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Id like some feedback on this if you can, please guys.
Stared playing around with mats...
Then went to making hard deck craft with inflatable hulls

This is the perimeter frame below....
And now with the skins attached and inflated....
Twin pontoon hard deck inflatable version below...
And all sorts of other variations.
What I learnt was that mats are difficult to ride, putting hard deck on an inflatable hull makes the beast easier to ride.
The essence of mat riding is the flexibility of the hull, the way it offers little resistance to the water and so it seems to just fly over the water.
The hard deck/ inflatable hull craft are great to ride but they are a minor nightmare to make.
Trying to capture that essence of mat speed and therefore the hull flex, BUT without inflation,
brought me to experimenting with fabrics but using tension instead of inflation to create resistance to the water flow.
So instead of getting a loose fabric and inflating it to get resistance Im using a flat material and putting it under tension to create the resistance.
So instead of riding an 'air bubble' its now a 'drum skin'.
Started with a handplane.
Ply and epoxy frame with a plasitc sheet flexible hull.
And then moved on to a full sized prone board.
EPS / epoxy frame with a plastic hull and a mesh deck.

Pics coming in next post.

All thanks to Rod for walking me thru how to post pics.

So I went with a Flying Vee frame of EPS and epoxy and put a black trampoline mesh on the deck and used the clear plastic for the hull.
And I put a cross beam at the tail.
And I made an earlier clear hull handplane that I just remembered.

Brett,

What is the latest incarnation?

Bob

Youre killing me Bob !

I show you the first examples of a totally unique concept, design, application of materials and construction techniques,
and you say....

But whats the latest ??

Ok tomorrow I'll post the late version.


-----------------------------------------------------

So heres the latest Im showing. Same concept as the Flying Vee with the hull being a frame to hold the flexible hull.
Looking from the nose down...
With the Vee there were issues with the
mesh deck
tail cross piece
very low foam volume
and stringer that I put in to make the hull create a double concave.

This time I put in a central deck beam that satisfies those issues from the last board.
And makes it a more stable design from an engineering and construction point of view.
So theres now 2 parts to the concept, the framed flexible hull and the central deck beam.

The mesh is then resined on as I did with an earlier handplane.

After a few layers of 6 oz and Innegra.
And theres a veneer panel on and under the central beam.

Wowza!
this is pretty amazing stuff.
the craftsmanship is evident, as well as the commitment to going beyond many design boundaries.
wondering what has happened in the surf?
how has what you have come up with matched up with your expectations of what it might be?
as a "what if",
if you took the exact same template etc of the board you just made,and made one a "standard"foam and glass machine, rode it a while,then took this one out..what do you think the differences are, or would be?
totally stoked to see this!
thank you Sir, and surf on.

Thanks for your comment Dr Robert,
"if you took the exact same template etc of the board you just made,and made one a "standard"foam and glass machine, rode it a while,then took this one out..what do you think the differences are, or would be?"

I usually ride the same template/ width and thickness just so that when I make a new shape then I have a reference to compare any differences. I get a dozen blanks computer cut every few months and its a quicker way to start each board.
Thick deck, skinny rail board.

All the same template as the rest.
I started with all sorts of shapes to ride and then I figured its probably best to find one all round shape that I like because you can encounter all sorts of waves in one session. Something with the right volume, the right rocker, the right outline so it turns how I like. I tried having the WP at the tail and considered all the paipo pics online and I noticed a lot of modern paipos have the Wp forther forward but still behind 1/2 way. Having the WP behind the WP gives the board rocker when its on the rail so its a little more forgiving on steep drops.
Having been belted in the nose and other places by hard boards I rounded the edges to make it rider friendly in case of a collision with myself or other surfers.
I think the overall shape is pleasing to the eye too, people say the boards look 'balanced' and 'organic'... (Whatever that means)
Taping the mesh on.
Blank delivery day.

Amazing! So many possibilities, my head is spinning from all this.

There are a few good possibilities for new and different applications of the flexible hull, be it a solid plastic sheet or a mesh.
The plastic sheet hull rides as fast as anything else in the water, that was one thing I knew that was essential... theres fun in inventing things but if it has a major drawback like being slow, then its only a toy.
The flexible hull opens up ideas like a truly travel-friendly paipo,all you need is a frame to hold the hull..., maybe like a popup tent or an inflatable perimeter for the frame... something that can fit in a shoulderbag or as carry on luggage. '
Theres also possibilities of making standup surfcraft using this concept.
Maybe military apps for a lightweight paddle or power craft for the SAS ?
I like the idea of a flexy hull on a speed sailboard... at speed they jump and skitter around battling against the millions of surface chop. this would just fly over all that chatter.
The easiest way to try the flexibe hull concept would be to carve a 1/2 in deep concave along the entire hull of a board and tension a flexible laminate or mesh around the perimeter. But wheres the excitement in that ??
A word on meshes, the % of holes is called the porosity, I started with 7% went to 14% and now 21%. The less or more porosity alters the grip during turns, a low porosity rides and slides like a standard hard hull paipo/ bodyboard but as the porosity increases the mesh grips when the water AOA increases, so during turns theres a holding effect like a fin on the inside rail.
I get mesh from a co in Melbourne ... http://www.innova.com.au

Interestingly the ride is somewhere between a mat and a velo type of board, its similar to a low volume mat with a smooth glide over the surface as you drop into a wave and has a velo feel on the turns with the solid rails engaging the face. I thought the flexibility of the hull would bog but the pressure is all on the inside rail so it stays solid.
Its like standing on your right foot and leaning to the right.... all the pressure goes to the right edge of the foot even tho your whole foot is still in contact with the floor.

Sounds intriguing. Has anyone else ridden one and given you feedback?

Bob, Ive barely had enough surfs to understand how they work. Each wave is a learning curve.....

On the first wave I took off,, made it to the end of the wave and then I thought...

... "well its fast and it turns..... I wonder if that was a fluke"...

And each wave is the same.. still learning the how and why but the best i can describe it is like a mat /Velo combo.
Bob, If youre coming down to Sydney I can make one just for you ?

I mentioned this in another thread, but worth metioning again for those that missed it. The Surf Coaster is a 100 year old design...a mix of rigid frame and flexible skin. http://www.google.com/patents/US1023601 ... &q&f=false

Thanks poobah, I hadnt seen that invention / patent.
I wonder if he made any or if anyones revisited the concept in the past 100 years ?
Still, I reckon This...
is as close to This.

The way This....

is as close to This.
But the concept is the same.
.

Brett,

Thanks for the offer. No plans for a trip to Sydney. Maybe next year. I got a new board today - a super thin, Goddard style board. Huie's is also fine-tuning a board he made for me. I need more time for surfing. I can't even suggest anyone down that way too try your board.

I look forward to seeing more.

Bob

If huies got you covered then youre set! How thin is the thin one? And is it a direct copy off Goddards drawings ?
I like some of his dims and Im keen to make a super thin EPS epoxy foil for summer, what info can you share....