Hi there. I'm wanting to build my own DW board. I'm after some links to good websites for instructions/ sources for gear/ tips otherwise if anyone on here has got some advice I'm open to it. They're pretty pricey here at the moment & noone has one where I live so I thought I'd give it a go.
It'll be my first build so not expecting to create a Kaluma but just a bit of a project for something I can jump on when it's really light wind & most probably fall off repeatedly. If it doesn't break in half getting to the water that is.
I've watched the excellent youttbe of the one built in the aparatment in UAE & inpsiring however bit overkill for my needs & above my skill level.
So basically I'm going to shape a EPS blank & just glass with maybe a patch of CF around the tracks & on the deck above them.
The length will be about 7'6x 20" with a basic current shape with the widest part a third down. You'll see from the following questions I'm pretty new to this but you have to start somewhere so bear with.
My main questions:
Is it best to laminate
How many layers glass would I need & what thickness. I can get rolls of 10Mx1m which sound economical.
How much epoxy resin would I expect to use.
Use a premade foil track mount or just make my own?
If anyone has done one themselves any things they would do different?

That lamination wont be anywhere near sufficient. Tracks need to be in a big block of pvc foam for a start and patching is more like 4 layers of 200gsm.
How much glass depends on foam density.

Also, its hard. Lots of things online are wrong like the homebuild foil board where the guy pours a litre of resin on the glass, then moved it with the squeegee blade - styro gonna suck half that resin up before u can move it. Basic errors like that abounds on yoochoob and stay away from the track installs with gorilla glue folks.

Common styro no good, need 28kg min, 35kg better. The 13-16kg stuff needs sandwich construction (a way better board, but thats not for newbie)

Have a go for sure but be aware its not just a surfboard with bigger boxes.
Watch more pro windsurf board build videos than surf ones.

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Microsurfer said..
Hi there. I'm wanting to build my own DW board. I'm after some links to good websites for instructions/ sources for gear/ tips otherwise if anyone on here has got some advice I'm open to it. They're pretty pricey here at the moment & noone has one where I live so I thought I'd give it a go.
It'll be my first build so not expecting to create a Kaluma but just a bit of a project for something I can jump on when it's really light wind & most probably fall off repeatedly. If it doesn't break in half getting to the water that is.
I've watched the excellent youttbe of the one built in the aparatment in UAE & inpsiring however bit overkill for my needs & above my skill level.
So basically I'm going to shape a EPS blank & just glass with maybe a patch of CF around the tracks & on the deck above them.
The length will be about 7'6x 20" with a basic current shape with the widest part a third down. You'll see from the following questions I'm pretty new to this but you have to start somewhere so bear with.
My main questions:
Is it best to laminate
How many layers glass would I need & what thickness. I can get rolls of 10Mx1m which sound economical.
How much epoxy resin would I expect to use.
Use a premade foil track mount or just make my own?
If anyone has done one themselves any things they would do different?

Yeah I wouldn't attempt a DW board as my first board. Anyone who is happy with their first board build is a LIAR. Prone boards are a little more forgiving and your wasting less valuable material, etc. also on a big board your mistakes will be worse cause there's more to do in the same amount of time so you'll cut more corners, etc.

just buy a production DW. Everyone's making them now.

I did this with a friend, was super fun, very technical and required a lot of reading, a complete pain in the and I'll never ever shape another board again I'm pretty certain, but the whole process was very interesting and rewarding and the board turned out usable. 100 hours easily sunk into the whole project.

I did it at the beginning of this year, prior to all the production boards hitting the market, and now that prices have settled I'm getting a nice price on exactly the dims I wanted. Beginning of the year that would have been double the price at least!

Unless you have a **** load of time I would suggest it isn't worth the effort, and you will be too busy to surf. You should also factor your budget probably in the region of USD500++ in expenses with the vacuum bag, mistakes, etc. If you get the build wrong, you could end up with a sponge that will suck up water and be useless.

I'd suggest if you are doing it to save money then it probably won't save much money, but this depends on how much you value your time, how much space you have to make a huge mess and how likely you are to build more than 5 boards.

Any question you may have will have been asked and answered many times here www.facebook.com/groups/232666917793846

Bad info here already. Go to FB page "board and Hydrofoil building". It has everything you want to know. I have built many boards.

What info is bad here so far?,

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Microsurfer said..
Hi there. I'm wanting to build my own DW board. I'm after some links to good websites for instructions/ sources for gear/ tips otherwise if anyone on here has got some advice I'm open to it. They're pretty pricey here at the moment & noone has one where I live so I thought I'd give it a go.
It'll be my first build so not expecting to create a Kaluma but just a bit of a project for something I can jump on when it's really light wind & most probably fall off repeatedly. If it doesn't break in half getting to the water that is.
I've watched the excellent youttbe of the one built in the aparatment in UAE & inpsiring however bit overkill for my needs & above my skill level.
So basically I'm going to shape a EPS blank & just glass with maybe a patch of CF around the tracks & on the deck above them.
The length will be about 7'6x 20" with a basic current shape with the widest part a third down. You'll see from the following questions I'm pretty new to this but you have to start somewhere so bear with.
My main questions:
Is it best to laminate
How many layers glass would I need & what thickness. I can get rolls of 10Mx1m which sound economical.
How much epoxy resin would I expect to use.
Use a premade foil track mount or just make my own?
If anyone has done one themselves any things they would do different?

I've built a few boards now and a couple of DW boards. shaping the EPS is very messy, but easy to work with. i really enjoyed the process of board building, and very satisfying to ride the board you build at a fraction of the cost of shop bought ones.
best resource is the fb group mentioned, loads of info and ppl are very helpful.

rough idea
2x200g cloth top and bottom.
3 carbon patches over foil box, getting bigger each one.
reinforce foil box to tie it into the deck. reinforce standing area with 3mm pvc layer. 3lts of resin should be enough.
there is a Jimmy Lewis video "poor man's vaccume" shows how to get a good finish without vacuum bag. good luck if you go ahead with it.

Thanks for your replies. I have tried to join the fb page however it's been pending for many days so not sure what's up with that.
I've done many stupid projects before- some successful, some I've thrown away or sold as parts so not worried if it goes bad - it's more an exercise for the mind & try something new. I've got heaps of time nowadays. The price of new DW boards is silly money over here - $3K plus shipping so if I can get away for something under a grand i'll be happy.

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Mark _australia said..
That lamination wont be anywhere near sufficient. Tracks need to be in a big block of pvc foam for a start and patching is more like 4 layers of 200gsm.
How much glass depends on foam density.

Also, its hard. Lots of things online are wrong like the homebuild foil board where the guy pours a litre of resin on the glass, then moved it with the squeegee blade - styro gonna suck half that resin up before u can move it. Basic errors like that abounds on yoochoob and stay away from the track installs with gorilla glue folks.

Common styro no good, need 28kg min, 35kg better. The 13-16kg stuff needs sandwich construction (a way better board, but thats not for newbie)

Have a go for sure but be aware its not just a surfboard with bigger boxes.
Watch more pro windsurf board build videos than surf ones.

Thanks for the info.
Is the pour foam good for making a track block? Trying to source blocks of PVC foam loaclly but not sure who can supply it.
I'm unsure about the differences between styro - What would the different grades be for? Over here the main use is underfloor insulation. I was just going to either try to find a big slab nearby or laminate a coule of layers. Is there a construction type grade ie 35kg vs 28kg? The less dense stuff stuff would just be easy for pressure dings?
Does the styro soak up the resin? I would have thought it wouldn't penetrate that deep. What would you suggest if I'm not vacuum bagging it?

OK many issues there sorry

Firstly get real foam, cut to size, at a foam supplier. Seems you're in melbourne...? There will be polystyrene suppliers who use a CNC hotwire so you can order a block say 2000 x 500 x 300 ish for $150-$200 and starting with perfect square and parallel makes a massive difference. They should have 13kg (SL), 28kg (VH) as aussie standards. 13 will require sandwich / vac bag etc. 28 is OK for surf craft with enough fibre lam. I've made a LOT of kiteboards with it for jumping hard.
Advantage #2 there is you know the density, so then we can advise a lamination schedule.
#3 - if you glue bits together, the glue is harder than the foam and you will never sand the blank just right, without raised glue line and trust me its not fun. Make first board easy.


PVC foam - any composite boat builder will have offcuts they will sell, way easier to get some 20mm ish thick stuff than laying up bits n pieces of thinner foam. No no no to 2 part polyurethane foam, the common stuff in Oz is only about 35kg/m3 (same as a surf blank) and you need minimum 60kg... 80kg is standard in PVC here and 100kg even better if you can find it. Further, pour foams set with voids and you dunno where they are.

Styro soaks up every fluid like when you ding your board and it gets soaked inside. You need to laminate it carefully, by not pooling resin too long. Forget about how deep it may go, if your 1kg of resin becomes 1.5kg its not a help....
denser foam soaks less of course, but there is a marked difference from PU to styro glassing

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Mark _australia said..
OK many issues there sorry

Firstly get real foam, cut to size, at a foam supplier. Seems you're in melbourne...? There will be polystyrene suppliers who use a CNC hotwire so you can order a block say 2000 x 500 x 300 ish for $150-$200 and starting with perfect square and parallel makes a massive difference. They should have 13kg (SL), 28kg (VH) as aussie standards. 13 will require sandwich / vac bag etc. 28 is OK for surf craft with enough fibre lam. I've made a LOT of kiteboards with it for jumping hard.
Advantage #2 there is you know the density, so then we can advise a lamination schedule.
#3 - if you glue bits together, the glue is harder than the foam and you will never sand the blank just right, without raised glue line and trust me its not fun. Make first board easy.


PVC foam - any composite boat builder will have offcuts they will sell, way easier to get some 20mm ish thick stuff than laying up bits n pieces of thinner foam. No no no to 2 part polyurethane foam, the common stuff in Oz is only about 35kg/m3 (same as a surf blank) and you need minimum 60kg... 80kg is standard in PVC here and 100kg even better if you can find it. Further, pour foams set with voids and you dunno where they are.

Styro soaks up every fluid like when you ding your board and it gets soaked inside. You need to laminate it carefully, by not pooling resin too long. Forget about how deep it may go, if your 1kg of resin becomes 1.5kg its not a help....
denser foam soaks less of course, but there is a marked difference from PU to styro glassing

Great info really appreciated!
I've been added to the above facebook group & looks like I've found my tribe there.

I'm thinking about building one with paulownia. The thickness, flat deck and bottom seem like a potential good match for a wood board build. Foil box can go straight into a reinforced paulownia section. A much more pleasant experience than toxic eps board building to boot.

^^^^
Agreed
I am itchy all day and currently look like a snowman

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Mark _australia said..
#3 - if you glue bits together, the glue is harder than the foam and you will never sand the blank just right, without raised glue line and trust me its not fun. Make first board easy.

Agree with this, and generally to just resist the urge and keep it dead simple. Simple straight lines, simple nose and tail rocker, simple deck.

Any clever innovations you feel like implementing should wait for your second board.

The fb group is a brilliant resource.
To seal the blank you use a epoxy and micro ballon mix or spackle (USA filler), lighter than straight epoxy and fills gaps and stops too much resin soaking in. For mast tracks, inserts this is UK based stuff.
www.easycomposites.co.uk/easycell75-closed-cell-pvc-foam
My first board I used "poor man's vacuum bag" technique and really impressed with finish.

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Mark _australia said..
What info is bad here so far?,

Bad advice to use 28 to 35 kg/m3 foam. If you make a dw board out of that density it will be a heavy dog. And you dont want to sandwich a dw board. Too heavy. Just PVC reinforce the required areas. To keep a board of 120l in the 5-6 kg range you cant go more than 20kg/m3. 15 is better if you know how. Have to accept fragility to some extent. No one wants to ride a heavy board.

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Mark _australia said..
What info is bad here so far?,

Not good advice to use 28 to 35 kg/m3 foam. OK for a small foil board but If you make a dw board out of that density it will be a heavy dog. And you dont want to sandwich a dw board. Too heavy. 120l at 28kg/m3 foam = 3kg for the blank alone before glassing. Just PVC reinforce the required areas. To keep a board of 120l in the 5-6 kg range you cant go more than 20kg/m3. 15 is better if you know how. Have to accept fragility to some extent. No one wants to ride a heavy board.

The first wing board I built worked great. I had built one windsurf board before, but that was more than 30 years earlier. The wing board ended up a bit heavy since I did not use vacuum and probably used more glass than needed, but that was not really a problem. I used PVC for the standing area; you'll definitely want to reinforce there and around the tracks, but there's no need to go full sandwich. For the rails, overlap the glass so there is plenty of coverage over the entire rail, or/and use rail tape.

The one thing I'd probably change for a DW board is to use vacuum, and perhaps thinner PVC and less glass, to keep the weight down.

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rgmacca said..
The fb group is a brilliant resource.
To seal the blank you use a epoxy and micro ballon mix or spackle (USA filler), lighter than straight epoxy and fills gaps and stops too much resin soaking in. For mast tracks, inserts this is UK based stuff.
www.easycomposites.co.uk/easycell75-closed-cell-pvc-foam
My first board I used "poor man's vacuum bag" technique and really impressed with finish.

Do you have a link to the poormans vacuum bagging technique handy? theres a lot of different styles so unsure which one is the easiest? I don't really want to vacuum bag it if I have to buy more one use crap that sits in the garage or have to find parts from automotive or appliance wreckers. After all Bear didn't vacuum bag his boards on the pier...

Slyde im trying to keep it simple for a newbie ti get a desent result without bagging pvc all over a 13kg blank, and 20kg can be really hard to find so im trying to suggest what is reasonably achievable for a beginner to do, and get a good enough result.

But seeing as though a 6kg strong board cant be made with high density foam i will bow out from the discussion and go off to keep making them.
EDIT: looks like M grade is avail over east, here its very very hard to get

I'm on my 6th board now. My biggest advice is to keep it simple and to not rush it. That's how I managed to screw up the first 3 (first was to complex with a cork sandwich, second and third had a bad final finishing coat because I used epoxy when it was to cold.).

Currently working on a downwing board too. 20kg eps. Laminating it with 200gr carbon and 100gr glass + carbon patches (2 over the foil box top and bottom and another in the stance area). This scheme is based on my prone board, which has held up great so far (3.5kg, 45l with 28kg eps). At first I was considering a layer of bamboo fineer on the deck for ding resistance, but I'm afraid it might crack due to the deck concave. No pvc sandwich on this one and no straps.

I have a bullet proof board for jumping (60l at 5.1kg full carbon pvc sandwich, heavy duty box, 300gr outer laminate and a lot of reinforcements). The 100l downwing will probably get dings over time, but hoping to finish below 5kg.

I use big matras vaccuum bags and a vacuum cleaner. It's an additional step but makes the finishing process easier imo.

ps: always wear decent protection (respirator, gloves, long sleeves,.)