show us your custom kit

following on from the conversations in the reviews section,

show us your custom kit.

i've been having some fun of late helping design a freestyle board for "large" persons. pete at NXS is shaping the board and advising on the design outcomes.

the board was made as a protoype for a general purpose wave/freestyle baord for 100kg sailors (umm, Me ) looking for something slashy with a bit of speed

first version hit the water, was tested in different conditions then had some alterations made to the tail to improve tracking and early planing.

version 1 pictured with my custom 95lt fish beside it. graphics love them or hate them were aimed at making a statement.



version 1.1

(revisions effectively included adding some width to the tail and making the rear rails sharper by removing excess tuck).

has been on the water for a few weeks now and receiving very positive feedback from all that have ridden it.

at 120lt it planes up early, carves with ease and has plenty of speed for freeride blasting. i myself have used it in conditions ranging from no wind up to 25 knots on flat water through to knee high chop, with 6.4 and 5.8m sails and a 32cm mfc freewave and a 25cm mfc freestyle pro fin.

design wise, the board has very chunky rails. the first 3/4 of the board sees soft tucked rails that flow into hard rails between the straps and then through to a duck tail (will upload image once taken).

the rocker line is taken from a slalom template with a spiral V into flat plus double concaves through the middle

on the water the board feels like a freestyle board, it rides high and has that typical freestlye feel of a board that tracks well yet still feels skatey when needed.

the soft rails up front give the board a very comfitable ride. the board just eats chop and tracks with ease.

the board is also very slashy in the chop and gets back up to speed quickly.

what has surprised me with the design, is how well the board performs as an allround freeride board. what i have ended up with is a very comfortable board to sail which has increased my fun factor on the water. the board is easy, fun and enjoyable.

not content to stop there,

version 2

is currently on the shapers horse. (i think i am hooked )
to improve it's freestyle capabilities, we will be moving the straps further apart to assist popping.
An additional 1-2cm width will be added to the tail between the straps to improve the planning threshold further.
To counteract the extra volume the increased width will produce the tail is also being thinned out more.
additionally, 1cm of width will be taken out of the board and distributed throughout the length to improve it's slashyness (is that a word?)

version 2 will also have a new graphic if i can get to the screen printers in time.



i am sure others have been tinkering? what have you been building?

here ya go mate,

tba

Gestalt, that freestyle board looks pretty good. What are you doing with that humungous fin on it? Looks like it would work way better with something around 130-180.
How much does it weigh with straps and footpads by the way?
Cheers ,Hoop

Gestalt, shape looks great, and the graphics (version 2 I mean)! It must be hugely satisfying sailing something you built yourself? I'd have no idea where to start, but might have to look a bit more into this...

I still have a lot of handtools left over from closing my joinery business, and I'm guessing I could apply my old hand skills into glass and foam...might have to get to know a board shaper and have a crack at it!

Sorry about the crap photo,s . OES Speed Board , my design and beutifully built by Peter Ross.
If I put some straps on will it blow 30 knots?.
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Nice job Fred !

nice job fred you deserve some credit for getting the board down to 5.9kgs, and is that with or without pads and straps,(remember epoxy is porous (hope you sealed it after sanding it back to the glass) is there some extra strap ancore points so you can move them out, cos it looks like a quick rocker & strait outer profile, well done

have you sailed these boards yet martin, and whats there weight, they look great, nice low profile, and i like the fin forward, that should help stop the nose hovering when the wind gets up

Hey Keef, Yes unfortunately she hasn't been wet yet. Fin is not really forward, just the camera distortion. Rear edge is 90mm from the tail.
6.3 kg,s with pads,without straps. Really happy, Peter did a great job, it,s pretty accurate to my design. Very keen to see how it goes as it is a bit different to the norm.
The Speed board just looks like an absolute weapon. I took it out of the box and went..... "this thing is going to kill me" Fast.......

thats light for all the extra's, what are you useing for stringers , i use hollow 8mm carbon tubeing they use in kites and lay them up under pressure

Sounds interesting but I am not sure I got it right. Maybe a pic could help me to understand the tube stringers.

My stringers are made of the same unidirectional carbon fiber inlays I use for the hull.

(unidirectional meens the fibers are going in one direction,meaning strength in one direction)the rods are the same as your hollow carbon battens in race sails butt 8mm, super stiff and light,there inserted into the deck from the mast step to the nose after the board is layed up with the bottom glassed and before the deck is laminated, use a router bit about 7mm so its 8mm undersize useing some weights to to hold the stringer down( i used two tool boxes) and glue with fgi 45, its a glue thats like jelly and wont sink into the core and sets rock hard, use the block of foam you cut the blank of so you don't change the rocker with the weights

hey jon, i remember routing the fin boxes and footstrap plugs into that board for the wind action catalogue photo shoot, the shaper billy riddell shaped it for himself and at the time it was cutting edge! good to see it in unfaded condition!

cheers ian.