Just Finished another One

[Kitespear813]

138x41
1/2" Continuous Rocker

I was Going For the "Industrial" Look, But it kind of ended up more "Picnic Island" Than i was hoping for. I am happy with the finish on the board, Just wish it wasn't so grunge. What do you guys think.

[Tom Stock]

Hah, that looks similar to my "industrial" board:

http://www.floridakiteboarder.com/boards/board1/13.jpg

Looks like you have your process down. Maybe we should go in together on some PBT for top sheets.

[toby wilson]

I like it Tom. Looks good...I like the rough look it has, it is a nice change of pace to the smooth, full of graphics boards that you see all the time, it has a style of its own!

[amber]

I would love to see some simple graphics on a bright board. I don't care if its hot orange. I'm always afraid I'm gonna lose my board because it blends in with the water so well. ( and no, I don't want a go-joe) ha ha. Just my opinion...

[Tom Stock]

Yeah... I've had a bunch of bright yellow boards, and honestly in some good chop you can't see them any easier because they are level with the water. Bright colored fins are probably better to see, but for the most part I just body drag until i run into my board because looking for it usually doesn't work.

Although keep in mind this is from the perspective of someone who is near sighted and rides without glasses. So even if I were riding a 9' surfboard with ultrabright LED's all over it ,a laser pointer and a strobe light, I probably still wouldn't see it! hah.

Kitespear definitely has his build process down and his boards are looking great. We are both working on graphics methods now because that last 10% of the finish on the board is really 90% of the work!

We will have to meet for a board swap sometime.

[Tom Stock]

Ever wondered what a production board looks like inside?

Guess what, not much different than a good home built board, and sometimes worse. The build process is the same.

This is a best "Float". The cracked foam is not because the board was broken, it's because the foam was broken before the board was made. It was butt jointed and glued before layup. While this LOOKS bad it is not... it's no different than the butt joint below it (two different colors of foam).

Before you knock Best, I have looked inside other boards and found similar things.

The core is not where the strength of a board comes from. It comes from the laminate. The core is simply a spacer.

http://www.floridakiteboarder.com/pictures/best3.JPG

So basically this "production" board is still a hand made board just like yours and mine. The only difference is the skin. Lots of companies like to use PBT (a plastic sheet) which is strong, but heavy and stiff. It also turns yellow in the sun, and looks cheap. They use it because it's easy, and they can have the graphics printed on it. Think of aggression, best, the new flexi boards, just about everyone is using PBT top sheets these days.

I don't think Nobile is, and I don't think the old Flexi board did. This is why they can do the crazy deck shapes and also why they are so light.