Untypical post today, but as a 90’s kid and a huge nerd I couldn’t resist skateboarding in my life. So I recently re-discovered this wonderful sport and re-entered with a pretty new flavor. As an old fart in the field – just turned 40 this year – I decided to go with a surfskate. Especially since surfing (or any kind of water sports) is another spleen of mine I couldn’t get rid off.
I first picked up a yow and a carver. Great boards, love to ride them. Now after a few months of training I wanted to try something special. Nothing you can buy since the performance of retail boards is normal to a degree. They are made for fun and everyone, balanced and maybe a bit more and a bit less surfy, more or less a cruiser. But balanced.
So what are you doing if you look for something new and uncommon? You start a custom build!
Building a New Surfskate
I picked up some Hamboard 40/40 200mm trucks (skateboard axis) in the Netherlands. I am not too much of a fan of the Hamboard long-longboard designs. But they trucks looked amazing. I combined them with a set of Seismic Hot Spot 66mm longboard wheels in 81A. First wanted some 79A but they were unavailable.
The deck (wooden blank on top) is a skateshred kicktail can marple longboard deck I ordered from the US. 34″ is just the correct size of a deck for me.
Building the board was a bit tricky, the riser (buffer between trucks and deck) which came with the Hamboard axis were too high for me and the 40/40 degree angle were a bit too much. So I replaced the riser with a pair of rubber risers, one of them with a 5% angle. That reduces the angle from 40 to 35 degree and made the setup more stable.
Another obstacles were the holes which were drilled in the deck. I had to widen them as the Hamboard axis use an unusual M6 skrew. A last modification was a bit of lowering to make the screws even with the deck. The entire build took no more than an evening.
Conculsions
The board came out as expected, it’s far from an easy ride. needs a lot of balance but it can make sick turns and carving is a lot of fun. Especially that both trucks can turn evenly makes it more challenging. But after 15 minutes of careful trying I was in love with the new build. A honorable mention to the 200mm hamboard axis. Yes they are wide, but very nice for a setup of this kind. They give great stability to the ground.
I can really recommend surfskating to everyone who never tried it, and those who came here to take a look at my custom build – go for it and build something own. Have fun!
