what kind of wood for my wakeskate

lavonboarder · Newbie Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 25

i am building a wakeskate and i am wondering what type of wood i should use. I will be laying fiberglass over it so there will be some strength there but the wood is still the base of the board. Also how thick should the wood be?

wakeboarderdave1 · Posted: Feb 22, 2007 7:48 pm Post subject:

With using both wood and fiberglass that is going to be one heavy ass board. I have an old Kampus K41 I might be willing to sell you for $50 + shipping. I painted it white and it just needs to be resealed or painted to your liking. PM if you are interested.

lavonboarder · Newbie Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 25

fiberglass is not very dense. it wont be too heavy. i was thinking of using three or four layers of 1/4" birch

wakeboarderdave1 · Posted: Feb 23, 2007 9:00 am Post subject:

Look around one wakeskating.com there are plenty of people who have built their own.

Christobull · Addict Joined: 29 Jun 2009 Posts: 898 City: Tulsa

Forget the wood altogether. There's no need if you're actually going to fiberglass it. Get a 1" foam sheet and double it over, doesn't matter what kind, but glue it together in one way or another, then draw your pattern on and make your cut with a jigsaw. Shave it down with a coarse sanding block. a belt sander will make the edges and base go quicker. 2" should be plenty for the rocker of a wakeskate (just one sheet would probably work though), you can use more if you want. Then add the fiberglass. Make sure you're double thick on the top to protect the rocker and pressure points from your feet, and if you're planning on hitting obstacles, you'll want the same on the bottom. The fiber should be either a cross hatch pattern or a random one. Might even consider carbon fiber. It would only take one sheet. Don't be fooled, fiberglass is pretty heavy. Apparently you're new to it or don't realize how thick it should be, otherwise I don't you would say that. Let me know if you need any help with the glass, I can probably save you some wasted material with my experience with it making skimboards. If you really want the wood, don't use fiber, just glass it with resin. It will naturally stain the wood and look BA. Also, if you're going the grip tape route (which you probably aren't if you want to make your own), once you put the last coat of resin on the top, sprinkle some sand evenly across it. It will last a long time, and once you don't like the grip anymore, you can either sand it down and add grip tape, or apply another coat and do it again. Let me know how it goes.