Thursday 23 January 2014

Board Building Project - HD Creeper 48

Well my Lake George Speed Sailing trips are only a month away so what better time to start a speed board!

I am a bit of a Minecraft fan and I like how Creepers sneak up on you and all you hear is a little sssssSSSS before the blow you to smithereens, hence the name.  Hopefully I don't blow anyone else up using the board as I think I shopped in the close shave department last year...

Shape
The board will be slightly narrower and longer than my previous speed board (JP Speed 49) and I have settled on 48 wide x 245 long.  The rocker is nice and gradual with low nose lift and there is a small amount of tail kick to free the board at the top end.  A simple panel vee will form the bottom contour with the deck getting a slight concave for increased stiffness and reduced nose lift.

Construction
I will be using as many scraps and offcuts as possible except for the core, I have purchased a half size SL grade (~12kg/m3) block(120x60x250cm) for this and future boards .  Deck sandwich will be 3mm H80 Divinycell with the hull in 6mm H100.  Both of these are perforated but that is all I could get locally when I purchased materials for my last board in 2007.  In my next board I will probably use corecell as I have heard that it is easier to work with and maybe airex.  Skins will be a glass hull with full carbon deck(200g twill).  I am only using the board at Lake George and temperatures only get to the high 20's, low 30's so I'm not concerned about overheating.

Fittings
I have leftover foot strap inserts, a mast track and Tuttle box from previous builds and have gone the Goretex breather route getting a nice little unit from Shapers on the Gold Coast. I have some 1/2" PVC foam and may encase the track and box this time as I am not as concerned with weight on a speed board.

Method
I will hotwire as much of the bottom shape as possible including the vee,  the outline will then be cut using templates as well.  See my hotwire here: (coming soon).  I will break down each of the build steps into a separate post as they are completed.

Here are some more renderings of the design:
HD Creeper 48

HD Creeper 48 Tail


HD Creeper 48


HD Creeper 48



HD Creeper 48 Nose


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