It depends greatly on the temperature you can reach. If you heating system is powerfull enough you can use a system that requires hot hardening. You gain a stronger composite and longer pot life. If you can't reach the required temperature you can take a resin that's made for hardening at room tempe...

169 under foot - that's a true fat ski - very impressive! And the negative camber is huge! I like the shape with minimal reverse side cut before the binding and much behind. I've been thinking about this too for my next one with reverse sidecut. Hopefully it compensates the bad effect with catching ...

Here's a quick update about the further testing: After the inital test at Fieberunn (see Trip reports) i had the chance to ride them for another 2 days. The last test was last weekend with almoust all conditions you can expect while freeriding. I skied a 1400m descent several times that started with...

There was an article in a freeskiers magazine some time ago. They said that 42% is the maximum you should go backwards to keep the ski still manageable on the slopes. A more versatile setup is 43-44% percent. We tested the 42% percent on some skis (Rossi B3, Atomic Sugar Daddy, Karhu Jill, Voelkl Go...

We use triaxial fibers for the outer layer of the ski +-45 an 0 degrees. The outer fiber of the structure takes almost all the load for tension and pressure. 0 degree while bending and 45 degree for torsion. There is not much left for the wood then shear forces. Making the core thicker increases the...

I use a simple calculation of area for determining the mounting point. 42% of the area should be behind the boot center for powder skiing. On my Voelkl Gotama this is a bit to much forward for powder but you can carve it well on piste. With my reverse sidecut homebuild i can lean as much forward as ...

In my opinion you gain nothing with placing the carbon on the core. All issues of combining materials with different Young modulus remain. You might even experience delamination issues (as far as i rember dbskis had this problem with carbon/wood skis). I would suggest to use a wood with higher Young...

Here is a nice summary of mechanical properties:

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=144

Basically this theory is absolutely correct but it it depends greatly on what you're trying to achieve with the carbon fiber. The simplest thing is just creating breaking strength. Carbon fiber has a much higher tensile strength than E-Glass so you can reduce the amount of fiber getting a strong and...

There is a stuff called "copyfleece" used by surfboard builders. I think it's the same stuff Davide mentioned. It's a none woven glas fiber material available in sheets or rolls. I know this supplier:
http://www.timeout.de

@bigKam: great - if you like we can meat in Munich and talk a little about skibuilding while having a nice beer

Collin -this is not true what they told you. Of course the slopes are clearly marked and you will always know when you leave them. But mostly when you leave the piste you leave the regular ski area (there are a few exceptions with designated freeride areas). There are a lot of people freeriding in t...

Hi Collin, demoing fat skis is not that easy. Last season it was almost impossible to get a Gotama - the only place i know is the Dammkar at Mittenwald - but it is not open yet. Backcountry here in the Alps is allways at your own risk. Even if you just leave the slopes for 10m you can get in an Aval...

Greg - did you think about using some filling material. There is a stuff called cotton fluffs (or flakes - don't no how to translate it correctly). Mixing it with epoxy creates a great (stronger an lighter) glue that is able to fill the gaps.

Saturday was the great day and to say it briefly they worked fantastic! The condition were quite variable with 10-20cm cold Powder getting more dense with the sun warming it. Handling of the skis is extremely easy. They feel much shorter than they are and turn very well. In spite of the realy soft f...