Just picked up some deck pad material at NSI in the Gorge.
Removed the old deck pad from my Underground kite surfboard today.
Cleaned it up and am trying to figure out how to make a template before cutting into the nice new white material.
Of course everything is curved with the only straight line being the center line.
Cardboard, tracing paper? Any ideas?
Kayakdoc probably knows!
Oh, this is ahead of the stomp pad which I left on the board.

Thanks, martin

I make them all the time....cardboard, mark it with a pen on the pad, use round objects to trace the curves on the corners of the pad....then hold the sharpest solid carpet blade you can buy at a 45 or a bit steeper degree angle and follow the line around...don't try to use a jig, never works as well as freehand cutting. Cut on a smooth piece of plywood...

works suprisingly easy, practice on a section you don't need to hold the blade....if you make an error you can just reshape it a little smaller, no probs

Hey Martin,
I can’t help but give you an envious glance whenever we drive by to launch at Gordo’s. I know you would be okay with us stopping by...but I am shy. I find laying the deck pad a very creative moment. Like Kus suggests there really is nothing that cannot be corrected, but it is kind of fun to think about where I want to stomp. Often I have very little material to work with so I get as creative as possible. I think the only criteria is that there is enough friction under foot to cover my movement on the board. I need at least three feet of padded space from back of the stomp pad to the front of the deck pad. If I have to I will cut the material into strips and lay cross pieces with as much as two inch gaps. As long as some part of the foot is on the pad life is good. When I first watched Keahi De Aboitiz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea50_kuzHxE) kite I thought he must be using some super sticky wax or some other Uber Pad that I did not know about to make his feet stick to the board, but he doesn’t like wax and he prefers very little pad. I think the trick I am beginning to understand is that it is necessary to limit the amount of pressure you put on the board/pad. By this I mean that by keeping my weight as supported as much as I can by the kite my contact with the board becomes very light and this allows more movement/spinning of the board with my feet. I am not very good at this, but it is getting better. My favorite board right now is my 5’4” Phillet and the pad is made up of an old Naish stomp pad and a front pad with cross strips to fill the center gap. These pads have come loose in a number of places, but I seem to know where these places are and it feels like I really know where the board is at all times because of these flaps and tears. Weird huh! PM me if you want to discuss this craziness further.

So to encapsulate....wait...there is no time...I will sum up. Be creative, send us some pictures....and get out there and practice those strapless 720 airs!!!!!

Thanks guys,

I am off to buy some thin cardboard at the dollar store tomorrow.
Should have bought a pre made pad but a project is kind of fun.
Oh, when I took the old pad off I cleaned up the residue with acetone.
Rubbed a bit hard and off came some of the paint.
Now I have a bit of painting to do as well.
This little job is slowly but surely turning into real work!
martin

KayakDoc wrote:If I have to I will cut the material into strips and lay cross pieces with as much as two inch gaps. As long as some part of the foot is on the pad life is good. ....favorite board right now is my 5’4” Phillet and the pad is made up of an old Naish stomp pad and a front pad with cross strips to fill the center gap. These pads have come loose in a number of places

yep, card stock works well. Suggest if you get creative to remember to not cut sharp corners or make portions/sections too small <1 inch....as Yakdoc noted the force is too great over time and things will then come loose. Hope you got the pre-glued pad, much easier and neat overall Yes, acetone and board finishes do not mix...well, actually they do.....all too well I guess

Clean the surface with windex to get the best adherence, not sure why this works but it does and paint AFTER the pad is on or things won't stick to the new paint

It will be a one piece front pad for "strapless".
Unless of course I screw up and it becomes a multitude of small pieces!
Thanks for the Windex tip.
I will be using contact cement as it is not pre glued.

The reason for all this is the pad was black which absorbs a lot of heat.
Not usually a problem here but is in Baja.
It was also thicker than the rear stomp pad. Just didn't feel right.
The board looks great right now without the front pad!
martin

For tracing nice flowing curves laying a garden hose over the template material and tracing along that can work fairly nicely. It bends enough to get pretty much any curve, but most are stiff enough to give you something solid to trace against.

Made the template for the pad today.
rocdoc tells me it looks like a mini boogie board!
ready to cut it out from the larger piece of material.
experimented with scissors and cutters. cutters seem a bit smoother.
need a steady hand !
martin

Completed the deck pad today with RocDoc's help.
A bit tricky getting things to line up as once the contact glue touches, that's it.
Happy enough though.
martin