DIY Splitboard underway

[mushroom]

I'm building my second diy splitboard, and just got my board back from the waterjet cutter. Watch this space for updates as the build progresses.

[mushroom]

Board in ski mode, and one ski next to its older sibling.

[mushroom]

Bonus pic of the waterjet cutter in action.

[neilmny]

Interesting mushroom, is this an existing snow board that you had cut down the centre?

[north-north-west]

Interesting. Never heard of the concept before, but it does make sense.

[GPSGuided]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitboard

Finally a valid justification for me to take up snowboarding. Is it a good thing?

[neilmny]

Interesting. Never heard of the concept before, but it does make sense.

Yep split the board wack on some skins and wander away.

[mushroom]

They work very well. I grew up boarding not skiing, but boards are hopeless as an access tool. Being so wide, the skis can climb very well with skins on. Not much glide for flat terrain, and difficult to ride without skins. I'll be adding heel locks to this splitboard, for an option to skate without skins on.

[neilmny]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitboard

Finally a valid justification for me to take up snowboarding. Is it a good thing?

[youtube]=J2wg5fxBKRI[/youtube]

What a great system pretty much covers everything.

[beean]

All boarders are two plank wankers at heart, it's just hard for them to admit it.

Looks like a smooth job mate. My splitty mates always complain about not having edges in ski mode, maybe you could look into adding some? Not sure how big of a job that would be..

[mushroom]

Edges are possible, but require routing (or waterjet cutting) a slot on the inside of the split. The steel edges are cheap, but i couldn't find them locally and shipping is about $60.

I rarely wish for the extra edge with my current board. I think the greater problem is getting the pressure on the edge with a soft-boiled setup.

[mushroom]

More progress today with more parts arriving...

[beean]

Looks like it's coming along nicely.

Do you ever have issues with the skins pulling out the p-tex plugs you use to fill the holes in the base you drilled? It happened to me once..

[mushroom]

Thanks beean. Which board did you split?

I haven't used the plugs, but had the same issue with ptex repair powder getting pulled out by skins on my last split. I was too gentle with the heat and tried to just fill above the tnuts. I'm intending to use ptex repair candles this time to make oversized repairs for the holes, then plane them flat. I think repairing the holes is fairly cosmetic in any case, but since this board has a black base I'm going to give it a try with black ptex.

[beean]

I haven't split a board as I'm a skier, but I'm interested as the missus boards and can't afford a splitty and I'm fairly handy.

I lost a ptex repair from overzealous skin removal two days into a five day backcountry trip. Was not happy. I think it holds better if you rough up the edges but what do I know?

[mushroom]

A quick video edit of the splitboard in action, mostly just skiing around the hut and up Mt Hotham at the end.

[neilmny]

Nice work Mushroom, if you use them split for downhill how are they to turn?

There's something spooky about the JB Plain Hut.

[mushroom]

Well, the hut is haunted by a couple of possums...

The board went reasonably well with the heels locked. Certainly far stiffer than my previous setup allowing better use of the edges. The bindings also released under a reasonable amount of pressure. I don't use them to ski downhill by choice, more just for long flat or downhill sections for skating without skins. At the start of the video I'm not using climbing skins.