hollow - I mean completely hollow - wood surfboard

I decided to push the limits on this one - so I built a board with no internal structure. Rails, top deck, bottom deck, that's it. I used redwood for the solid rails, and 5.2mm plywood from Home Depot for the top and bottom. Glassed the whole thing with 4 oz. e-glass and Resin Research epoxy, then glossed with polyester resin.

Right now its a single fin, but I plan on adding sidebites at some point. First ride report: rides solid - easy standup, turns smooth and responsive, trims well, and doesn't show any signs of riding differently because of being completely hollow. Hope to get it into some more waves soon!

The board finished at 16 lbs. complete, but weight savings wasn't high on the list of priorities for this one. I didn't hollow out the rails like I did on the mermaid board.

This was really just an attempt to utilize the inherent qualities of the plywood to create the design. Meaning the spring angle of the rails combined with the flex of the plywood dictates the deck dome and foil. No computer drawn cross-sections, no tedious cutting ribs, stringer, etc. Rough-shape the rails, glue and clamp the plywood, finish shaping the rails, that's the surfboard, glass it and ride it.

My intent also was to see just how much interior structure is needed, no way to know unless you start with none, so that's what I did. I wanted to challenge some of the assumptions that dictate wood board "fishbones" structure.

Here are some of the comments my build inspired from the internet:

Nice work Huck,

Have you considered just placing a few small blocks between your skins, rather than having a complete void ? Would it work at say 18" centers just to give it some additional strength.

Also maybe the addition of an extra layer of cloth in your lam to compensate for no ribs. Just a thought, i know we do get these from time to time.

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Huck, for heaven's sake, put us out of our misery and build a nice "normal" board using your original and practical method, nice light 4 oz glass job like you do..... and, for f#*k's sake.........DON'T BLOODY PAINT IT!!

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By the way bottom skins which move in and out independently as described don't promote beneficial flex instead they do what is called 'oil canning' . I've experienced it, both on yachts and surfboards and it slows them down while reducing control. . . the very worst of both worlds.

Personally I think that you are barking up a wrong tree with the completely hollow idea. Either the board will oil can or if it is stiff enough not to, will be extremely rigid.

Also completely hollow boards usually rely on performance killing dome in the deck in order to get sufficient skin rigidity to support the rider

They also reduce the direct contact the rider has with the water and the surfboard hull.

The deck and bottom need to be connected.

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the biggest question mark for me is with this is... natural twisting, that might be the double edged sword. lying on the beach, it torque into a cruel picassolike facsimile of yer former creation..lets hope not,though!

delam and filleted bonzer

Because this was my favorite board, I started using it more. And one time, just once, I forgot to take the vent plug out after use. A few days in my hot garage was all it took - major delam on the bottom!

So I had to strip and re-glass. The mermaid was gone, but I decided to paint her again, which is a bit of a project!

However, it occured to me to try something else, while I was at it. Opening the board up, and doing some weight loss surgery. Sounds crazy I know, but I did it, and am just about ready to re-glass.

longboard rebuild - broke in 2 at Malibu!

This longboard was donated to me after it was broken in two nightsurfing Malibu.

Since applying my "Bahrman Rails" method to a foam and glass board, I've been wanting to explore a little more the union of wood building techniques with conventional foam and glass surfboards.

I thought a broken foamie would be the perfect guinea pig - since many of us woodies are into it for environmental reasons, I figured salvaging a petrochemical byproduct from the landfill, and creating a surfboard from a recycled wreck would be a worthy cause.

I did not have a camera during the rebuild. So I have no "in progress" photos. Hopefully I'll get another chance to do this, and I can share my photos of the process.

I glued the two halves back together with epoxy resin. Clamped the two pieces down in place, but didn't mask it off well enough before I poured my resin,and it seeped out and ran over everything and made a mess. But it stuck together anyway, even 'tho it was a weak joint. So then I cut out a 12" section of rail on each side, and replaced it with redwood, epoxy-glued in place, then shaped the redwood to blend in. It was still a weak joint, and you could tell when handling the board.

To beef up and stiffen the repair, I cut a "stringer" slot out of the middle, about 3' long, 3/4" wide, and slid a piece of 3/4" cedar in, and epoxied it in place with 5 min. epoxy glue.

Then I cut a diamond shape out of the composite deck surface, the length of the new "stringer" (3'), and epoxied some thin redwood and cedar planks down, then blended them in once the glue dried. On the bottom, I just filled the glued repair area with bondo, sanded it, and painted it white to match.

I'm sure I've added a few lbs. to the board, but I'm not too worried about it, it still feels good.

ride report on my wood/foam hybrid

OK, I finally got it out. Just once, in some fun small waves at Malibu. And I love it! Its not really an "easy paddler" per se, because it doesn't have the volume required for that. But it catches waves great - once its in the takeoff position, with the wave lifting the tail, it goes! Which is what I need, with the reduced paddling strength that comes with age.

I need to get some more wave time with this board, but so far I can say it catches waves well, turns and trims well, and looks to be a great, fun board! Got some comments on the beach as well, the wood rails give it a unique look.

Little Miss Understood

This board confuses people! Its wood! Its foam! But its not a compsand! I had some delam issues before I realized the board needs to be vented because of the hollow stringer - the air inside expands in the heat, and has to have somewhere to go. So that's why the deck patch looks different in the two photos - I had to replace it!

"I don't get it"

I posted pics of this on a wood surfboard building forum. This was one of the responses. "I don't get it". I told them, its a foam and fiberglass surfboard, with a hollow wooden stringer and solid wood rails. For riding waves. Don't know what there is to "get" - its not a disease or a math problem LOL!!

Swaylock's withdrawals!!

Swaylock's is still down! I thought anyone might like to know that I host a Web community that the Sway's crowd may enjoy. It's called alternative surfcraft - a place to discuss homebuilt, custom shaped, hollow, wooden, compsand, foam, or any other of various and sundry alternative surfboard building methods other than factory produced surfboards.

Everyone is welcome to join in on the alternative surfcraft message boards and I look forward to seeing you there!

To join our discussions, simply go to http://forums.delphiforums.com/alternativesurf/start

alternative surfcraft is part of Delphi Forums. If you've never used Delphi Forums before, you'll need to go through a quick registration (so you can post messages). It only takes a minute and it's free!

Hope to see you there, Huck