I am in search of advice on building materials/ building processes for water ramp specific skis. If any of you are unfamiliar with water ramping, it is almost exactly what it sounds like... jumping off a man made jump into water. I am a freestyle mogul skier, and we use water ramps most of the summer to practice our jumps.
Water ramping is really hard on skis. Some brands are better than others in terms of durability, but no matter the ski, it is bound to break eventually. I have been putting multiple layers of fibreglass on my top sheets to try and reinforce them and spread out the impact over the length of the ski. Some people even cut holes in the tips and tails to let water pass through, therefore, decreasing the amount of flex the ski is subjected to. We are using high end mogul skis with good build quality and low surface area, but at the end of the day, water always wins.
In my mind, there are two main factors that kill the skis:
The first is the flexing of the ski. When we make contact with the water after 1.5- 2 seconds of air time, there is a lot of force that gets transmitted through the ski. Nine times out of ten, the ski will snap at, or just in front of the foremost toe piece holes. We are usually landing slightly tips down in the water, and the leverage of the ski combined with hundreds, if not thousands of jumps, will cause them to snap.
The second, and slightly more obvious problem, is the water itself. We spend a lot of time with our skis fully submerged in the water, and the core of the ski will eventually become rotten.
I have no ski building experience, but I wanted to get a general idea of what it would take to build a pair, so over the last week or so, I have been doing some researching and lots of reading on skibuilders.com. I have learned a decent amount, but in all of my searching, I haven't found exactly what I was looking for, so here is my big question:
Is it possible to build a ski entirely out of materials that water will not degrade, while still being able to flex like a traditional wood core ski? I have read somewhat into foam cores, but to me it seems like they could be equally as fragile and they lose their camber quite quickly. Camber for us is quite important as it provides grip on the dry slope. I was thinking that an all fibreglass ski could potentially work, but it might be too stiff and quite heavy. Basically, my thought process is that if there is no core, or a core that will not degrade due to water, and the skis can still flex enough to transmit the force throughout the length of the ski, the skis should be able to last a really long time. I am quite certain there is much more that comes into play regarding the design of the layup, the characteristics of the materials, the building process, etc., but I have this idea in my head that I can't shake.
My idea is to build a mold for the skis out of plywood, get a base together with some edges, then layup enough sheets of fibreglass until I reach a desired core thickness (maybe 20 layers or so), clamp the skis in the press, and then take some material out of the tip and tail until it gives me the flex that I need. Even typing this out, it seems too primitive for my demands of the ski.
Maybe I just need someone to talk me out of this...
Any and all feedback would be much appreciated!
Sam G