: I am thinking of building a stand on top paddle board out of cedar
: strips does anyone make plans for one? They are becoming very
: popular around here, Seattle area. If anyone has built one let
: me know how it went. I would think it would not take near as
: long to make as a kayak. Maybe a guy could make some money on
: one. Just a thought. Thanks for any imput. Joe

Hello Joe,

Here is a link to the SUP I designed for Wood Surfboard Supply, the Malco SUP. http://www.woodsurfboardsupply.com/sups.html The other two SUP's they offer may be more suited for your conditions. The Malco is for paddling to your favorite surf spot and then surfing. It has a bit more rocker for offshore paddling and a hollow concave for getting up on plane when surfing. The Orca may be better for where you live unless you're surfing.

Here's a link to the build: http://www.grainsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3240 and a pic of the finished product is on my site here http://www.schweizersurf.com/ My forum is view only right now due to a hack. You can view the builds on my forum but you can't sign up. Dirty rotten hackers! I am working on fixing that.

You should go to the Grain Surf forum, sign up, and post any questions there. Let them know I sent you. There is a wealth of knowledge on that site, but there are also a lone few that just bicker back and forth. Let them bicker and just ignore them. There's some real good folks there with insane talent willing to share knowledge.

As for selling SUP's, it is a very difficult market. In order to make back your materail costs and get something for your time you usually end up in the $2500 and up price range, which is well over the cost of a foam board, aka "foamie." Surfers are also a very picky bunch. The rail shape is everything. They will eye the rails and feel them and question you about them. My advice is get into it for the fun of building and let that be your reward. Then if you can sell boards and make money all the better. Start by getting your name out there and sell some boards on the cheap, then work your price up each board you build.

On building boards versus kayaks, it is overall quicker to build a board, but the rails are much more difficult because of the tight radius. I use 1/4" by 1/4" strips for the rails and bevel them on both sides. It's tedius work. The Malco has 15 such strips on each rail. Also the rails as I said above are EVERYTHING to a surfer. They have to be perfect- a lesson I learned the hard way. You will spend about 1/3 of the build time just on the rails and nose and tail block. 1/3 on the other parts, and 1/3 on the glassing. Of course boards don't have cockpits, so you don't have to build a coaming, and there's much less twist in the strips on a board.

If you are wanting to do an SUP just for the speed of the build, but you really would rather have a kayak, then consider a stitch and glue kayak. It wil be much faster to build than a paddleboard and much more versatile. If you want a paddleboard then certainly go for it, and build a paddle too!