Chambered Surfboard

This has been my favorite personal project so far. For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to shape a surfboard, and this project finally allowed me to reach that goal. Making it out of redwood made it more challenging but even more rewarding.

 

The process that I decided to use for this board is called "chambering." Unsurprisingly, this method involves shaping the board from individual 2x6's screwed together into a large block of wood, splitting the boards apart once the final shape is reached, hollowing out, or "chambering," each one, gluing them back together, and finally wrapping the hollow board in fiberglass.

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For the design, I followed templates for existing boards for the initial shape and then made changes that would be beneficial for my level of surfing and the waves that I typically surf. This involved increasing the total width and thickness to improve buoyancy and shaping a slight "belly" bottom contour for stability. I found that the design changes aided tremendously in the board's performance.