Building a skimboard

[SMILEYSIXX]

I've gotten into skimboarding recently, and because I like big projects, I want to build one. Anyone ever done this or have any wood recomendations? Everyone says plywood, but I'm a big guy and I'm not keen on trusting a thin sheet of wood to suspend me over the water.

[Simo98]

Plywood and Epoxy.

Laminate it up yourself so you can put a little concave and rocker in it where you want.

Should be pretty strong, I wouldn't worry about breaking it too much.

[MakiSupaStar]

The ones the guys at the wedge and Laguna use are actually made out of foam like a surfboard with no fins. Shape the foam. Wrap in fiberglass cloth/resin and sand. Wax the deck like a surfboard.

[hover]

I shaped mine out of kinda crappy just under 3/16" thick exterior ply for the core, and soaked it in a pool for a few hours to get it a bit flexible, then placed it between two chair backs outside, and placed a couple two liter soda bottles full of heavy grit / sand to create the rocker up front...enough to give it a bit of bend, and left it in the sun to dry like that for the afternoon. It held that bow surprisingly well. Then I resin and glass cloth sheeted it top and bottom, smoothed and sanded the surface / edges with a RO sander and then a last thin coat. Kinda natty in spots, but it works pretty great. I never use it anymore tho...sittin in my room. Love affair was over when I tweaked my back hard on a fall.

[Simo98]

Yeah, i've seen a few of the foam core ones. The ones I have seen have been a good bit thicker too, so I guess they would be more buoyant.

If you are worried about strength though, i'd be betting on plywood and epoxy (or glass) being stronger than the foam/glass construction. Although if you are a bigger guy the added buoyancy might come in handy.

[SMILEYSIXX]

I'm kinda just trying this out right now, so full blown perfection isnt a necessity. I'm gonna try shaping a 3x4 piece of plywood and then just epoxy the hell out of it.