This DIY method for building your hollow wood surfboard is a combination of constructing a model airplane and building a canoe. There are many different ways and styles to building hollow surfboards. The process outlined in this DIY kit and the manual included ensures the surfboard skin is uniformly thick around the entire board thereby maximizing balance and responsiveness when surf riding.
The surfboard is built around a framework similar to an airplane’s wing, containing a central backbone structure (keel) and supporting structures (ribs) along the length of the keel. This framework is then skinned with lightweight paulownia wood in a simple but tedious process. The finished product is then shaped, sanded, and sealed in with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin. Materials for sealing and glassing the board are not included in this kits.
After finishing your board, you can make it waterproof by applying a marine sealant, lacquer or varnish.
But if you want to laminate/glass your board (10x stronger than varnish) with a biobased epoxy resin and glassfibre, please add a SINUM glassing kit from our DIY store.
Wooden boards tend to weigh a little more more than their foam counterparts. The weight drastically differs with the choice of wood , fiberglass cloth, and accent pieces. For our DIY Board Build Kits, we choose for poplar plywood for the inner frame and paulownia wood for the skin of the board. This will ensure the lightest possible result. These woods have many beneficial properties for hollow surfboard building. Milling, sawing, turning, bending, clamping, and shaving paulownia wood reduces the amount of time spent fixing splinters, cracks, and defects that occur in harder woods due to the dense wood fiber growth.
When completed these boards perform fantastic in the water, are extremely durable, and will last many years past your foam cored versions. The instructions contain all information you will need to know to build your hollow wooden surfboard including a list of materials and designs for your surfboard, clamping jig and rack. The step by step instructions contain pictures, hint, tips, and suggestions to guide you throughout the process. Much of the detailed surfboard design is up to the builder so customization and originality is encouraged. The surfboard detailed design include is meant to be used as reference material, but includes everything needed for actual construction if desired.
Basic shop skills, creativity, and patience are the only requirements needed to build your own wood surfboard.
