Surf Ski . Info - "Hayes Homebuilt"

"Hayes Homebuilt"

Written by Rob Mousley

Monday, 03 March 2008

Brad Hayes of Hamilton, New Zealand sent us some pics of his new surf ski...

Cockpit, complete with 'Bumfortable' seat (Pic: Brad Hayes)

It's a "new 100% original craft (designed by me using free Delftship software)," he wrote. "My aim was to create something more stable than my Millenium for use when the going gets tough and also with a Bumfortable seat as my backside can't handle more than 2 hrs in the Millenium seat. Just some more sanding and polishing to get a good finish but basically ready for sea trials. Weighs 17 kg and due to the glass/wood/carbon sandwhich is way stronger and stiffer than a glass ski.

Stern view (Pic: Brad Hayes)

Hull (Pic: Brad Hayes)

"I will get some better pictures (ie not in the garage) and post a report (comparison with my Millenium) after on water testing!"

And it weighes... 17kg! (Pic: Brad Hayes)

(The Delftship software can be found at: http://www.delftship.net/.)

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email This

Comments (7) Add Comment

Subscribe to this comment's feed

SurfSki DIY Kit?
written by richard von wildemann, March 03, 2008

Looks awesome

How about putting a kit together some time? How long did it take to make... and so on?

Well done

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +1

...
written by Jim Murray, March 03, 2008

Nice work. How do you calculate/judge where to put the seat? I have been cotemplating building a stripper but its a lot of work to end up with major trim problems.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

...
written by Brad Hayes, March 03, 2008

Hi Richard and Jim
A bit of an estimate, but about 200 hours to build. You could do it quicker but I was keen to get everything as fair and accurate as I could. If anyone wants the design they are welcome to my delftship files and spreadsheets with coordinates for all the parts.
Some time ago when building another kayak I made a rough seat with a vertical board against my back and sat in it, balanced on a large tube to find my centre of gravity in paddling position. Turned out for me that it was almost exactly 300mm from the back board to my CoG. I did wonder at the time about "squat" and thought I would err on the side of bow down - guessed about 20mm adjustment would do the trick (ie position my CoG 20mm forward of the kayak CoB) I tried to get some advice on this from the various kayak building forums but couldn't get any definitive answer. Trim on that boat was OK so I used the same measurements again. Trim on the new ski has worked out according to the design and looks OK on flat water. Have yet to try it out in the sea. Having paddled it for a few hours on the river last weekend I am very pleased with it so far.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +1

Looks awesome
written by Dawid Mocke, March 05, 2008

Hi Brad, that looks stunning. Great to see some "SOUL" in the sport!

Dawid

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

a surfski with a bumfortable ...
written by Marek Uliasz, March 05, 2008

... sounds and looks great! Brad, what are specifications of your surfski? I would love to post some pictures of your boat in my Fitness Paddling blog.
Marek
http://race.fit2paddle.com

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

Specifications
written by Brad Hayes, March 06, 2008

Length is 5.7m (short for a ski but hopefully there is enough volume above the waterline at the bow to avoid going down the mine all the time - have yet to try it out down wind)
Max. width is 470mm
Width at footrest 370mm
I am hoping to complete wet sanding and polishing this weekend so will get some photos of the finished article after that.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +0

Sea Trials
written by Rob Mousley, March 26, 2008

Comment from Brad:

Hi Rob
I spent about 7 hours in the sea in the new ski over our 4 day Easter holiday. Sorry, no photos though.
Day 1: 1.5m swell and no wind - played in the surf - had a ball, great handling, no issues. No broaching, no nose dives and easy to get back on when I did fall off, which wasn't very often - couldn't have done it in the Millenium without falling out lots more and possibly breaking something ...
Day 2: 1.5m swell with an opposing 15 knot off shore wind - conditions I could never have handled in the Millenium - scared myself a bit being out there but no actual problems!
Day 3: 1m swell with 10 knot on shore wind - feeling really happy now!
Day 4: Paddled along the coast for 10km with a Millenium paddler who, from previous encounters, is much stronger than me. With the new ski I could keep up well going east, 1.0m swell from the side and light tail wind, catching small runs every now and then, but after we turned to come back there were no runs and it was all rather wallowy - I suffered from hunger, then sea sickness, and slowed to a crawl. I will have to work on that!

Overall, a very successful project. Taking into account my (relatively low) level of stability it works well for me - the only weakness seems to be its flat water speed. I am now happy to pass on the design should anyone be interested.

Cheers
Brad

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +1

Write comment

You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

Bathys Hawaii

Related Items