DIY Kiteboard

Information

Project DIY kiteboard was inspired by Kiteboard Cookbook chiefly after the Zero Prestige Model Zero. Which the design is shamelessly stolen from. The board is 62" long and 18" wide and made from 1/2" spruce plywood. The board is coated in epoxy resin 4 coats on the bottom and three on the top. The bindings and leash are Neil Pryde I have no idea what they cost as they are from my old directional board.

The underside of the board. With the fourth coat of epoxy I experimented by adding pigment to the epoxy. The result as you can see is patchy I estimate you would need three coats with pigment to get a solid color.

The yellow fins are 2" and made by Atac they were £8.50 each, they are attach using a thumbscrew. They are designed for wakeboards, so I'm not sure how well they will work.

The top of the board did not have any pigment so the natural colour of the wood comes through. Personally I quite like this finish.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having a cocker spaniel around when building your board, they are excellent at coaxing you away from what you are doing and into throwing a ball or some other toy for them.

The bindings are attached to the board using a stainless steel M8 bolts attached to Tee Nuts counter sunk into the bottom of the board. The bolts had to be cut down to size using an angle grinder. Don't when doing this pick up the hot bolt immediately after cutting as you will burn yourself and swear a lot (probably) just like i did.

This photo is too blurry to show what I wanted it to show. When I was steaming the board to put the rocker into it, some small cracks along the grain appeared in the ply. Despite several coats of epoxy these cracks repelled the resin and so aren't as well water proofed as the rest of the board. I have not established what causes this yet but you should look out for these and try and make sure enough resin is put into them.

I estimate the cost of the board excluding bindngs and leash to be around £70 and I have spent about a day and a half in the contstruction. This is not a very comprehensive account so if you a have any questions send an email to Porkstone(AT I don't want spam)RedlineSoftware.co.uk also check out the Kiteboard Cookbook website because it has lots of info on various construction techniques. It would also be unfair of me not to mention www.teethgrinder.co.uk which also has lots of good information, this bloke has way too much time on his hands!

Some sites to buy bits from in the UK Screwfix Stainless Steel Bolts Ratchet Strap - not cheap use 35mm or wider they are £13 Tee Nuts not zinc galvanised Allfix Tee Nuts zinc galvanised Wakesport Atac wakeboard fins £8.50 inc p+p Cfs Net WEST Epoxy resin junior 600gram pack £9 + vat (enough for 4 coats) 3" Roller Frame and 5 covers £7 + vat I used electronic scales to mix the resin but you can buy dispenser pumps instead www.mcmaster.com based in US but will ship to UK For just about everything hardware related