Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

hey i am new but i was wondering has anyone tried to make knee boards with bodyboard materials? they woul absob shock so it would be less strain on your knees

Check out Bud McRay's Blast Hawaii kneeboarding site, there is a board on there that is made from a similar material.

Cheers
Sophia

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BZ makes a 5' fish that might work as a decent beginner board. You can also get custom shapes from some of the sponge makers. Not cheap though, and won't perform like a good fiberglass board.

http://www.bzproboards.com/surf01.html

:lol: I liked my SuperTurbo (49") soo much I had a shop glass a 54" to match. I kneed on it and enjoyed it so much I got a Romanosky. The bigger glass bodyboard is a lot of fun and when its too big for me with the kneeboard I take out the bodyboard. (I'm still learning on my knees)

As a long time kneelo (yeah, from the 60's), when the bodyboard came on the scene really strong in the mid 80's I wondered about applying that soft concept to kneeboards. Attempts at modifying existing bodyboards were interesting but there wasn't enuf overall flotation and the foam lacked significant stiffness when ya pounced on the deck double-knee. That lead to a buncha tinkering and eventually I came up with a hybrid bodyboard shape that was quite good for knee riding. Better yet, it was easily accepted at bodyboard-only breaks.

The key ingredients were: an Arcel core (for great stiffness) and a core stringering system (3/8" to 3/" diameter carbon fiber tubes). Initially, back in '88, I laminated decks and bottoms with contact cement until I figured out how to build an automatic heat/presssure laminator, but in a pinch contact cement works fine. Board lengths varied from 45" to 64". Shapes are bodyboard-like to unmistakeable kneeboards. Rails are diamond 50/50. Tails are squared, swallowed, winged or pin. Fins are O'Fish'L.

Why a soft kneelo? They're a good transition from a bodyboard, soft boards don't hurt, they're great for beach breaks yet will provide speed and thrills on point and reef waves.

Here's my fave li'l shortie ... I shaped it about 4 years ago and it's still going strong ... 48" length, 22" max width, 17" winged tail, 6" nose, a single skeg ...





Though I no longer offer soft kneelos, here's some stuff that might be of interest ...

http://www.rfd.cc/hybridz/

http://www.rfd.cc/softsurf/

My *real* kneeboard is a Blast 4 fin - mahalos Bud, you da man!

Give me the real thing.Get a flashpoint and do some real surfing

fisherrat wrote:Give me the real thing.Get a flashpoint and do some real surfing

FU .... Fins Unlimited?

Just found this on the NZ site in the photo section. Caption via email from Steve Newbagin of San Diego referring to a flexspoon he rode long time ago:

Later, while working with Tom Morey & Co. in the early Boogie days, I filled the board with boogie foam and a skin for a deck. 

The board still flexed but had more floatation and easier shock on the knees. It wasn't so expensive and kneeboarding is now such a lost art, I would make a more modern version.

Another part of the note he mentions that the single fin had been broken off short when board fell off car and would not longer hold on step drops so he tacked on two fins toward the rails and made it a tri in the early 70's I think (before the Boogie foam experiment happened)

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