Long Fat Stiff Boards

[Grizzly Adams]

howdy,

I'm a mechanical engineering undergrad and I decided that instead of getting a meaningful internship this summer, I'm going to mooch off of my generous parents and build skis in their garage this summer. It was a tough decision, but I'm going to brand it as a independent research project of sorts and hopefully learn a bundle while I'm at it. That said, I'm absolutely STOKED.

Given that I've never built a pair of my own boards before (though I'm somewhat handy and I've been combing these boards with a fine toothed comb), I've got a hand full of questions. First I'll give you a smidgen of background:

I grew up skiing the ice coast, but my parents just moved out west. I did a little racing in my childhood and I'm used to real stiff, long boards. Being out west lately I've gotten to ski some extra deep stuff and I picked up a pair of long powder boards off SteepandCheap. They've been pretty glorious, but why not build myself (and all my buddies) a pair of pro-model skis?

It seems like most of the folks in the forum are tele-skiers, has anyone had experience building longer/stiffer/fatter boards? I'm beginning to think about acquiring tools and materials and I'm a bit concerned about the logistics of finding materials and pressing gnargantuan (read: gnarly and gargantuan) skis. Can anyone think of possible problems I should be looking to solve ahead of time while I'm acquiring materials?

rock on,

Grizz

[G-man]

Hey Grizz,

Welcome, and glad to hear you scoured the threads before getting down to the nitty-gritty questions.

Regarding 'longer/stiffer/fatter boards', here's a couple of considerations. Fat skis are for floatation in soft snow. Turns in soft snow require that the ski flexes fairly easily into a smooth arc. Soft snow turns don't really use the ski edge to accomplish the turn... turns in soft snow use the base of the ski to 'surf' the snow. So, a stiff fat ski is sorta counter-productive in relatively light, soft snow. A stiff ski is mainly used to better hold an edge in firm or icy conditions.

I have two pair of 'fat' skis (150ish at the tip). One pair is really soft for light dry snow and is a surfy dream to ride in those conditions. The other fat pair is just slightly stiff for powering through wet, heavy, manky Sierra cement snow conditions (haven't had much of those conditions this year). The stiffer ski floats well in the firm mush, but doesn't get thrown around in the bumpy, soft crud like the softer fat ski would.

I can't think of any materials that you'll need that aren't pretty readily available.

G-man

[Idris]

Hey Grizz,

You could try and do both a meaningful internship and build your dream skis. Try getting hold of Pat AT pmgearusa DOT com or pat AT pmgear DOT com

Not sure if he needs a an intern this summer but he may be able to help

Idris

[macdadmorgan]

The one issue i have run into is, the off the shelf edges are not long enough to use on a long wide ski. Granted i have not even pressed my first pair yet, but am close. I love wide, stiff skis(alpine guy), and its not an oxymoron, my XXLs are real stiff from about half way down the front, all the way to the tail, and it is my go to ski for just about everything.
I am trying to make a similar ski, not copy, but similar. The way i am trying to achieve this is by the core profile. I looked at a bunch of examples and read the way they skied, and am tailoring my core to be stiff from a 1/3 of the way down through out the tail.
I will post a build result, and dimensions when i am done. Good luck.

[Greg]

In my alpine skiing days, I built a couple pairs of long, fat skis (the Bremallows being my first attempt) I found that the edges I ordered were 7' long, which was more than enough for any ski I was building. Other than that, it can be a little difficult to figure out how thick to make the core when you are building a wider ski. As beam theory tells you, the thickness has a much greater effect than the width. But, as always, the best way to figure out what is right is to do some experiments as all of it gets even more confusing when you start adding strange side-cuts.

The widest skis I have built yet are 160mm wide under foot, but with the material I got, I can go to 165mm. That being said though, you don't need much more than 140mm to float through anything the west coast gives. Maybe Utah's ultra light powder requires more ski, but with the Bremallows, I found myself spending most of my time on the top 2 inches of snow at baker... even when it was 12 inches deep. There is something of perfect balance between sinking too deep and not sinking at all in the powder... time for some experiments.

[Grizzly Adams]

Thanks to everyone for the responses!

G-Man: Thanks for the heads up on that principle, I'm well aware of it and I didn't literally mean that each pair of skis I want to build are going to be Long, Fat, and stiff. Definitely going to be keeping that in mind though.

Idris: I'm going to get in touch with Pat in the near future and hopefully I can apprentice under the master. Thanks for his contact info!

macdadmorgan: I can definately appreciate your love of the XXLs. Their properties make them more versatile than people expect. I look forward to hearing about your build.

Greg: I imagine a 213cm edge would be long enough for most applications. I think lots of my first few builds will involve a lot of experimentation and I'm definately looking forward to it. I've also gotta agree that the relationship between waist width and # of face shots is sadly inverse... A major factor to consider while experimenting, lol.

Thanks again for all of your feedback. I'll keep you guys updated. Please let me know if there is anything else you'd like to chime in.

-Grizzzz