from searching.

I have just recently aquired a surfboard for next to nothing and am wanting to put straps on it.
Kitepower has this www.kitepower.com.au/catalog/product_17189_Surftech_Strap_Pad_cat_355.html but that is over 5x the ammount i spent on teh board.


They also have this, does this require me still to drill holes in the board?
http://www.kitepower.com.au/catalog/product_16868_Dakine_Footbeds_cat_355.html

Anyways, please alert me to any products that might make this mod a bit easier and please keep the cost down.

Cheers

yeh i figured that, would rather use a turned down stainless steel insert rather than wood. But the whole process seems kind of messy so i was hoping for a better option.

Straps give you warts.

Drill holes either side of the stringer, around 5mm, pick out a decent amount of the foam. leave the surface glass structure as intact as possible, fill up the holes with a liquid epoxy. I used Megapoxy HX, it is almost like water and penetrates into the surrounding foam. Spray you screws with a release agent and push the screws into the holes. the screw heads should be wider than the holes. leave for two days undo the screws, screw foot straps on. if you want to make sure of the strength lay up a piece of fibreglass over the new screw holes, screw your screws back in and leave for another day. undo the screws and let the epoxy cure for a couple of more days before tightening your footstraps up too tight.

As an addition to the above suggestion you could use a trick that boaties use for attachments to cored decks. To remove the foam under the surface glass you can use a small "L" shaped allen key in a drill.

put the long part of the key into the drill chuck.

carefully insert the key through the small hole in the deck, then use the drill/allen key combo to "mince" the foam between the upper & lower skins.

The diameter of removed foam core plug should be 2 x the length of the "L" on the end of the allen key.

Care should be taken with the small hole in the deck, so as not to chew it out too much, care also with the depth of the removed plug.

Practise on some scrap foam if you are uncertain about the outcome

dude i can do it for you.. like a proper job at work.. Have you seen my surfboard..
We have the porper plugs and then fibreglass it.

NSI northShore padz ..I CONFIRM ARE THE BEST OPTiON ! SAFE MONEY AND TIME ! and dont risk to break your board...

We all know that board leashes= very very bad idea but,,, are leg ropes on a surfboard ok?.

^^ look nice but i only paid $21.5o for the board thanx to e-bay, so i dont want to spend that much on it.

Yep straps are so restricting if you actually wanna surf a wave!!!

Use polyester resin in a polyurethane foam cored surfboard.
Buy Chinook footrap blocks (4 per board $5 each from KP).
Or for a really low cost job, green wall plugs from bunnings, drill 6mm holes where you want to try your straps out, mix some poly resin and fine chopped glass, fill each hole about half full.
Block the ends of the green plugs with blue tack or wax, then push them down into the holes.
Resin must cover the top of the plug.
Let cure for 24hrs, then drill the top of the plug with a 2.5mm drill and use 25mm No8 stainless self tapping screws with flat stainless washers to hold the straps down
Estimated cost, if you don't already have resin and glass would be no more than $50

Chinnok footrap blocks have 5 holes in a row approx 20mm apart, and need a router to be able to machines the slot in the board, these are the strongest method, but the green plugs work very well too.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Windsurf'n'snow has the chinook 5 hole inserts for $3.50, also add micro-fibre or chopped up fibreglass into the resin mix to strengthen the bond , followed by the fibreglass cap (give the overlapping area a sanding so the hot/gloss coats are removed and wash with terps). Wait for this to dry and drill the wholes out with a counter sunk bit.

you can use poly or epoxy resins for this though poly will be better as the board is already polyester.

enjoy,
Ben

If you decided to drill holes, use epoxy resin to lay glass over the plugs or holes.
Epoxy is much stickier than polyester and will get a better bond to the existing polyester.
Make sure you sand the area that you want to lay up. Wipe the area with some metho. Metho has a water content and isn't that harsh on the foam or polyester.
The sanding will give a mechanical grip for the epoxy to stick to. Adding micro ballon will not strengthen the bond, but it will lighten the resin. Chop strand glass will strengthen the epoxy structure but will not increase bond strength.

i would say definitely use a leash strapless. otherwise you will spend most of your session body dragging for the board. if you kite a break that is a long way from shore, or if its a reef break you will probably lose your board or trash yourself without a leash.
just make sure you get a long one that won't get in the way when you gybe or ride switch.