There are two
main ways of building a windsurfer. If you are new to all of
this, you could choose to build a polyurethane blank based board
for your first go. This is the technology used for the vast
majority of surf boards, and is relatively cheap and easy to
try. In essence, the approach here is to shape the board and
then skin it with a number of layers of fibreglass.
The approach
that we will be looking at on this site involves the use of composite
technology. This is less complex than it sounds. A composite
structure simply means that there are many layers to the finished
product. The trouble with using many layers (as opposed to the
single layer in the polyurethane route) is that it is difficult
to get them to bond together, especially when there are complex
compound curves involved, as in the windsurfer. For this reason,
building a composite windsurf involves the use of vacuum pumps – the
detail of this is covered later.
So why use
a composite approach if it is more difficult? The theory is
that the strength of a laminate is proportional to the square
of its depth. So two layers of fibreglass are not a strong as
two layers of fibreglass sandwiching a layer of high density
foam. In windsurfing terms, this means that strength for strength,
composite boards are lighter than non-composite boards.