Eastern Powder Ski's
Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:47 pm
I tried out my new home builts this past weekend and was very pleased with the results. First some details 125-92-115 with 8mm camber, they are a 21metre radius ski. The core is 9mm thick at the center and tapers to 2mm at the tip and tail, they are fairly flexible but not dissimilar to my Dynastar Big Fats for flex. The core is poplar, sidewalls and tip fillers are UHMW, the layup is 8 biaxial+18oz triaxial then core then 18oz triaxial and then 8oz texalium which is visible through the topskin of clear p-tex.
By the way texalium is just aluminized fiberglass so that it looks like silver carbon fiber.
We had typical Eastern Blue Powder, which makes really good drinks but won't cover the steel edge on a powder ski. The amazing thing was that they carved nicely on the hardpack and never let loose on the ice. These skis were not made for these conditions so I'm really looking forward to a backcountry trip out West in 2 weeks to test them out in appropriate conditions. My daughter is at Whistler and finally got bindings for hers so she is skiing perfect conditions for them right now. She telephoned from the top of Spanky's to inform me she loved her skis. I understand she stuck Armada stickers on them so they don't look home made.
The skis were made using MAS epoxy and pressed at about 12 psi in a vacuum press. I see no indication of delamination even though I carved them hard over ice on the weekend.
Once I figure out how to upload my pictures to a website I'll post them, I'll try and get some photos out West so I can show how they really work.
I used 1.2mm clear Durasurf as the topskin and my one disappointment is that it is hard to see through to the nice fabric underneath.
Do you think it is the extra thickness that makes it so opaque? I ended up coating the durasurf with a clear coat in order to make the topskin more transparent but I'd rather have a much clearer topskin. This stuff seems strong though
By the way texalium is just aluminized fiberglass so that it looks like silver carbon fiber.
We had typical Eastern Blue Powder, which makes really good drinks but won't cover the steel edge on a powder ski. The amazing thing was that they carved nicely on the hardpack and never let loose on the ice. These skis were not made for these conditions so I'm really looking forward to a backcountry trip out West in 2 weeks to test them out in appropriate conditions. My daughter is at Whistler and finally got bindings for hers so she is skiing perfect conditions for them right now. She telephoned from the top of Spanky's to inform me she loved her skis. I understand she stuck Armada stickers on them so they don't look home made.
The skis were made using MAS epoxy and pressed at about 12 psi in a vacuum press. I see no indication of delamination even though I carved them hard over ice on the weekend.
Once I figure out how to upload my pictures to a website I'll post them, I'll try and get some photos out West so I can show how they really work.
I used 1.2mm clear Durasurf as the topskin and my one disappointment is that it is hard to see through to the nice fabric underneath.
Do you think it is the extra thickness that makes it so opaque? I ended up coating the durasurf with a clear coat in order to make the topskin more transparent but I'd rather have a much clearer topskin. This stuff seems strong though