Carbon prepreg woven in 3 dimensions around Balsa cores!

    The latest boards from The Uglie Carnie Laboratories have all been made from some rather interesting materials and techniques.

    The First board was an update on my first Chubbie Mistress that I made in 2007 from foam, wet bagged carbon, kevlar and a thin sheet of wood. I have since progressed the build to eliminate the flex,prepreg longitudinally and torsional that I could feel in the 2007 Chubbie by making the drops from solid carbon fibre. 30+ layers of carbon prepreg uni were stacked to create some of the stiffest drops I have ever ridden. This board was made from a heavy weight of carbon prepreg with balsa foot pan, solid carbon drops and timber rails and truck mounts.

    The second board is a balsa core (stronger in shear and compression that foams) with a carbon prepreg torsion box that morphs into solid carbon nose and tail mounts that have a carbon blade stiffening system to produce a very responsive ride. The way that the carbon nose and tail are folded create the same stiff ride as the board above but reduce the weight of the board by almost 20%. The skins are carbon prepreg and were set off with a single wood pinline and cedar rails.carbon sheet The way the nose and tail is shaped creates a very locky pocket for all you freeriding fiends!

    The third board has a carbon shear web, glass skins , balsa core and wood rails in the same corseted template as above with 15mm drops, deep double U concave and a fabric bottom. This board has a small amount of flex for carving and was a board built to explore ways of building light (1.35kg ungripped) board from cheaper materials other than full carbon.carbon cloth This board has a small amount of give but then "bottoms out", what is happening is the glass is giving way but then as the carbon shear web is stretched its fibres start acting in tension and stops the flex dead in its tracks.

    They make look nice BUT the kicker is the ride. I have spent a lot of time working on developing the laminate to work as a 3 dimensional structure so when you apply any pressure along the rail of a board this energy and force is transferred as efficiently to the trucks as possible.

    The Carbon boards are HYPER responsive and the riders have all said that the boards could run a set of cones because they are so willing to go exactly where and how you want.carbon prepreg

    The 3d carbon structure also adds a huge amount of robustness as the light weight core is no longer relying on its bond to the skins to distribute the forces as the internal structure now carry these loads. This build method stops my boards going soft as quickly over time (my board from 2007 is only just starting to feel slightly tired). The thick square rails with a wood bumper also protect this board from the punishment I expect and demand from each new owner.

    feel free to head on over to Uglie Carnie Longboards and check out my building blog. Also feel free to ask about any of the boards you may find.

    Boards are for the road, for the race track, for the stoke and NOT to just hang on the wall!