Anyone built your own board ? Not cool ? Heard you don't need much rocker for it to work, just riding on the rail fins are only optional ? Should I just fork out the money ? Any feedback will be appreciated
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Is this windsurfers annonymous

Save yourself a lot of unnneccessary trouble and time and buy a brand new board from KAOS Karl for 850 dollars, and youre guaranteed a good time!

I spent a lot of time and effort building 2 boards( in the days before there was to much variety ) and they were both crap.IMHO- If you dont know what youre doing, dont bother.

Hey if you're short on cash, give it a bash.

I successfully built two boards out of ply (not sure if this is what you're talking about, but hey I'll continue anyhow).

The first was big, heavy, an odd football shape. The fins were made from shaped plastic based on a hand sketch, and straps were some old windsurfing straps. Did the job great to get up and going, but was a beast to go upwind on (ie it didn't).

The second was based on a production board I borrowed off someone to trace the outline. Duplicated the shape of the board, including rocker (about 3cm tip to tip) with ply, and shaped the fins using some old plastic I had around. Top and bottom layers were very thin (1-2mm) from the back of some old cupboards, the centre layer was 4mm). To reduce weight I used a holesaw to take out most of the inner layer except where fins / footstraps were attached. Glued using 2part expoxy (from bunnings) and weights in the middle to put in the rocker. Varnished and added some cheapo footpads from a guy in osb pk (katana?). More old windsurfing straps and away it went. I used it for 2 years, and have only just bought a production board.

Yes it was a bit heavier than a production board, but not by much. And for $60 instead of $??, I think it was worth the effort.

Let me know if you want more info...(or a look at the board hehehe).

If you want to spend the time and money doing it ,give it a go!there is nothing like riding a board that you have made with youre own hands,having said that simon is right ,you can buy production boards for under $600 if you shop around (and dont go to retailers!!).i have sucessfully built about a dozen boards using composites(divinycell/corecell,carbon,kevlar,glass,epoxy whatever!!)and a vacuum bagging setup .you can build a board for under $500 using these materials but the cost comes into it when you paint the board,one of the best and strongest finishes is 2pack marine paint which is expensive and toxic when sprayed,and comes in **** all colours!and then comes the pads/straps/fins.if you want to build a board because you want to ride something youve made yourself then i recommend it but if you are just trying to save a few bucks then go the production board.

I think making your own board is definatly worth the effort, as with little money and materials you can make a board which performs quit well, even better than alot of production boards, some pros dont even ride the stuff comming off a production line in comps, not saying you will be able to achive this first time round. Best try to watch a board builder before you have a go.
And LouD isnt telling the full story here, those two boards would have been allright if only......