For reference, I am 6’6” (200cm) tall

MISC SPECS:

epoxy: TAP Plastics brand Surfboard Polyester Resin (MEKP)
tip spacers: Black ABS plastic 
damping elements: rubber strips placed above metal edges 

SKI BUILDER: Greg Simmons (forum member: Greg)

DATE MANUFACTURED: October 19, 2005

GRAPHICS

For Graphics, I cut bubble letters out of paper and laid them out on the ski.  Then I used a brown wood stain to dap around the letters and give the ski a sponge painting look.  This method didn’t seem to affect the bonding of the resin. 

COMMENTS

The Bremallows were my first attempt at making skis.  The name comes from a name given to the women of Bremerton, Washington whose body shape resembles the skis (huge in the middle and really ugly).  Needless to say, they turned out surprisingly well considering everything.  The first time I tried to press one of them, my MDF mold fell apart and the core shifted on the base.  Fortunately, I was able to get it all ripped apart before the epoxy fully cured, and I then built a new mold using a 1x8 board with tip and tail attached to it.   I wouldn’t recommend the epoxy as it is very toxic smelling (three weeks later, the skis still smell toxic).  For my second pair of skis I used QCM and it was a great improvement.  Also, I don’t think I got the tip-spacers sanded well enough because they immediately started to delaminate.  Several rivets in each ski solved this problem.

The Mold I used, the surface is wood colored vinyl flooring.

THE RIDE

November 11, 2005, Mt Baker, WA.

From the first run, they were absolutely wonderful to ski.  Part of this might be me being biased because they actually worked.  But compared to the AK Rockets I was skiing last year, the Bremallows are way better in the soft snow.  Even though they are 200cm long and extremely wide, the reverse side-cut made them ski like a much shorter ski.  The snow was powder over crust, and they seemed to dig into the crust just right, while floating tremendously well in the powder.  The only place where they started having trouble was the really steeps and the groomers.  On the really steep runs, they dug in really well, but were noticeably long, heavy, and awkward.  On the groomers, it was like skiing a pair of snowblades, they were all over the place and challenging to control, especially with the extreme width in the middle of the ski.