CARDBOARD SURFBOARDS
or, Cross-sectional Notched Rib Assembly for Aquatic Sliding Boards
I'm building hollow, cardboard core surfboards. Cardboard, seriously. These are ridable prototypes for a new approach to building boards out of interlocking cross-sectional ribs cut from sheet materials.
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Two New July 2008  |
Popular Science Feature
June 2008 - kookbox rehash
 The June issue of Popular Science devoted a page to this project. They made the board look too good! I was glad to hear from them because of the very premise of "Popular Science", and because way back they covered the famous Tom Blake paddleboard design.
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glass fish
May 2008
 Back to building: first of the next generation. Trying the original design again - no radial rail pieces. See slides.
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boardssheldrake.net |
background
After riding the same 8'6" Robert August board for 13 years, I found it had developed a lively flex zone somewhere near the middle, around the cracked and swollen stringer. It was time to strip the wax and send the board into wall-hanging retirement, but I couldn't afford a new board to replace it. Why not build my own? Could I do that for a couple hundred? I didn't want to work with foam. What about a hollow wood board? Hmm... (continued)
Generation One Gallery
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Video
 assembly |
 testing |
 more assembly |
Big Slides
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Cardboard Surfblog
(intermediate steps, aborted attempts)
Ephemera
07/31/2008 - board #4 spotted on Tyler Manson's photo blog (look for lines on rail)
02/25/2008 - rare Long Beach surf
11/01/2007 - SURFER Magazine Design Forum feature
10/31/2007 - Video Interview by TKO Coastal Tours
10/16/2007 - Sacred Craft Surfboard Expo wrap up