Dan and I made 3 kiteboards this weekend. From 1 piece of plywood we were able to put together a long Glide-like board, a medium sized 135ish and 120cm wider board.
We've been riding ply boards since day 1. I do have a 160 board I got from ebone that helped me a lot, especially in heavy chop and waves.. its got quite a bit of rocker so I need to be powered up more on those flat water days.
The ply boards we put together in the past, we tried to do the multilayer, adhesive inbetween and putting in a rocker, etc. but I'll tell ya that our little *test* board RIPS. its just a piece of plywood, cut very very crudely into a kinda-kiteboard shape and then sealed with marine varnish. It flies upwind. no rocker, and just heel side fins.
I cannot wait to put our new boards to the test. We spent a lot of time working on the shapes and getting some killer edges cut. Also the graphics we're going to be putting on them should be eye catching. I'll take some pics ASAP and post.
All in all.. 3 board cost us 35$ for the ply and another 20 - 30$ on sandpaper and varnish. Paint optional. Pretty time consuming .. but what else are you going to do on a non-windy Sunday?
-B
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