It is crazy how much shows through this carbon fabric, I am going to have use thinner patches of innegra under the locations for the pucks next time. You can see the shadow of every little strand from those patches.

Thanks Hans. I trimmed the fat around the edges and hand sanded with 400 grit to prep for gloss coat.

Taping some extra unidirectional carbon fiber along the rails:

And off to the scale:

Loving that I’m at 5lbs 5 ounces! Nearly a half pound off last year’s board which was 5lbs, 13oz. I say nearly because the gloss coat is still coming -but there is still a vinyl protective layer on the bottom of the board and a little epoxy on the base to be ground off. Maybe it will even out. Can’t wait to spray it and remove the film from the nylon top sheet pads and see how it ends up looking.

Thank you two!

C. Cruiser: I have the ability to press boards at higher pressure, but I am switching to vacuum. I think that the higher pressure of a press is more useful in managing resin to fiber ratios when you are using inexpensive and thick fiberglass fabrics. In other words, you really want to smash the 19-22 ounce glass fabrics so that much of the heavy resin leaves the mold. Because I am using pretty thin fabrics like Textreme and more runny resins, and good laminating techniques, my weights are low, I don’t have delams and vacuum construction is a good fit for me. The board above was pressed to lay up the base and lower composite layers, then the I shape in the dome on the deck, then I vacuum bag the deck with the whole ski in a basic box oven heated with heat guns. I highly recommend vacuum over building molds and a press. I mean are you crafting boards and experimenting or building a production line? Or maybe build a mold and go the route of a vacuum frame press like Boheme skis. Vacuum gives you the opportunity to tweak curves and make boards, instead of making molds and templates all summer.

I cut and sand the core outline using past boards and make small tweaks in where the taper starts by eye and sand back to a drawn pencil line. This is absolutely the most fun part other than screwing the last piece of hardware down on a snowy night. I use a router to cut my bases and use each individual board as the template. This only works when the core is thick so the router bearing can land on the board as a template. Once a core is thinned out, you’ll be suffering trying to do it this way and making a separate template will serve you better.

Emil: I use a ruler and a pencil for the binding inserts. You can see that going down in the second board in the first photo in this thread. On my personal boards or the one for Taylor last year, I go with a custom pattern into custom pucks. I use old Voile sticker templates and an awl to mark where the other hardware goes. So, can’t help you with CAD templates.

All glossed up. Scooby1 having final inspection:

I’m liking how the topsheet patches blend in to a degree. Leaning against Preflex HQ

And the best part: minus the vinyl tape on the base plus the gloss coat, Plum Hooks (34g total, less 4 screws) screws and voile clips on tip and tail this 168 x 26.5 is at 5lbs 5oz. (5lbs 3oz without anything screwed on.) That’s a half pound under last year’s board with the topsheet and 2 more inserts. The wood for this one was also exceptionally light and shaved about 3oz. Still have hard maple on the heelside and heavier poplar on toe edge.

. . . closing in on Markus’s 166 x 25.5 2270g (5lb.), maybe about the same.

He has this site with contact info.
http://starshipcustoms.com/

Talk to me this summer if you are still looking and thinking about a super light snow surf with a ptex base.