I am a kiter who is yet-to-jibe. I undertand (and tend to share) your desire to use a larger (& less-expensive) board transitionally for learning jibing (while at the same time also undertanding points made by 1) Zgur and 2) Gabe to 1) start with a proper more ideal 'target' directional board and 2) to try one of the nice surf-specific kiteboards made by our friend Jeff Kafka (contact thru www.wowkite.com)). I also share their concern about durability of polystyrene-built boards ... but have been able to get a modest amount of use out of mine while I am learning. While I agree in part with Zgur, it seems to me that a floaty 'transitional' board may allow one to train ones muscle memory, albeit still requiring a second adaptation step to a more realistic wave-specific kiteboard. Learn in one step or two, which would be quicker ?, which more fun ?kaptekarev wrote:Instead of spending $700 on a kite surf, Iím thinking about mounting some straps on a 6' M10 I have. Has anyone done this? Iím thinking about inserting a plugs I can screw into and then glassing over the area. What material plugs should I use? Does anyone know a vendor? I'm concerned about weakening the stringer, is that an issue? Also where is a good place to get foot straps and mats?
I converted a shortboard with a broken nose (that was being trashed by a guy who had just broke it at the end of the street) to a kiteboard with straps (and have used it successfully >10-15x and it is till in one piece). It WAS a lot of work but that was mostly the repairs to the broken-off nose, stripped deck and rotted-dinged bottom (and not putting in the inserts).
'Inserts' for pads (come in 1, 2 or 3 posts) were embedded in polstyrene resin with fiberglass bits, Cab-osil or Q-cell (need catalyst even with UV-cure if opaque). Inserts (and resin) can be obtained from Fiberglass Supply or 'locally' (Santa Cruz) Fiberglass Hawaii.
Holes for inserts right up next to the stringer (or on both sides of stringer) were made using a Dremel tool.
Deck pads (diamond cut) can be bought in bulk (any dimensions) from
NSI
I took pictures of my board with inserts, straps and pads ... but I don't know how to upload them.
PM me if I can be of any further help.
live2kitesurf