Foamie Paddleboard ....

[GPW]

Working over grass seems to help , one rain and all the foam dust disappears ...

[rowerwet]

so would blue or pink foam sheathed in canvas and TBII be a hard enough surface to stand on? I'm suddenly siezed with the desire to make one, debating wether a deck of 1/8" ply fully epoxied is needed or not.

[GPW]

Row , I haven’t heard back from the paddleboard couple , (since we fired them from the band ) But I’m Sure if you made it Thick enough , it would be fine ... or you could insert a plywood “spine" down the middle for even more strength (surfboard style ) .. Or even a plywood "I beam" for max strength ...

[rowerwet]

thinking I'll make it from mulitple layers to give it strength, if the deck gets dents from my feet I'll just have to skin it on top with plywood.
gonna have to try making a sample to stand on to check for dents.

[GPW]

One of the ideas I suggested to the PB people was to use multiple layers of fiberglass drywall tape directly under the canvas skin ... easy to do , adding much strength ... Thrifty too ... Their boards were 12’X 5.5” thick and 32” wide... Once skinned that should be good for anything but a wild surf...

[rowerwet]

thanks! anybody ever stood on a foamie roof yet?

[GPW]

In the best Foamling' tradition , time for “a Test” eh ???

[rowerwet]

I'll let you know after I build the Tear in my head out of foam, the idea is in my gallery folder "designs". my next Tear build will be a raindrop style foamie, I like the camp inn idea to make the front into a couch. I already have the trailer, a former pop up... now about the time....

[HMK]

Anybody try out the Paddleboard? I was at the lake yesterday when thoughts of a Paddleboard emerged in my brain.

[GPW]

HMK, as far as I know the paddle board project wasn’t finished ... sure is possible , but 8’ would be a bit short ... as far as paddle boards go ...prepare to spend a lot of time in the water ...

[HMK]

What width would you recommend to be real stable. I don't want to spend time in the water, but standing up and paddling appeals to me. I wonder how Bat Wings would work? Probably not, but would look pretty cool.

Instead of shaping from a 5" block of foam, how about rectangular 1" pieces glued up each one being a little shorter in length and then just feather shape it into a singular shape to get your curved ends. Let me see if I can explain that better.

If your making a 12' board, cut the first piece of foam 12.
Cut the second piece 11',
The third piece 10

Then glue them together where each piece is 6" shorter on each end and the foam is glued together. That way, all the shaping could be kept to a minimum.

Now for the rear, make a small set of Bat Wings maybe 8 inches each side. These would prolly be mostly for looks.

[GPW]

Believe it or not , you’re not the first to ask for bat wings or Cadillac fins ... The ones I got to work on were ~32” wide , and 12’ long , 5 1/2” thick ... If in doubt check out some of what the commercial builders are making ... A quick Google reveals all kinds of “paddle boards” ...

Feathering will work and you can laminate in some “rocker” while you’re at it

[rowerwet]

funny you should mention paddleboards, I've been working on one at the same time as the foamie mouseboat https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 2&type=1it is only 2" thick foam right now, I'm about to splash it soon in just bare foam. I think it needs another layer of foam to give it some rigidity. I used exactly 1 sheet of 4x8' 2" thick foam and ended up with a board 30" wide and almost 16 feet long. I'm not sure about the design, I think I want a few feet shorter and then I could put the extra foam into depth.
for stability the roto-molded boards are usually 36" wide, as they are beginner/fishing boards, any wider than that and you have issues with paddle length. the most stable one I saw was from pictures of a messabout out west (everything in the US is west of me) the guy took the idea of the mouse boat and made it into a SUP, it looked close to 4 feet wide and was square on top, (not much taper at the bow and stern like a real board), it was 8 feet long as that is the standard ply sheet length. the board got a lot of use and discussion, and the plans are on the yahoo mouseboats page, I haven't heard of any others being built.
I used a SUP once that was 30" wide, but it had channels where you had to put your feet that were inboard of that, I had to kneel on it to get out beyond the surf zone, even then the ocean rollers kept me feeling unstable. The guys who had it were much more interested in my dad's yakboard surf kayak, since it is nearly impossible to fall out of, and catching a wave takes barely any effort compared to a SUP or surfboard. (they are also much cheaper)

My daughter wants her own foamie SUP now...

[rowerwet]

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 212&type=3
well I finally splashed the foamie paddle board, alot of the ideas I tried were wrong turns, but here is the keys I've discovered so far.
use multiple layers of foam glued together with a drizzle of gorrila glue,
use bamboo skewers to align as needed
use spacers under each end to lock in the curve you want for the bow and stern
use plenty of weights to force the foam layers together while the glue is curing
use drop cloth canvas on the top deck, don't fill the weave all the way when filling the fabric, it will make a great non skid surface. (I did this in the cockpit of my foamie kayak, it works great, even when full of water)
the blue-green foam sold at Lowe's is stiffer and denser than the pink sold at the Depot (menard's is many states away) while that means Lowe's insulation is inferior for keeping heat in or out, it is much better for boat building. I'm not sure if this is a defect in manufacturing, or a different process/ mix etc. they are both made by different manufactureres

do not cut up the foam board like I did, it just adds extra time, work, expense and weight. since you are making the board two layers or more thick, just make sure the butterfly splices don't come anywhere near each other.
while the surfers use those deep curved fins, a regular old fin made of wood, plastic, etc would actually be better. those fins are shapped for surfing, you want a fin big enough to counter the offset force of the paddle, make it have more surface area than your SUP paddle.
Get a board leash, for moving water you want it attached to your waist, only surf and lakes should it attach to your ankle. people have drowned when they fell off and the leash caught under water in rivers.

[GPW]