Hi Guys,

I am looking into making my own SUP, I had found a seabreeze link of a guy who uses polystyrene.

He shapes the board, and then pulls down the nose and tail to get the rocker but for the life of me I cannot find it again. Any ideas.

My question is what is the recommended density of the polystyrene to use, I can get 16 and I think 24 kg/m^3?

I don't want a too heavy board and I weigh in at 90kg and want to use the board in the surf, any recommendations with foam and shape especially tail shape? I am looking at a 9'6, 30-32" wide by around 4"5 thick wave board.

I am new to the sport but feel I can get the balance quite quickly.

Cheers
Rich

Rich,

I use VH which is great to shape and is used widely by custom shapers like Blane Chambers (PSH) and Tully St John (Laguna Bay).

You can go lighter grades but you need to change you glassing schedule but from what I have seen, these lighter grades dont offer long term durability and are more prone to sucking in water if you get a ding or crack.
(despite what others tell you)

My last shaped board would be aroun 6.5 kg and plenty strong
At the end of the day its sup to you.

Regards,
Scott

Goaty,
Not much denting on mine, more air means more room for water too get in. Hey, I am not going to try and convince you otherwise, just providing an alternative opinion to Rich. I agree that at the end of the day, you can get an M grade board lighter but in my opinion, it does offer enough long term durability. M grade is great if your making a new board every 6mths and happy to throw the old one away and it adds more cost because you need to glass it more.
1kg to 1.5 kg weight gain in not worth it IMO. If you really want light and strong, foam sandwich wins hands down.

Rich,
The 24 would be VH and the 16 is probally M.

Regards,
Scott

I'm not talking about SL grade CMC - 'M Grade' is what I said. Sl is too light.

I own 3 different custom SUPs 2xM 1xVH, the M grade ones are stronger and lighter and have virtually no dints. I call BS on them lasting 6 months and I surf 4-5 times a week.

Hey richswing try making one of each - using identical layups/resin combos and see which one is best - I have done it numerous times in VH, M and SL.

Use 'm' everyone, I couldnt give a rats toss bag......

It will leave plenty of VH for me.

I know the thread you are looking for. I can't find it either. I will PM "LSD" with a link. It was his thread.

(I'm in the VH camp for SUP - with dilusional thoughts of an Ocean Race Board Factory/Shed in Torquay ! )

look for the inexperience guys out there likely if you havnt made say over 50 boards plus i would use vh grade as your skill level and glassing level is likely not quite there yet this is a heavier grade but a bit easier to shape .
The vh offers more weight but not alot more strenght for the amount of extra weight.
But for experienced guys like Goaty who have done millions of shaping boards and glassing , sanding etc well they no how to use lighter materials yet still produce a stronger product,
I dont use Vh personaly as i feel you can get an extra layer of glass on to a board and get 10 times more strenght, then using a heavier grade foam which offers little strenght for more weight, But if you are just pocking around use the Vh its fine and if you can only get vh or sl i would get the vh
Cheers

yeah i kneed the rail in and cracked it open yeah that happens when your surfing a 5 foot plus shorebreak sometimes? but what are you going to do its called a dig.
I personal make my own boards super light as i can that board had 2oz cloth on it but i would never put anything like that on a customers board.
Scotty when i started shaping computers werent really being used widly yet so i did it the old fashioned way by hand with a planner and still do some of my original files this way.
I wasnt having a go at you mate i was just stating that its easier for a less experinced board building to use vh foam , not sure why one would get offended about this comment?
Gee back in my day you couldnt even call yourself a shaper unless you had done 500plus boards , you had to start out picking up the dust first, now you just design on a laptop to funny how the times have changed

scotty im use your boards are epic mate
i never actaully was even refering to you i was just answering the original questen posted by richswing
You love a good dig ha , well i find digging gives me a sore back the next day so i prefer to go supping instead

I just compared both VH and M grade foams from leftovers I had in the shed from
the almost handful of boards I have made and I gotta tell ya the ball size and density
is almost identical.

I also just did 2 little tests with some 12" x 1" off cuts.

I attached a bag with a piece of string and hook to the foam and kept adding bolts
to the bag until the foam broke. The M grade actually took 11 more bolts (almost 1kg)
than the VH grade.

I then dropped my sledgy from 1.7m high onto both foams 5 times each. The M grade
was left with deeper dints initially but after 10 minutes both had rebounded to
almost flat again.

So from this high tech experiment I guess you could say M is less likely to break but
is more prone to dints. I'm assuming the reason M didn't break first was the lower
dinsity meant it could flex more before snapping. And the reason it dinted easier
was again the lower density. So thats one point for each grade.

All that crap aside, my first board was M grade, went well, was light and got creased.
The second board was VH, went well, was light and got creased. I don't think it will
make much difference which foam you go for, it will come down to glassing. Goodluck!

Now you guys are making me second guess.

There is $40 difference in price, going for M grade will save me half for the next board.

But I suppose it all depends on the layup, I was going to use 2 x 6 ounce all round and maybe extra layer on the standing area but I feel extra layers of glass weaken the board at the transition point from thick to thin, I would rather go for one large piece. I find when I am working with Epoxy I tend to squeeze alot of the excess out, due to the viscosity and the curing time compared to poly resin.

Is it difficult to use a veneer, would you have to vacuum the board? I was thinking of a bamboo veneer but can't find the stuff.

Cheers
Rich

Hey Guys,

Finally found the link to the SUB shaping.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Dales-new-board/?page=2

I have ordered my polystyrene foam, just got to go and pic it up.

Would anybody have a template of a 9'6 wave board I could borrow (software ackushaper or similar)

Cheers
Rich