Garage Works - 8/23/2025

I did spend some time in the garage today.

First up was getting Marlon's foil board repairs forwarded.  I got the track block glued in place.  Tomorrow will see trimming of the glue and carbon installation.

Then I shifted over to No.42

I got the template cut out of the blank I glued up.

And I emptied the shop vac and cleaned up the garage floor.

I did that other stuff because I wanted to think about the nose rocker on this board and how I'm going to shape the bottom.  Sometimes it's good to think about other things so you can clear your mind before commit to cut foam.

Garage Works - 5/3/2025

Having cleared the garage of repair orders, I started on No.41 today.

Templated -

Cut out and trimmed

Top and bottom skinned and the bottom rocker rough cut.

This was about an hour of work (I'm going to keep a running tally on how much time this one takes to complete).

Oh - and this one is going to be a trench board.  I want to know whether the cut out makes a difference or not.

Garage Works - 9/4/2024

Because I sold No.37 to Marvin, I got the urge to shape again.  I brought one of these billets home from my office.

And I broke the billet down into three separate blanks

This is the end chopped off plus an offcut from the last billet.  I'm going to take this back to the office until I need it.

And these are the two other blanks.  The one in the back is the 6" blank that I'm going to use to make a custom for Norm for Foil Drive-ing.

And here is the 5'7" stretched version of No.37

I'm probably going to shape Norm's board first before working on this one (and actually the template might be the same - to get more volume on his, I can just go thicker).

The other blank is going to be another No.37 - gotta have that shorter board for when the waves have good energy. 

And while I was at it, I mixed up some epoxy to start the repairs on these two boards.  A lot of the water came out of Roland's board so I started the process of sealing it up.  I think there is more inside, but it isn't coming out anymore.

I'll sand the fill and put a fiberglass patch over the drill hole.

This is Rick's board and the tail ding repair.  I had previously sanded the ding - and the carbon was largely intact.  I used the same fill as I mixed up for Roland's board.  I'll sand this area, then place a carbon patch over the areas I removed the paint.

I'm hoping to have both of these out of the garage by the weekend (so I can start mowing foam).

Making Templates

And I also transferred a couple of paper templates to some masonite/fiber board.

This is a possible No.38 - 5'7"x18.75"x5" narrow wing board/Foil Drive prone board/Parawing board

And here is No.36 and No.38 (prospective) on the fiber board.

I'm still contemplating what is next - but likely this No.38 will be the call (but I'll likely know more after I take the AFS Pure 560 out again).

Garage Works - 4/15/2024

I got a crack in my windshield this morning - a rock strike while driving on the freeway.  That will come into the story shortly.

These are the two templates that I've been working on that made the final cut.  These are the 5'0" x 22" April 2024 B and C templates. 

When you line them up together, you can more easily see the differences - the one on the left has a more pulled in nose and tail - and that's the final choice for No.36

I needed the apply the UV resin to fix the chip in my windshield in strong sunlight.  I was getting that all sorted out and the instructions had distinct time periods where you were just waiting.

And that's when I measured the blank, found the centerline and transferred the template.

I really like how this one turned out.

My current plan is to use a similar bottom deck profile as the latest Foil Drive board (No.33 - flat tail, square rail, subtle chines from the tail to 2/3s the way up to the nose where the rail softens).

You may be asking yourself - "Vic, why do you need another wing foiling board - don't you already have a few?"  

Well, No.36 is going to get the 16" tracks so it will be able to support the smallest foils I have - F One SK8 750 and Eagle 690, the Axis HPS 700 and maybe even the Triton T-1

And the boards I have now tend to be at extremes.  No.25 has a lot of volume (for me now - I guess time in makes you able to use smaller stuff).  And No.32 needs more track forward.  This template will take the best of both and fit it in between the two.  At 22" width (or less) it'll move across the water faster (for earlier takeoff) and it'll have less volume (more manageable while winging on a wave).  The nose shape should fit steeper waves better and will feel more familiar to Foil Driving (bringing the two disciplines closer for me).

The color scheme is going to pull from one of my earlier prone boards (the tiger striped 4'10" No.17) and what I just did with Matt's board (No.35).  And I'll use the rail tape trick to keep the transition clean.

I'll put footstrap inserts into this - and I'm thinking of placing a centered rear foot so I can use it only for jumping.

Lots of design criteria for this one - should be a good build!  

Garage Works - 4/7/2024

I spent some time in the garage trying to make headway on Matt's board.  I sanded all the fill points flush, top and bottom decks.

So smooth....

I got two of the three decals on - still waiting on the Army Wings for the tail.  I also laminated a couple of patches where I thought reinforcement was needed.  These two spots should be covered by the deck pad.

And not seen in this picture, I installed the leash plug.

Tomorrow I'll grind open the leash plug, and do a light sand on the spots I epoxied today, then add a seal coat.

After all that - I felt compelled to make an adjustment to the Foil Drive board I've been contemplating.  I wanted an overall narrower board, and also a slightly wider tail.

I even printed out the template and transferred it to the blank.

It kinda looks like No.33 - but even if it does have nearly the same profile (I'm pretty sure the tail is narrower), this one is going to get the 16" tracks.

I just need to check with Dennis - if he wants a board, I'll make his before I start this one.  I also want to make another wingboard - similar in shape to No.25, but narrower (also with 16" tracks - I've been lucky with No.32 - I've been able to fit the smaller foils on to it, but I'd like to make more boards).

Garage Works - 3/23/2024

I got a bunch of stuff done today.  First I got delamination repairs on Duke's prone foil board completed.

He is only paying me $40 for the repair (he's having a baby soon with his girlfriend - I figured he'll be buried in diapers soon so I'd give him a break) - so I got it to functional, not perfect.  These XPS foam board with the perforated deck skins are weird, and they are even weirder to fix. 

I then cut out the templates I've had lying around.  These are No.33 and No.36.

And I transferred No.36 onto the glued up blank I made from the offcut.

And I got Noe to show me what she wanted fixed on her Laser.

I got the scratches/dings filled.  I'll sand them down tomorrow and maybe throw on a fiberglass patch for good measure.

Noe has already sold this boat to a KYC member - we are just trying to get it ship shape!

Garage Works -1/1/2024

This post actually spans activity from yesterday and today.

As part of cleaning up the house for New Years, I had to move the templates I made for No.34 out of the living room.  Since I was moving them, I figured I might as well transfer the template onto the blank.

And here it is marked out

This board is being made for winging in waves (unlike No.30 which is more for flatwater light wind winging), and also as a Foil Drive Max board.  I ordered a set of 16" boxes already set in a divynicell block - that should give me the flexibility to use this board with several different front foils.

And yesterday I helped Marlon get the leash plug installed on the longboard he is building.

And today I cut the board out of the billet.  I trimmed it with a little border excess, then I used the rough surform to dial in the outline.  Came out really nice - getting the outline right sets up a good shaping effort.

I'm going to try and keep this as close to 4" thick as I can.  Also, I wanted to get the tail pulled in a bit more on this one - I figure with the extra length, I can afford to lose the rear planing surface.

Garage Works - 12/26/2022

After I got back from foiling, I settled into the garage to get some progress on some projects and to help my beautiful bride with her big project.

This was the template I settled on for No.29 - this is an asymmetric prone foil board.  Dimensions should come out to something like 4'6" x 18.8" - and I'm planning on keeping the volume around the high 30's - so the thickness will be 3.75"

Here's the template transferred to the blank

And here's the trimmed up blank.  I used a Japanese pull saw to cut this one out instead of my normal long blade jig saw.  The jig saw had been melting the foam - so after I pick out the melted beads there would be gaps.  In most instances the gaps did not impact the shape, but they are a pain to deal with.  I had to fair in the template at the top deck with a surform to remove the excess foam, but that wasn't really an issue.  I did not get around to skinning the blank and foiling the volume distribution - because I also worked on....

Fixing the dings on Dennis's wave ski.  I have to sand down the patches and then add fiberglass to the nose repair.  This does take up a bunch of room in the garage...

Lastly, I helped La work on putting together the French cleat art table she has been wanting to complete.  We got the desk top built and also made sure the desk mounting rack would work with the dowel sections she bought.

Totally fun afternoon with my wife in the garage!!!

Template for No.29

I've been contemplating making an asymmetric prone foil board for quite some time.  I've got one repair job on the bench, but after that I think I'm going to go ahead and build No.29 as an asymmetric.

The hard part is trying to nail down the template.  My strong stance is regular foot, so my right foot is towards the back of the board.  Asymmetry in a foil board is going to be way more subtle than what you would see in a surfboard or windsurfer.  The asymmetry is only supporting the rider's natural stance while riding - and really does not influence how the board performs in the surf.

The first thing to note on these templates is the "left" side is the constant side.  This side is adjusted to accommodate my front foot hugging the left/port rail, and my back foot riding more centered and over the foil mast plate.

Why do you have to make these accommodations?  You don't have to - but if you look at your feet, the answer should be obvious - you can apply way more pressure with your toe side.  So in the case of my front foot I am augmenting a weaker heel side by adding more foam under my left heel, and I'm taking an advantage I have with my back foot more centered and trimming off excess board.

The right side of the board template has two versions.  This first one is more representative of how I have been designing my own templates - straight parallel rails for developing paddling speed and a square tail for getting assists from waves during takeoffs.  This version shows a more drastic difference between the two sides (and making the asymmetry more obvious). 

This second version has the right side with a more subtle difference - less square tail and more curvature in the rail.  You can see some bump out in the nose area on the right, and the tail area is fuller compared to the left.

For my first asymmetric prone foil board, I'm going to go ahead and use the setup shown in the first picture.  I don't want the differences to be subtle - one, so that I can determine if this is actually worth incorporating into future builds, and also to make it obvious that this is an asymmetric (and they won't think I was drunk while making this board).

No.28 - Prayot's Wing Board

And even before I'm finished with the two boards on my rack, I'm starting to plan out and procure blanks for No.28.  This is Prayot's Wing Board.

As documented in the blog, I build these slow and meticulous, all the way from templating to final glassing.  This is not the fastest way - but good things are not necessarily done fast.

4'6" length

24" wide

This is moving along the flat rail - square tail concept currently in the market (which is what I built in the first two prone boards I made - fastest shape in the water at the speeds we are at achieving hydrofoil lift).

I really should finish No.26 and 27 first....

New Prone Foiling Board Option 2

The asymmetric template was not sitting well with me - so I went back to the drawing board to get a shorter version of the 4'8" that I am using most of the time.

There is a bump out that allows for more front foot leverage, and the tail draws in for better back foot placement - board where it is needed and trimmed away where it isn't.

I'm going to transfer this to the blank (the other half of the blank will be another 5'2" starter board so Marlon can get back on the horse).

No.25 Template

And I made some time to cut out the template for the next prone foil board.  This one is an asymmetric.  I've been really interested in trying out this concept.

The port side is bumped out by the spot where my front foot will land, and the starboard side has more room where my back foot will land.  This will help me exert more leverage where it is needed.

Looking forward to No.25!

Templating #20 and #21

I skipped surfing yesterday to take care of a bunch of errands and things I have not had the time to do.  I rearranged some things in the garage (and I also think I have officially given up kitesurfing).  I reset the mast position on Number 19 (Wing Foil Board).  I did some recycling with Noe.  And then I went ahead and transferred the templates to the blanks.  Here is the narrower nosed Wing Foil Board.

And this is the new pulled in tail Prone Foil Board.

I couldn't find my long jigsaw bit yesterday - otherwise I would have cut the templates out already.  Might have to make a Lowe's trip...