losethestraps.com

by **tungsten** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:39 am

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum but been lurking for a while, so I want to say HI for a start to everybody. Great site!

Inspired by you guys I got to work and made myself a wake skimmer according to the recommended 54"x20.5" with 2.5" nose and 0.75" tail rocker @ 18", built in 0.1" plywood top and bottom, 1" deep ply rails, and glued in EPS foam, covered by 2x 4OZ top, 1x 4OZ bottom, epoxy hand layup. I'm really happy with the outcome, it was my first board in this built, the weight is 3kg.

WHAT A BLAST! had a couple sessions on it, really sturdy, nice flex, and I already got the carving down heel & toeside. Gybing is much easier without straps as well.

Couple of pics for you. Good winds!

Tungsten

by **tungsten** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:42 am

more pics

by **Lonny** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:31 pm

Hey Tungsten,

Thank you for joining lose the straps! Welcome!

Thank you also for posting those killer shots of your woody skimmer! It looks unreal. :shock:

You have some serious skills. I love the fish carved into the deck. Nice router work! I am super impressed. I wish I could ride it to know how it feels compared to my board, which are the dimensions you based it on. The next time you make one of those please shoot a little video or pictures during construction. It would be great to see how you did the construction for other DIY people on the forum. Awesome work!

by **Todd** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:51 pm

Tungsten - Wow! Your new board looks sick. Are those EVA garage floor pads that you made the deck from? Very clever I must say. Now that we are all frothing over this bad boy, we need to see some pics in action!!! Congrats.

by **Waggy** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:51 am

Now that is just so cool! the best i think i've ever seen for a "self build"...thanks for posting the pic's...we are not worthy! :wink:

by **tungsten** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 12:24 pm

Thanks for the nice words! I'm just coming in from a 3hr session on this baby! Yeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaa! Anyone planning to build a board for yourself, stick with these measurements, they are spot on, it's all there. Board feels really natural.

The EVA pad is a cheapo floor pad from a sports chain called DECATHLON, for those gym floors you know. It comes in 25"x25" squares in a pack of four, that would be 50"x50" for 10 bucks. A bit thicker than normal pads, so fire up the grinder and be creative, works really well. The lines are done with a sharp knife, easy job free hand.

I'm planning to build a couple of those for friends, I'll do a vid & pics, promise! Riding pics, gotta talk to my mates, but you know, when it's blowing nobody wants to take pictures, they're all out rippin'. Oh well. Someone will have to swallow this one.

cheers, tungsten

by **Waggy** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 1:34 pm

tungsten wrote:I'm planning to build a couple of those for friends, I'll do a vid & pics, promise!

Please do so...I'd be very interested, your board looks so sweet, I'd be very keen to do a build myself, so would be way cool if you could post some pic's and vid to point me in the right direction....I'd even call it a "Tungsten Special"...LOL

many thanks...(waits with baited breath

)

by **sundogchicky** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:30 pm

supa sick!! dig it. craftmanship and creativity, i give you an A+ and a kitten sticker fo sho. very impressive almost rendered me typless......
:wink:

by **tungsten** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:55 pm

Hi Waggy,

I've got some basic pics, but no full docu of the build.

It all started with a real basic rocker table (see pic). I cut out the top skin & the bottom skin, using 0.1" 3 layer ply. Cutting is carried out with a sharp knife. I cut out the side walls of the same 0.1" ply, that is 6 left side walls and 6 right side walls. Next, cut out the 6 nose and 6 tail pieces, made of the same 0.1" ply, all cut out with the knife.

NOTE: cut top and bottom sheet at least half an inch bigger than your shape. Same goes for the outer line of the side walls. The inner line is exactly measured, the outer line is bigger than the shape. When everything will be glued together, we take a jig saw and saw the real outline, that's why.

Now all the wood is pre cut, take a foam blank (I used a cheapo EPS (extruded polystyrol) from the hardware store) and shape it so that it fits inside the side walls. No need to shape the rocker, a straight blank will do, we'll bend it in shape on the rocker table. Try if all the pieces fit together nice and snug.

Now we want to glue stuff together. Important is the right glue. For woodwork, the best glue around is polyurethane wood glue like gorilla glue. This stuff produces a mild sort of foam and holds bomber, it's water resistant as well. Place the bottom sheet on the rocker table, fix it with some screws OUTSIDE the shape. Glue the side walls, front and rear pieces together, and the foam blank in the middle.

NOTE: PU glue allows you 1 hour to get your stuff in place, that's enough if everything is prep.
NOTE: side walls and front/rear piece must overlap by some amount. What I did was cutting every second side wall piece 0.5" shorter both front & rear. Front and rear pieces are big enough to cover up for this. If you don't overlap with every layer, it'll break at that point.

When everything is in place and glued (glue is still fresh), fix the whole thing to the rocker table by driving screws through the top sheet, side walls and bottom sheet into the rocker table. Screws are OUTSIDE the shape. Start on the rear end of the board and work symmetrically to the tip. 1 screw every 3", so you need maybe 100 screws. Once screwed down, weigh down the top sheet. Let glue set (1 day is safe).

Take screws out, and cut the outline of your board with a jig saw, working slowly and carefully.

NOTE: cutting slowly and carefully with the highest accuracy possible is really important, because sanding out any flaw takes eons.

Sand down to shape thoroughly, start with 40grid, down to 180 grid.

Do the layup. I did 1 x 4 Oz bottom, 2 x 4 Oz top epoxy job - read up board building on the web if you have never done a layup, i.e. here http://www.surfersteve.com/

I did bottom first with wrapped rails, then a top patch where you have your feet, plus the two top layers, not wrapped but hanging straight down. This creates a nice edge, once hardened out, you cut the overhanging top glass to level with the bottom, which leaves you enough resin to shape the rail that you want - I recommend sharp rails.

If you want fin(s), mount fin boxes / plugs as described above on the website.

You can of course do the same in polyester, or vacuum bag it, up to you. I will make myself a better rocker table and get a vacuum pump for future jobs, but as you see, you can do perfectly without.

Some pics:

That's really it. I did no paint job as I'm lazy, up to you.

by **tungsten** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:57 pm

more pics

by **tungsten** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:59 pm

more pics

by **Lonny** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 6:33 pm

Tungsten,

Man that is an incredibly awesome post.

Thank you very much for taking some time to help other us out and showing us some of your magic. I love the pictures of the rocker table in your on your living room dining table. That is dedication my friends! Nice. Plus you have a bass, and a telecaster! :twisted:

Honestly, I think the wood flavor looks awesome just the way it is, I would not have painted it at all.. However, I do think lazy is the exact word I would use. I am lazy, I would not have made it past step 2 of your instructions. :oops:

I am going to post all your information on the blog as well. It is too good not to have a spotlight. :idea:

by **Waggy** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:28 pm

Tungsten....

Dude i can't thankyou enough, (A)..for taking the time to post your pic's (B)..for sharing all your secrets (C)..for the full and indepth build information...I'm a bit of a "Self build" freak, and will getting myself in to action to follow your lead, to build my "Tungsten Special"...

Kind Regards, and most sincere thanks, with people like you on the forum's (which there are not meny, but funny enough it seems most are on here) it's such a better place thankyou... :wink:

by **tungsten** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:52 am

You should have seen my girl twist & shout when she ran into it. :shock:

What can you do, it was too cold outside for the glue job, and first things come first

Lonny wrote:... I love the pictures of the rocker table in your on your living room dining table. That is dedication my friends! ...

by **treeboy** » Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:00 pm

That board looks sweet-really inspired-been think about doing something along the same lines for ages-dont think my skills can really compete with that though. Nice job

losethestraps.com

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

Build - Ply wood skim with XPS core

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