Planked Surfboards

[Supertrucker]

In older issues of Woodenboat there were plans available for planked surfboards. I
have not seen the ad recently and the links listed no longer work. I was wondering if
anyone had a set of plans or knows where I could get my hands on some.
Thanks

[Dave Fleming]

The original surfboards to IIRC, were made of Redwood.
They were long board style and supposely weighed about 60 to 70lbs!

I too cannot find that add but perhaps the above is the reason, ya folla? ;)

[Donn]

The first "surfboards" on Long Island were hollow cedar, with drain-plugs. They were copied from lifesaver boards.

http://www.lixpress.com/surfbrd1.gif

[skuthorp]

In my teenage years we (the SLSC) made similar boards to those illustrated during winter as they had a hard life in the surf and if you got dumped they could just disintegrate when they hit the bottom. They were up to 17ft, narrower than those in the pic with a sharp tail with a chrome 'D' handle and a shovel nose. They had considerable rocker and from memory were about 5 or 6 ins maximum depth and only 2 or 2.5 ft wide. They were really just a stressed skin ply box with a few light frames and a solid nose and tail piece that you could generally salvage and use in the next one! They were quite a handfull on a wave and never in complete control! We made them up to 22ft with a 'V' bottom and foot straps to use as double skis. I'll try to find a reference from the SLSAA and post it.

[Dave Fleming]

The Lifeguards down here in San Diego on their own time ride similar to what you are talking about in fact several came from Oz.
Think they call them Surf Skis.
One of the most popular design has a bow that looks like a Hammerhead shark,
And yes they do crack up if mishandled in the surf.
One guard took his brand new one just out of Customs and on his third or fourth time through the surf lost it. :(
They found pieces of it as far south as about 11 miles.
It wasn't cheap either!

[John Gearing]

If you scroll down far enough in this page you'll come to some info on wooden surfboards. Sadly the link to plans is dead at this time. However, I think you'll find some of the pages on balsa boards to be helpful. I'll post more when I find more.

http://www.viser.net/~anthwind/Building/building.html