Assymetrical side cut skis

[Dr. Delam]

I know that many people have experienced problems with ski bases coming out assymetrical. I just had a pair do this.

My question is has anyone gone and followed through and built them this way and how did they ski? I see the Kananas were built this way but that design resulted in a reverse sidecut on one side so that doesn't really apply here.

I remember Atomic building a ski like this back in the 90's. The theory was that in order for your skis to carve parallel arcs they needed to be different sidecuts since each ski's angle on the snow was different. The inside ski is flatter than the outside ski. This makes sense somewhat to me for pure carving and for wider skiing stances. I never got to ski them but I wonder how they performed. I am guessing not so good since it never caught on. Plus you always have a designated right and left ski so they wear quicker.

I know I didn't get a bad batch of base material. I had four previous pairs come out well from the same roll. I precut the base material and let the tension out as usual before routing the final cut and am pretty sure they matched the template after cutting and sitting awhile. My guess is that they warped when putting on the edges. I wasn't in a consistent environment when I put them on. I glued them in the house and then brought them in the cold garage a few times to cut the edges. I surmise there were expansion issues.

I need to decide if I want to go ahead and lay them up this way. They warped in opposite directions so at least the inside edges would be the same.

On my next pair I am definitely going to put the edges on before removing the base from the template and in a controlled environment. I was in a rush to cut two sets of bases outside before it got dark( those bits of base material get all over the garage).

[doughboyshredder]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I will make a suggestion.

Keep your base material at room temp.

Prepare your entire layup. I mean be ready to go. Glue your edges on to your base and begin layup. Metal and plastic expand and contract at different temps and different rates. Gluing edges on and letting the bases sit for any length of time before layup could be detrimental.

[Nick's Sticks]

I had this problem too. I believe that it has more to do with the tension in the metal than in the ptex. Plastic is deforms easily, especially if it gets hot. The tension in the edges pull the plastic into the banana shape. If you lay them up they will come out exactly the way the base looks. My pair had something like a 10m sidecut on the left and a 50m on the right. Needless to say my arks were a little biased.

I have attached my edges days before my layup without problems but I ALWAYS keep the base/edge clamped to my form. Since I started doing this I haven't had a problem. You might be able to salvage you bases by pulling off the edges and re-gluing them. Run a razor along between the edge and base and they should come apart without much damage. Good luck.

[Dr. Delam]

I pulled the edges off and started at it again. I just used acetone and they came off cleanly and then I removed all the remaining super glue from the base and edges. When I brought the bases in to room temperature they matched the template exactly. I am hoping that when I clamp them to the template and reglue the edges that things will be as they should. Round two!