Now that we’ve done some testing of wrapping the rails of a wakesurfer with carbon fiber we can move on to our build. We’ve received our carbon fiber and bamboo and we’re ready to test this build out.

We use a low density core EPS in our wakesurf board. It’s 1 pound but it is a fused cell rather than architectual or insulation foam. The lower density fused cell EPS are just now being offered by manufactures like Marko foam. The fused cell, while not closed cell, does come closer to providing an almost water tight cell structure, and also provides better shear properties. You’ll often read in online forums where the talking heads talk about quality components and construction but don’t know what is in some of the boards they recommend. A good fused cell EPS is a superior product and unless you read that, in an EPS based board, it’s safe to assume it’s insulation foam. Also, pay attention to general comments like great construction, without any details…that’s probably not specific knowledge. Good independent shapers and builders are more than happy to talk to you about the selection of materials like US, so be sure to ask!

In this picture we’ve hotwired the rocker into a section of EPS billet. You can see the curve of the rocker, which is upside down.

Now in this picture you can see a number of lines. The first is the centerline so that we can keep everything straight. The next is a line that intersects the centerline at a right angle, that marks the apex of the rocker. We pay careful attention to the location of the apex as that is one of the hallmarks of performance on this wakesurf board. Accordingly, we mark it and align the core on the rocker jig using that mark. The finally we have the overall outline of the board drawn as a guide for our next process.

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