Winter is here! Let me break down how to make a powder surfer so y'all can get out there, make boards, and RIDE!
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Materials:
Baltic Birch:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...
Titebond III:
www.amazon.com/Titebond-Ultim...
Foam rubber:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
DIY board-pressing clamps:
• Easy, Inexpensive, DIY...
IG: @chrisfromgoodroads
Tunes by Drew McCann:
drewmccann.bandcamp.com/
This was great. I've been thinking about building one for a few year and this has really helped me conceptualise the steps. I'm gonna build a couple for myself and my kids!
Good stuff!! Loved my Snurfer as a kid, and love that Pow boards are coming back. Maybe someday they will allow them on the slopes
Stoked! This will be my Winter project. Appreciate the tutorial.
Good luck with your build! I'd love to see pictures when you're done
Thanks for that, just what I needed to know!
Thanks so much for the guidance and inspiration! Made one for me and one for my 5 y/o that he painted. We’ve had so much fun building and trying them out.
That's awesome! What a lucky kid!
Great video. Some kind of leash can save you a whole lot of downhill walking too 😎
Awesome vid, stoked to try this. Do you have any tips on making a spoon nose? Would you need to do a mold instead or do you think this could be done with the layup style you show in this vid?
I hope you’re taking advantage of the snow storms this year
omg love you dude
Hi I just saw you video now. Great job in making it look so easy. I just wondered if this would work for winging on a flat lake as well. I'm pretty heavy at 220lb. Would I need a bigger size to make it still float and what size would you suggest? Could I exchange the middle layer of plywood for glass? Is there any alternative for the Ply altogether as it's hard to get in my place in Canada.
Awesome video! I Finally got to make my own recently. I used the spar varnish like you mentioned, it definitely works well. Next time I’ll definitely use this video because it’s the only good tutorial for making these. Also I’m going to use a better material other than pine 😂 Keep up the great videos!
Sick man! Sounds like you caught the bug. I'd love to see your first build and any others you do in the future. Keep at it!
I know i'm a year late to this video but i'm glad that I found it. I used to think I would be really into powder surfing but then I did some more research and found out that powder surfers are not recommended for anything other than back-trail or fresh powder (not recommended for ski resorts). I guess I should look into "noboards" and other bindingless snowboard setups. It's cool to see how versatile you are and how low-tech so many of your projects are. Shows that people can really "make do" if they want to.
I'm same as you, i was wondering if you found any solution yet
Hey man! This was such a helpful video. Thank you😊 Just wondering if this would work for sand-boarding too?
I think so? You'd probably want to put a sheet of something super durable like masonite on the bottom
Great video, thanks! We have lots of snow now and all snurfers are sold out. Luckily this video filled in the gaps I needed to build some boards for myself and my daughters. I pressed the board on my floor with just some furniture and heavy everyday objects on top and some books under the nose and tail which worked out surprisingly well. I couldn't find any foam pads with ready glue so I used contact adhesive and a grooved 7mm thick gym madress. The only problem was cutting the board; getting the cuts right and avoiding splintering the plywood was hard, could you please make a video on that topic?
That's so awesome to hear, the contact cement and gym mat is a great solution. Getting a clean cut might be as simple as using the right sharp jigsaw blade. They make blades with more and smaller teeth that are specifically designed for clean cuts, they cut slower but bust up the wood a lot less
@@GoodRoads I have the right power tools and with a small- teethed fine wood blade but somehow the top layer still keeps splitting.Tilting the blade 22.5* helped, but there is still some tearing. I am using 4 mm birch plywood. P.S: You look almost like my French brother-in-law, he was quite amused when I sent him this video because of the similarity.
You could try laying masking tape over your cut line where you expect it to tear out, I've read that it can reduce splintering. That's funny about your brother-in-law, I've got some doppelgangers out there!
Thanks bro will use it for sandboarding ;)
Dude that's nuts. I never even thought of a powsurfer sand board. Can't wait to see it! Share a picture with me on instagram or something.
Oh! And also you might want to add an additional layer of something super abrasion resistant to the bottom. I'm pretty sure sand would eat through plywood really quickly, even if it's the good stuff.
Good Roads like what? About to build mine for the monahan dunes
Honestly I have no idea. A quick google search tells me that some sandboard builders use formica and that stuff is easy to get ahold of.
You curing the bottom with anything before wax?
Super thorough and thoughtful video! Have you ever tried this method on snow? Any thoughts or comparison to a powder surfer made using a mold?
This style works as well as any other wood and wax board. The shape (rocker, rails, nose, tail, etc.) matters a lot though, and that's where the advantage of a mold is. You have a LOT more control over your curves with a mold. You can also make the same blank more than once, so you can experiment with the shape of the board while keeping your rocker constant.
Awesome video!! I’m blown away at how much companies are charging for a pow surfer, and this project is right in my wheelhouse!! Can’t wait to make my own. Wondering how much flex is in the board with 3 sheets? Is it pretty stiff?
It is pretty stiff. I will say there are some powsurf companies out there that are doing really complicated stuff with composites and their base/hull geometry to make boards that really lift, float, and steer well in the deep stuff. I think a lot of those boards are worth the price
Ya definitely some of those are very tech and I’m sure they ride amazing. But for something just to mess around on this will be perfect. And a super fun project!
The original Snurfer was narrower with a V on the tail, giving it a different tail surface on each side. Is there any reason not to do this configuration? Any suggestions on how to modify the press to put the V in the tail? Thanks for your videos. They are entertaining and informative!
You wouldn't have to do anything special to add a swallow tail, just cut the shape in once the blank is pressed
hi there! how many layers of plywood did you stack on each other before gluing them together
Hi! The layup that I did is three layers of 1/8" baltic birch plywood glued together. I sandwiched those three sheets between two layers of plain, cheap plywood to help distribute the clamping forces and to make my curves nice and smooth. Those two outer layers of standard plywood were NOT glued to the board, they're just sort of acting like molds in this case.
Hey! I am about to build a few powsurfboards, should I varnish the bottom side aswell?
Yes! Seal it and then wax it
Hey man sick video! I get really inspired to make my own one after this. Have you tried it out yet? If you have how does it compare to professionally made powdersurfers? Cheers
Hey! Thanks dude. I got some riding in on this board and it works okay, I think I like the other powsurfers I've built better just because they have a sidecut radius. I've never tried a professionally built powsurfer, So I can't really compare, but I'm definitely curious.
@@GoodRoads Okay thanks! Btw how wide is this board? Got some very big feet so need to know I'll fit hahah
This one is 12" wide. Since it's a shorter deck I made it super wide to try to get more surface area to float on.
@@GoodRoads That's what I thought as well. And i have really big feet so that's just a big plus hahah
Hi. If you use 1/4 Baltic birch would it make much of a difference and would you still use 3 pieces or go with 2. Thanks
Three sheets would give you a 3/4" thick board which would be very heavy. You could to two sheets of 1/4 and it would work, but since there would only be one glue seam you're going to get a lot of de-flex after pressing, and the curves that you'll be able to press will be more mellow. It would still make a nice board though depending on what you're going for
@@GoodRoads could one pre-bend the plywood with hot water before glueing perhaps, to make bends more durable?
So you happen to wax the wood?
would you recommend buying foam thats 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick? My gut says 1/8 is thin like paper but maybe 1/4 is too thick and you'd lose board-feel (I don't know I have no experience)
1/4 has been working fine for me but i don't see any reason 1/8 wouldn't work. You'd just need to build up more layers for the concave
@@GoodRoads thanks so much, great vid
I can't find baltic birch in the size I need. Any other recommendations on type of wood??
I would try to hunt down a hardwood (meaning all the plys are hardwood, maple or birch or something), marine plywood. "Marine" gets you the glue strength and hardwood gets you the strength in the wood. Lumber prices and availability are nuts right now, good luck with your hunt bro!
Would this work with a water body board, I have tried o find a tutorial for bodyboards but can't find one. If so can anybody recommend the best product for treating the bord to be saltwater resident.
I don't think it would have a ton of buoyancy, but it should work. If you want a super water safe finish use spar varnish or spar urethane, they use them on boats!
@@GoodRoads Hi it worked very well thanks for the tips regarding shaping and the glue to use. I used a soldering iron to burn drawings into the board like a Celtic boarder, Marvels Silver Surfer, jellyfish shark, and a Celtic pattern for the top so it's a one off and I sealed it with Tung oil. It got alot of comments while on the beach. It's a pity I can't attach photos of it on here.
what are the dimensions of the blank you used for this build?
I pressed this one from a 2x4ft sheet that I cut in half
How long did you make your board?
I tried my best to use the whole 48 inches of the baltic birch sheet I used, the final length is just a little over 47". That's a little short for someone my size, but we'll see how it works when I get it on the snow.
How many sheets of plywood do we need ?
This deck has 3 layers of 1/8" baltic birch plywood. The amazon link in the description is for two 24" x 48" sheets, if you cut them in half longways you'll have the three layers and one extra. If you buy the birch plywood from a lumber yard you can normally get a 5ft x 5ft sheet, which is more than enough for one board.
@@GoodRoads ok thansk
Hi Nice video try to make a Skimboard and keep it up !
Plywood or foam and glass? Or both?
@@GoodRoads plywood
For sure. It's going to have to wait for warmer weather, but it's coming
@@GoodRoads Nice
And january means, pre-covid!
Where do you ride bro?
I'm in the Catskill mountains in NY
Where do I get my hands on a top hat
Got mine at a banging wedding
I watched this kzhead.info/sun/qLOomNlwoouBo5E/bejne.html ... now I am here ! You are very good at talking to the camera and explaining each step, sick job ! I think you could add concave, horizontally by pre shaping the pieces of wood that you are clamping down on the board, but yeah its adds another level of difficulty.
If you take a look at the video I did on how to easily make a longboard you can see a super easy method for adding concave to this style of deck build. There's no reason you couldn't combine the two techniques to get concave on the flat section and rocker in the nose and tail.
why not just use 1 sheet of 1/2" ply instead of glueing 2 1/4"???
The glue seam allows you to press curves into the board
@@GoodRoads that makes sense. how does this board fair on hard snow? like a groomed trail? looks like you wouldnt have much turning ability.
Definitely not, it's meant to be used in deep(ish) powder and definitely wouldn't work well on a groomer
Easy way to lose a finger maaaan! Use a jigsaw!