Post 2: Wakeboard Design and Manufacturing

Wakeboard Design and Manufacturing

Hello and welcome back to the second installment of Wakeboarding 101. Last time, I talked about the history of the sport and how to get up on a wakeboard. Today, I will discuss what makes a wakeboard a wakeboard. As I mentioned in my previous post, wakeboards were originally very similar to surfboards. They were just smooth, flat boards that riders stood on and would use to cut back and forth through the water. At this stage of the sport, the main goal of wakeboarding was simply to not fall off. Fascinating, right? Straps and, eventually, boots and bindings were added in the following years so that riders could get up easier, cut harder, and perform aerial tricks. Design has improved since then to allow the rider to choose between many styles of boards. Newer manufacturing processes can also make boards lighter, stiffer, and smoother than they ever were before. Today, I would like to discuss the basic design of a wakeboard and how they are manufactured. 

Basic Design of a Wakeboard

Wakeboards can be designed in many different ways to give a wide variety of rides. However, almost all of them follow the basic look shown below in Figure 1.   

  

Wakeboard bindings are generally integrated with the boots and cannot be separated from each other. Boots come in a variety of sizes and styles, such as open-toe and closed-toe. My boots are open-toe, which allows many different sizes of feet to fit in the same boot. Metal bolts secure the boots and bindings to the board. Like snowboard bindings, the binding placement and orientation on wakeboards may be adjusted so that the rider can fine tune his/her stance. For example, I have gradually widened my stance in order to have more leverage over the wakeboard when turning.

Figure 1 calls out the “nose” and “tail” of the board. Wakeboards are ridden with the rider’s feet in a line. Therefore, the nose is the front of the board and the tail is the back end. Almost all modern wakeboards have a “twin tip” design. This means that the nose is identical to the tail so that the board may be comfortably ridden in either direction. Figure 1 shows the boots in a “normal” stance, as opposed to a “goofy” stance. A normal stance is where the wakeboarder rides with his/her left foot forward and a goofy stance is the right foot forward. There are no advantages or disadvantages to either stance, as it is merely the rider’s preference.

Fins are also a common component of wakeboards. Their purpose is to improve overall stability, and to keep the board moving in a straight line across the water. Fin size, shape, and placement varies. However, front and back fins are typically identical in order to give an even ride, especially if you wish to switch your stance while riding. I completely removed the fins on my wakeboard and have been riding for years without them. This makes the board much more responsive, and I can cut faster and harder through the water without them. I do not advise doing this if you are a beginner and are just trying to learn how to wakeboard.

The main differences in wakeboard design deal with how much “pop,” or air, the rider wants to get once he/she hits the wake. Boards made for beginners are designed to produce little pop and advanced boards will give the opposite results. My board has “camber,” which means the middle of the board is actually bowed up and will not touch the ground if I lay it on a flat surface. While I’m riding, my weight causes the middle of my board to flex down to create a perfectly flat profile on the water. Once I attempt to jump the wake, my board will un-flex and will launch me into the air. Essentially, camber makes my board act like a spring and gives me a little extra height on my jumps. Board stiffness also affects the ride of a wakeboard. A stiffer board is easier to cut cleanly and is more responsive to the rider, but gives a rougher ride. A looser board gives a smoother ride, but is less responsive to the rider. I like to ride fairly aggressively, so I prefer a stiff board.

Wakeboard Manufacturing

The entire process of manufacturing a wakeboard is quite lengthy. Therefore, I will only touch on the main aspects of it in order to keep this post from becoming a novel. If you would like to learn more, you can find many good YouTube videos and online articles that are more specific about the manufacturing process. Also, please keep in mind that every company has their own unique way of making boards, so I will try to give general steps that encompass as many as possible.

1.   To create the core of the wakeboard, manufacturers inject foam into a mold, heat it in an oven, and let it harden. After it is removed from the oven, the excess foam is trimmed away and the mold is removed. Some cores are made of different materials, such as wood, and must be shaped in their own way (“How to Build a Wakeboard”).

2.   Workers carefully sand the core’s surface to remove any scale that formed from being in the mold.

3.   Technicians then cut a fiberglass sheet and wrap it tightly around the core. They use extra fiberglass to reinforce permanent fins and the area around the binding inserts. Almost all wakeboards have some fiberglass components (“How to Build a Wakeboard”).

4.   The top and bottom sheets of a wakeboard are also molded in an oven, as shown below in Figure 2. These parts are typically constructed from thin, strong plastic. 

Figure 2: Molding the bottom of a wakeboard (Photo Credit: Wake World)

5.   Manufacturers like to give boards some personality and uniqueness. Therefore, large decals are heated and pressed onto the top and bottom surfaces.

6.   Workers now join the top, bottom, and core of the wakeboard into one mold. This is known as a sandwich construction and is becoming increasingly popular (Schapes). The bottom is laid down first and then they coat the core with epoxy on all sides and place it on top of that. This is illustrated below in Figure 3. They place the top on top of the core, close the mold, and heat it in an oven. After the board is removed from the mold, excess epoxy and material is shaved away. 

Figure 3: Coating the wakeboard core with epoxy (Photo Credit: Wake World)

7.   Technicians drill holes into the nose and tail of the board and insert the fins.

8.   The metal inserts used to attach the bindings to the board are located and drilled out, as they get covered when the decal is pressed onto the top of the board. Once this is all completed, the boots are bolted down and you have a wakeboard!

I hope you have learned a lot about basic wakeboard components and how wakeboards are manufactured. Wakeboard technology has changed significantly since its creation and has become more accessible to the general population. Design and manufacturing techniques will continue to improve as popularity for the sport increases. I can only imagine what kinds of boards will be available to us in the years to come. That’s all I have for this time, so please stay tuned for the next exciting installment in my wakeboarding series.

References

“How to Build a Wakeboard.” Wakeworld.com. Wake World, 10 Sept. 2008. Web. 

          19 Oct. 2015.

Schapes, Kevin. “Should I Ride a Board with Flex?” Humanoidwake.com. Humanoid 

          Wake Company, 12 June 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

WAKEImperial. This is what a wakeboard looks like. Digital Image. Imperial College, 

          14 Oct. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.