Shapers who make foil boards.

Jan 12, 2020
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I can’t speak to my prone 5’6” yet, but my 6’4” SUP (kind of a hybrid between FoilSurfMachines and BluePlanet design) paddles fine and has gotten me going. Those and my 4’1” tow board will end up costing me about $250 each and a few Covid lockdown weekends.

I sense my 5’6” might be a dog, (or I’m too old) and I think there’s probably more to a prone foil board design. But the SUP and tow boards are on par with a lot of “pro” boards I’ve seen and I’ll make better ones as I progress. It’s also fun as hell.

There are great shapers and designers in the game. And there are also a lot of foam blocks being glassed with tracks in them too. A 4” thick block of EPS with no rocker and a flat bottom is not rocket science. Don’t be afraid to take a crack at it. There are build threads of these boards over at standup zone. I’m SurfCowboy there.

If you are reading this away from the coast and have a boat, buy a 3/4” sheet of plywood and a cheap foil and get started. That Clearwater kid is my hero lol.
 

steamroller

Michael Peterson status
Dec 23, 2007
2,118
766
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48U - Green River, WY
are you vacuum bagging your boards or just regular laminating them?...

i agree the board shape and bottom Contours dont matter once you get in the air and while paddling yournot going fast enough fir for it to matter
 
Jan 12, 2020
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Man, I'm not bagging full boards yet. I have a small diy pump. But I"m def going to get a rig in the next year. (Right now deciding whether or not to move closer to beach so holding off on more tools til I know.)

Charlie Grey (SUPUK on zone and great builder) offered the advice that for smaller guys (I'm 138lbs) and for these home-built prototypes dual 6oz e glass is fine with carbon patches on the boxes. That seems true so far. I can totally see bagging carbon if I make a board shape that I really dig. For my next one I might play with more of a V to release better, but I'm not sure yet that mine doesn't release well lol. My SUP paddling is still coming back.

SR I actually want you to paddle this thing some time and see what you think. I'm basically just collecting feedback and playing with stuff as I need to move down in size.

I just got a Swing Wing and so I have a feeling that pretty soon I'll be wanting to take this 6'4" SUP down in size for that. I'll probably end up somewhere near your SUP dimensions for that. If you're winging now, as soon as I can reliably go downwind (all I really care about lol) we have to get hdip out and try to downwind North LA. Wing should accelerate my foil learning curve quite a bit (I hope) as I can spend more time up on foil.

Also, to guys in LA, as I start moving down, these proto's will go on the market cheap for folks to learn on. Gotta pay it forward. You foil dudes have given me so much info and support as I've learned. I also have a 7'4" heavy-ass Simmons SUP with tracks/boxes if anyone wants to teach a buddy behind a boat or learn to wing. Happy to loan it out to friends of friends.