Stand Up Paddleboard, with ama.

In the ever evolving quest for new reasons to drink Hamms in the garage, I decided to turn an old windsurfer into a standup paddle board.  You know, like the ones cruising the flatwater in warmer climes.  But I wanted a modified one that can haul gear and fishing stuff.  Milk crate and small beer cooler.  A new style vessel to add some excitement to the usual routine.  Anyway, I bought said windsurfer (a 12 foot beginner board from 1980-something), and began the conversion.  Decades old decals were painstakingly scraped off.  I removed the old fin (small and floppy..er, flacid, really), and widened the fin box.  I then epoxied in a 9" fin that I hijacked from an old longboard.  I foam-filled the mast hole and daggerboard slot.  So far, so good.  I then took her to Sauvie Island for a test float.  My early suspicions were right in that the 26" width was too narrow.  I swam and swam.  More so than on a normal SUP.  So I am back to the drawing board, and have decided to add an ama (outrigger) or two.  Make them out of 7" PVC and cap the ends with a hydrodynamic form made from balsa.  Maybe I'll use the existing daggerboard slot and mast hole as an anchor point.  Not sure about drilling into this beast.  Hmmmm......

Anyway, just wanted to ramble.  I'll post pics and progress later.  I think this will be a new and unique fishing platform.

Thanks for listening to me blab.

AJ

26" isn't too narrow for an SUP as long as you have the volume (especially rail volume) to give you floatation.  I surfed the board shown below at good sized Pokai Bay in January.  It was an epoxy board 12' long, 26" wide and about 5" thick.  It was a little squirely but not too bad.
The guy who loaned it to me (Dane Kealoha's step-dad) has a bigger one that he fishes from.  I think he said it was 14' and 30+" wide.  Mostly used for trolling huge plugs offshore.

Cool board, and it makes me miss the islands.  I should have quantified that I'm 6'4" and a healthy 230.  Said board worked really well for my smaller ladyfriend but I couldn't make it work well for me.  The rails are thick, and I think the overall board is 5+" thick.  Perhaps with a lot of time invested I could cruise on the thing.  But I'll never be able to fly fish off of it.  If you've got a big SUP you wanna unload, I'm your dude.  But I'm still gonna build some outriggers for the windsurfer.  Just 'cause.... 

Staring at the snow outside that Hawaii pic looks awesome!! Oh man, surfing in trunks.....

Z

I pretty regularly pass a guy in the sound by my house who paddles his surfboard up and down the coast here...seen him 3 or 4 times this winter

I want to see someone at Moutcha this year on an SUP.  Oh wait, that might be me ... been meaning to bring one up there.

-Allen

I want to see someone at Moutcha this year on an SUP.  Oh wait, that might be me ... been meaning to bring one up there.

-Allen

Did you get one yet? Which one? If I can get to Moutcha this year I'll be sporting the i9s. It's gonna a funny lineup. Composite SIK's, Handmade SIK's, tupperware SOT's, Inflatable SOT's, SUP surfboards...

Z

There's a surfer who lives in Westport who like to paddle his SUP board. Been doing it here for a couple of years or so now. He's a top-notch longboard surfer, and he's managed to get some long rides on his SUP. (He told me about 'em. I didn't witness his rides). He's in his 50's, and is a lifelong surfer. He's well known among NW longboarders. Don't know if I should drop his name here, though, but some of you surfers probably already know him. (The guy with the watered down South African accent)

I don't think he fishes from it, though. He's not much of a fisherman. I'll have to ask him if he tried that the next time I run into him.

Serious business, and my inspiration:

AWESOME!!

Z

With a cooler and a motor, no less!!

so it counts as a motor when you have your kids paddle your beer-swilling self all over the ocean? 

Nice, I can see the appeal....

so it counts as a motor when you have your kids paddle your beer-swilling self all over the ocean? 

Paddle power is paddle power.  Heck, if you can convince your kids or SO to paddle your butt around for more than 10min, I think you deserve bonus AOTY points.

Nice, I can see the appeal....

so it counts as a motor when you have your kids paddle your beer-swilling self all over the ocean? 

Paddle power is paddle power.  Heck, if you can convince your kids or SO to paddle your butt around for more than 10min, I think you deserve bonus AOTY points.

Janni has been bugging me to teach her how to row. Some extra points for it would be great!!

So, I'm gonna ramble a bit more....

I've built 2 amas (the actual outrigger floats) out of 3" PVC.  The bow end has a tapered series of caps to produce a hydrodynamic form, and the stern end has a simple blunt cap.  Each ama is 5' long.  The plan is to employ one outrigger on the port side, but if that fails, I will use 2.  I have high hopes for 1.  Anyway, the iako (arms stretching from board to ama) will be made of wood, which I will bend and shape using a laminate technique (thin strips molded and glued together).  Both iako will attach to the ama via a strip of wood that is glued (silicon or Goop) down the length of the PVC float.  Said wood will be routed to meet the curve of the pipe.  Iako will attach to the board via bolts.  To attach the bolts, I will drill 1/2" holes into the center line of the board.  Probably 3/4" deep.  I will fill with marine epoxy, set a bolt in each (upside down - threads up), and allow to harden.  About 1 1/2" inch of bolt thread will be above the hardened epoxy.  I can then pass the bolts through holes drilled into the iako.  Tighten with wing nuts, and away we go.

Sound logical?

Also, Home Depot frequenters, what kind of wood should I make the iako out of?

Thanks for reading.