Anthony Brock's Electric Surfboard Project

The project goal was to design and build an electric motorized surfboard. The electric motor and propeller fit into a standard
longboard fin box. The propeller is in place to replace paddling.
The board will propel itself out to the line-up and into a wave. Once riding a wave, the board uses the forward motion produced from the wave to continue to spin the propeller and produce energy from the electric motor. This energy is stored to recharge the batteries. The board is essentially a miniature wave energy power plant. The board uses a small commercially available electric trolling motor and a 12V 7.2amp-hr battery. Wires run along the deck of the board under the glass next to the stringer from the battery housing back to the motor.

As this board was a prototype there were some problems. It was difficult to keep the battery compartment on the top deck of the board waterproof. It was flooded with water several times. Somehow the motor continued to work even when flooded, but I was shocked a few times when trying to take the battery out of the flooded compartment back on shore. The board itself was huge. It turned out to be overbuilt and did not need to be quite that large. It is a 10'8" x 30" x 5.5" SUP. I first tried the board out at the Santa Ana River jetties just because it was close and I wanted to get it into the water right when it was finished. The board powered through the crashing waves and quickly got me to the line-up, but it was very
difficult to actually ride a wave because of the size of the board.
It does not turn easily and it tends to pearl. I was able to catch a few waves there, but I had much more success at SanO. The problem at SanO, though, was that the seaweed floating around in the water kept getting caught on the propeller.

Work is still being done on this project as a hobby. Future developments will have everything housed in a single attachment that can fit into a standard longboard fin box. This way any longboard can be modified with this device. We won't have to worry about running wired to a battery housing on the top deck anymore. I am also working on incorporating a flow sensor that will detect the speed of the board while riding a wave and adjust the speed of the motor to counteract the drag caused by the motor. A wireless motor controller that you can wear around a wrist is also being developed.

That's a brief overview of the project. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Neil's Single Fin Eggy!

1. Your Name: Neil

2. Your Brand name: Don’t have one.

3. How did you hear about us? Browsing the web.

4. How was your initial experience at Foam E-Z? It was good…got everything I needed and could afford to build my own board.

5. Why did you want to build your own board? Watched “North Shore” one too many times I guess.

6. Shape of finished board? Single fin Eggy.

7. Size of finished board: Length 5’10” Nose 17” Width 22” Tail 17” Thickness 2 ¾”

8. What blank did you use? US Blanks 6’2” A fish.

9. How was your board building experience? Excellent and time consuming…didn’t use a single power tool all hand planer and sandpaper…built shaping racks with a hand saw and 2 x 4’s too.

10. Did you use videos, books, web, other? All of it.

11. What videos, books, web, other did you use? Shaping 101 and Glassing 101…some different books…swaylocks.com is a lifesaver.

12. Do you recommend these resources? yes

13. What do you wish you knew going into this project? How to glass better.

14. What would you recommend to someone else for their first time? Have fun and don’t worry if it doesn’t turn out perfect Mine is far from perfect, but its so much fun to surf and so rewarding.

15. What tools did you find most useful? Planer, calipers, sand paper.

16. Where did you run into trouble? Glassing…cutting down humidity and keeping a stable temperature.

17. What kind of fin system did you use and why? O fish l single fin box…it was the easiest…get it set…glass over it…sand the cover off...i wanted to make a single fin.

18. Did you glass the board and what was that experience like? I did…it was a little sketchy at first but I got the hang of it…ended up pretty smooth except where the top and bottom overlapped near the rails.

19. Where did you shape and glass your board? Shaped on my back porch and glassed in the break room at my office (don’t tell anyone)…It was the best place I could find where I could really control the temp.

20. What type of board do you want to make next? I was thinking a quad fish but I bought one instead…now I'm thinking SUP.

21. Extra info: Building your own board was so much fun…cant wait to do it again.

Cowan's Greenough Inspired Diamond Tail!

1. Your Name:Jamie cowan

2. Your Brand name: cowan

3. How did you hear about us? Sacred craft

4. How was your initial experience at Foam E-Z? cool

5. Why did you want to build your own board? I have always liked to build cool stuff. I was a hefty 250 when I was looking for a board hard to find at 6’6", 3 inches thick or more. So I got a blank and went for it.

6. Shape of finished board? I made a template off an old Greenough kneeboard

7. Size of finished board: Length 6’6" Nose 15" Width 23" Tail 16"

8. What blank did you use? I think 6’10A fish blank

9. How was your board building experience? Rad, I did it without a planer just the David Plane and floor sanding paper

10. Did you use videos, books, web, other? web

11. What videos, books, web, other did you use? Surfersteve!

12. Do you recommend these resources? ya

13. What would you recommend to someone else for their first time? Lose your fear!

14. What tools did you find most useful? The lights are important to me.

15. Where did you run into trouble? The stands I made kept moving.

16. What kind of fin system did you use and why? Future

17. Did you glass the board and what was that experience like? No, I let Grygera and sons do the first one they gave me a great deal, and did a good job.

18. Where did you shape and glass your board? I shaped it in an empty warehouse.

19. What type of board do you want to make next? I have already done 5. I am going to glass my first board this weekend.