rodndtube.com's (OLD) MyPaipoBoards Forums. Reading but no posting on the OLD forums.

[Poobah]

Introducing Big Plybaby of Santa Cruz...



Kage, please tell us more.

[kage]

Okay. This is kind of a sad story though. I am looking for ideas and suggestions for the next board, and possibly any method of correcting this one.
I started out with a flex spoon idea but I knew I didn't have the time for all those layers of glass. After reading the discussion about ply boards I thought plywood is flexible, what if I substitiute 1/4" ply? I bent the ply clamped to my picnic table, at that point it had about 3" of nose rocker, real flat in the back. I glued a 1/2" piece of low density foam with a polyurethane glue (worked pretty well) and shaved it from side to side to get some foil. So far so good. I use a slurry of q-cell and resin to fill up the holey foam and make the transition from foam to ply smoother. Also good.
Here's where things went south I think. I lammed the first level of glass on the top and as it dried the rocker seemed to disapear. Seems backward as the drying resin would have seemed to pull it tighter for more rocker, but that's the way it seemed to go. I went ahead and finished up the other side and fins etc.
What I had in mind was a Hawaian Paipo Designs style board, but with fins. If I ride kneelo style I slip down the wave face too much. So I thought I'll just add fins! What could be easier? Hehehe.
It doesn't ride so good. Too wide I think for the fins, fins too big. In a straight down the wave section it goes incredibly fast. But turns like a shopping cart with flat wheels. I would be willing to reshape the outside and even relocate the fins but I am afraid it would be pointless given the almost absolute absence of rocker. About a half an inch.
Is there any hope for this board? Other than giving up entirely any suggestions on the next one? Thanks.
ps. Any of the good stuff on this board I have to give credit to the many gurus here and at Swaylocks, the goofy ideas and screwups -- that was meeee.

[rodndtube]

My amateurish guess would be to build up the rails like you'd see on a spoon. The fins don't appear to be the limiting factor but the pic is also at an angle that makes it hard to judge.

The thicker rails would loosen up the board, i.e, the edges might be too thin and sharp for easy release from the wave.
_________________
rodNDtube
"Prone to ride"
I love my papa li`ili`i

[Poobah]

Maybe the heat of the resin caused the plywood to flatten out. Maybe next time you clamp it or weight it down during the glassing. Or maybe laminate the plywood into a curve yourself out of two 1/8 inch door skins. As for Plybaby....build up the nose to make it harder to pearl. Try it finless, and then replace the fins closer to the rails. You could also jig saw a couple of handboards out of Plybaby. Say....has anyone ever seen a handboard shaped like a mini HPD?

[Poobah]

There was a thread on Swaylock's recently about skimboard construction and LeeDD got to talking about his kiteboards. He sanwiched 5/16" stryofoam between two sheets of 1/8" luan plywood. The foam was a smaller template 1/4" inch in from the edge of the plywood. The edge was filled in with cut glass and resin, then shaped and glassed top and bottom. Perhaps for a paipo the glass sheets could be interal. Part of the sandwich and rocker setting. The sandwich being luan-fiberglass-styro-fiberglass-luan. Then fill the edges like LeeDD's kiteboard, shape the rails and then spar varnish the whole paipo rather than messing with external fiberglassing.

[kage]

Hmm. I like the luan sandwich idea. Personally I don't mind the glassing I kind of like it. There is still the issue of the side to side rocker and rails. You can turn up two sides but not three. Maybe a spoon shape with the outer ring - horseshoe shaped from foam and the inner flat part plywood?