Homemade Skiboard

[NHJAKE]

Well I'm looking for a few ideas. When I was a little boy my Dad made me a skiboard. Basicly a cut down sheet of marine-ply that he cut a round nose and tied a old ski handel on and the rest of the old ski line attached from the underside then ran to the ski hooks on the boat. Dad would go at an easy pace to keep most of the board in the water so it dodn't go all over the place. The only problem was when you fell of you would have to sit there for awhile till it would surface.....it really subarined!!! We'll my oldest daughter is now 5 and would like to get her started.......Here's what I'm thinking. Two sheets or luan with rigid foam between. Then epoxy resin and covering the whole thing with fiberglass. This I believe would be strong ehough and much more likley to stay on the surface........What ya' think????

 

[EricR]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

I recall riding one of those myself when I was about nine or ten. I think your plan is solid, give it a shot.

 

[metriccrescentwrench]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

Skip the luan, just layup the glass on a foam core. Many many homebuilt airplanes are constructed like that, plenty strong enough for a ski board.

I had a plywood board as you described when I was a kid. A buddy and I would take turns pulling each other behind our boat all day long and had a blast.

 

[Philthyphil]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

We had one of those when I was a kid , made it out of 1/2 ply I think. Had a round nose with a hole in the board near the front, rope went through from underneath and was knoted . then two holes on the outside edges with a roap and a a handle to hang on. Boy we had fun, could you ever throw spray. Every time you fell off though it dove like a sub to the bottom....lol Boy we used to get that stuck in the mud bottoms.....lol....ah mems.....i think I'll have to make one now after this.....thanks for the mems...

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

i still have a 1/2 inch 40 inch round disc, we rode, the problem is when they submarine, they usually come in the opposite the direction they went in. you really had to watch for it coming up, to keep from getting hit in the head. doing it the way you are talking, if you can turn the nose up like a ski. it would be fine. but the old flat boards, i would never put a 5 y/o on it. my sister skied at 5. i would rather see her one a small tube, and i hate the new inflatable toys. we had a tractor tube, that we tied the rope to, it was a challenge.

also this is excellent advise for teaching them.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=226285

 

[EricR]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

I rode a skiboard like that too, recall being towed with a green five horse Johnson on a sears aluminum boat.

We also went 'tubing" using a tractor tube, with a rope, whatever we could find in the barn, around it. Far more fun than those sissy toys the have now, no big brass valvestems to gouge you, as you fell off in the muddy, leach and lilly pad filled lake.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

very cool stuff... I remember trying to ski on about everything you can imagine... we had the plywood discs and ski boards,skiz on the round metal disc sleds, garbage can lids with the handle torn off (cheapo life vest tied on so didn't lose them when they sank... skateboards without trucks and wheels, canoe paddles (one at a time,two were unwieldly and the front always hit the water and wiped you out... acting like a club in the process... not a pretty experiment. one worked well with a single rear "binding" from a slalom ski on it for the front foot, back foot just behind it.). thanks for the smile... great memories... I still have my first "real" slalom ski... one of the original wooden connoly hooks. beautiful poece of workmanship. Hopefully my now 13 year old daughter will someday smile remembering the days we've been spending on the river wakeboarding.

 

[skibrain]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

We had similar when I was growing up. Pulled behind low hp boats. I made one 12 years ago when my kids were little and had a lot of fun - as well as a really high success rate for all kind of riders over the years.

1/2" plywood works great. 60" long. 32" wide. A couple of 1x2 wood fins at the back to keep it tracking straight. Loop rope handle. tow from BOTTOM about 14" from front. nothing really magic about those dimensions, I just guessed and did what seemed right. Total cost was about $20 including the paint.

Here is my 5 yr old riding it. At the time I could pull him by jogging in shallow water. No-wake fast idle for really little guys will plane it. Adults take only about 11-12 mph...and I've pulled a friend weighing 190 lb with 6 hp. (six!). Another shot of same son when about 12. My daughter riding another one backwards. Yours-truly doing a head stand.

OK it's not real responsive...you just sort of get pulled along right behind the boat. Easiest start is in shallow water with rider standing and the back end of the board resting on the bottom.

I'll try to attach a couple of photos:

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

the good ole days, think i will make one of those. it would be a lot easier on my 60 y/o bones and joints.

 

[skibrain]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

To the original poster's question about material, foam core plus fiberglass is WAAAY over engineering the project. Forget marine plywood. Use what is on-hand in the shed and put on a couple coats of oil-base paint.

As for little tykes, a doughnut shaped towable tube is hard to beat for low-speed, first exposure to the water.

Here's a Disc/Saucer photo.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

yep, the disc, remember it well, got hit in the head more than once.

 

[Ned L]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

Bit of trivia... Back in their day (1940's & 1950's) they were called "Aquaplanes".

In the late 1960's my parents found a real nice one floating in the river which had submarined and snapped its tow line some years earlier (1/2 was all barnacle covered & half was clean from being stuck in the bottom). It's still in the family.

 

[75TowerOfPower]

Re: Homemade Skiboard

My uncles used to ride the disc and they used one up each other by either opening up a lawn chair and riding or a bar stool.