Last year I built a wooden surfboard from a kit designed by the great people at Grain Surfboards. It was my first attempt at building a wooden surfboard, so I brought my father on to help with the project. When it was all said and done, the outcome of the venture was 1) a finished all wood surfboard, and 2) the idea to build the Ultralight, a super light weight wooden surfboard.
My dad borrowed from the design that Grain used for their broad, and came up with a frame system that he hopes will be lighter than the currently constructed wooden surfboards.
The surfboard’s frame is made out of Japanese waterproof plywood, and will eventually be finished with red cedar. My father is an architect, and it’s basically been second nature for him to design and challenge the strength of building material.
Even though my dad has only tried surfing once, an attempt he claims to have almost taken his life, he feels that surfboard design is within his reach.
That’s looks awesome! I hope it works great and doesn’t spring a leak. Wood surf boards are cool, just too heavy…