Where are my chemical engineers?

[da.bell]

That would be a lot of fun if I had time. I remember when I lived in Hawaii and watching the board shops in North Shore doing their work. The entire room looked like snow.

[da.bell]

You rock surfdad!!!!!!!!!

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/m...tml?1188489092

[dogbert]

You rock surfdad!!!!!!!!!

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/m...tml?1188489092

You clearly have waaayyy too much time on your hands...you need to get out on your boat more!

[da.bell]

You clearly have waaayyy too much time on your hands...you need to get out on your boat more!

I wish but I don't think it would be very fun at my lake come Friday...

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...5&postcount=35

[Surfdad]

da.bell is that Folsom?

I know, I have way too much time to drive myself crazy with. Here is my original "plan" I took a piece of 1 pound density 1" insulation foam and cut the outline out. With a tiny bit of shaping, it's right at 7oz!!!! It's crazy light. I think that if I laminate (vacuum bag) carbon on both sides, that it will become stiff enough to actually ride AND with just the fin boxes, I can get the weight down below 2 pounds. That would be almost a 60% reduction from commercially available boards (now if we don't stuff a foot through it, we're golden ).

I can also make it hollow, I think, by drilling a hole and pouring acetone into it. It will eat away the foam and possiblt reduce the weight of the final board by the remaining 6 oz or so.

[da.bell]

Yes, that is Folsom Marine. It is crazy low this year..

[da.bell]

Looks like you might have a good idea of what needs to be done. The carbon fibers will help strengthen the board. My question would be if you can get a 180 lbs person on it without damaging the board.

[Surfdad]

6 ounce shaped blank! Is that crazy light or what?

Da.Bell, I honestly don't know if the carbon by itself will give it enough strength, I figure that after I get the first layer laminated, I can always add a second layer to see if that stiffens it up enough.

[da.bell]

You are right. Epoxy will be your friend. But that is very light. Are you looking into epoxies that strong but light weight? I wonder if there is something out there other than the normal epoxy people use...

[ascboards.com]

.

surfdad call this number 713-473-7888 fry surfboards.these guys have exactly the epoxy your lookin for.these dudes make the lightest stuff i have ever seen.tell em what your up to and you will prolly make a new friend.these guyz been preachin light all the way since the begining.board sounds like it has potential,prolly a no deal on the hollowin out.but i like the vision.mabe for a grom board?dont make me hollow out one a my grommette rockets before you!haha

[da.bell]

Just a thought

I have a thought. Balsa wood can weigh as light as 4 lbs per cubic foot. If you put a few stringers of balsa wood, you might add anywhere from .5 to 1 lbs. It will also provide you with some additional support.

Red = balsa wood (3 stringers)
Blue = foam
White = Open area where foam was removed.

[dtown]

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

It would be interesting if you could use the same material that they use for the inflatable part of a wake kite. that thing is supper stiff when inflated and it could be filled with heliem. haha

Wife is yelling at me, "you're late for dinner!"

[Surfdad]

Hey Billy thanks for the number, I think that I'm going to have to do a few test boards to get the concept working, but once I get that wired, then I'll be all over the lightest materials I can find.

Da.Bell, you are a visionary man! Bert Berger, who I'm sure Billy is familiar with, is a pioneer in sandwich construction with different composites. He used to shape for Firewire and those boards had a balsa rail such that it formed a parabolic stringer and allowed for different flex, as well as, strength.

I don't think that I'm going to use the balsa, but I was think that I could use d-cell along the rails, to add some strength and aid in shaping the rails. So imagine in your picture no center string, but all along the rails on both sides, say maybe 1/2 of a hard d-cell, H-60 maybe.

Conceptually, it allows shaping the 1 pound EPS - which CURRENTLY is like trying to sand a wet noodle But also...I'm thinking that you could use a diffeerent thickness or density of d-cell for the rails to get a different flex pattern.

ALSO, if I get the vacuum bagging operation working, I can bag the d-cell rails to the EPS blank and THEN shape...I would think that I could also shape a concave in the bottom, by placing a matt down on a rocker table and basically pressing the bottom of the blank down onto that while also pressing the rails INTO the side of the blank.

Interesting concepts here...and like Billy is pointing out, we can make these things crazy light. I'm sure that we can have a shaped blank, with parabolic stringers of d-cell under 10 ounces.

[TeamAllen]

Here is another source for the 1.5 CU. FT. Rigid Molding Foam.

http://www.polyfoam.cc/products/foam/mold.html

[Surfdad]

da.bell had an interesting concept and I think that I will steal an idea from firewire surfboards.

A 1 pound denisty core, exceptionally light. Then layered balsa strips to form a perimeter rail/stringer and a balsa skin. I think that you can construct a fairly light board, but with significant lengthwise flex, rather than the rail to rail flex.

I think that with a clear epoxy hotcoat the skin would look sick.