Wednesday 26 June 2013

Moving On...

Well at long last the foil board is in a state to test so it's fingers crossed and caution to the wind. I've realised the importance of vacuum bagging to get any defects out of the glassing after sanding and sanding and more sanding. And it's still not perfect!

Well life goes on I guess and on the flip side the board weighs in at 5.6Kgs so not a super lightweight hollow wooden board. However it's my first attempt so all things being equal I'm patting myself on the back instead of flailing myself with tales of; I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy...

Here's a few images to finalise the Hollow Wooden Foil board story:

The Deck in all it splendour - wood what a wonderful material

Wooden Stuff Project logo glassed onto the deck

Hull Side

Hand shaped carbon insert box

The beast with foil in place

Carbon re-inforcing strip to eliminate the chance of the box pulling through the board

Tuesday 18 June 2013

The Wooden Foilboard - Stage 2


Well time flies by and it seems to take a considerable amount of time to move the foilboard forward however, it's nearing completion and I'm looking forward to sailing her real soon. Building everything by hand and laying up the carbon, shaping and then using the male leg insert as the plug for the board housing sure is SLOW!! Moulds would be a much quicker option but hey, in a perfect world there would be never ending 3m peeling waves and force 5 every day ;-) and maybe weekends of super flat force 4 for foiling........

This is a cool project and I am enjoying the journey... It is a considerable personal voyage and if you are thinking of going down a similar route be prepared for the roller coaster ride of emotions as it is an interesting ride. A big thanks to Amac of Mach2 foils for his generosity & continued encouragement and to Paul Jenson & Miquel Coll for their support and words of wisdom.

Well I can see light at the end of the tunnel but I know that there remains shed loads of finishing to do so I guess I'd better crack on...





What I'm going to do is use the router to cut off any excess resin, recess the box by 1mm and then cover the entire insert box with a layer of carbon roving and epoxy. After that the hull of the board will be glassed and reinforced around the insert box.