I've always liked the simplicity of the wood plank alaias. The biggest problem is of course, they are hard to paddle and get into waves with. I've always thought it would be fun to make a hollow wood alaia. Not necessarily a kook box, but a board that has the same bottom contours and chines of an alaia. I had forgotten about this idea for a couple of years until I saw what the wood board guru Tom Wegener was working on. His brother Jon has been making very cool alaia-like boards with small twin fins (his Bluegills), but Tom shaped up some very cool foam alaias with enough thickness to be pretty easily ridden. Tom calls them Seaglass. Anyway, I got all excited when I saw pictures on the web and immediately started thinking how I'd do this in wood. I've never shaped in foam, so I thought I'd give wood a go for this shape. My shape is 6'6" long, 22" wide and about 2-7/8 thick, with slab sides, a chined bottom and a deep long center channel. After making some preliminary drawings, I realized it kinda looks like Tom Morey's famous foam creation!
The beginning of the channel. The bottom will need to be planked in separate stages for the chines, channel and flat front entry.
One of the slab rails going on.
Obviously the deck is down, and I've kept it dead flat to simplify the build. Besides, flat is fast.
I replaced the conventional solid keel with a really simple stick truss beam which will be much lighter and just as stiff.
More to come!
