TECHINFO

Customs constructions

There are 7 main constructiontypes available:

  • HCD: H-glass (50%), Carbon (15%),Dyneema® (5%)-e-glass-epoxy-Single-Double-Triple sandwich. Weight: 5.6kg*. 1 year garantee**
    Made with full H-glass on deck and bottom, overlapping on the rails.

  • LCK: (Light) Carbon-Kevlar (50%), Carbon (12%), Dyneema® (5%)-e-glass- epoxy-Single-Double-Triple sandwich. Weight: 5.3kg*. 1 year garantee**
     Made with full Carbon-Kevlar on deck and bottom, overlapping on the rails.

  • XLCK: (Extra Light) 1K Carbon-Kevlar (50%), Carbon (12%), e-glass- epoxy-Single-Double- sandwich. Weight: 4.8kg*. 1 year garantee**
     Made with full 1K Carbon-Kevlar on deck and bottom, overlapping on the rails.

  • HDD: (Heavy Duty) Dyneema® (65%)-Carbon (17%)-glass-epoxy-single-double-triple-secret-sandwich. Our famous Heavy Duty Dyneema® construction with 18 months garantee**. Weight: 5.7kg*.
    Made with full Dyneema® on deck and bottom, overlapping on the rails.

  • LD: (Light) Dyneema®-(50%)-Carbon 12%-glass-epoxy-single-double sandwich. Our light Dyneema constructions for those who want to combine a light board with impact resistence at the sacrifice of less structural strength. Weight 5.3kg*
    1 year guarantee**
    Made with a thinner, even more expensive grade Dyneema on deck and bottom, overlapping on rails.

  • LHDD: (Light Heavy Duty) Dyneema®-(50%)-Carbon 16%-glass-epoxy-single-double-triple sandwich. A combination with the structural strength of  the HDD and the thinner outside Dyneema skin of  the LD construction,  for the best mix between weight and strength. Weight 5.5kg*
    1 year guarantee**

  • XHDD: (Extra Heavy Duty) Dyneema® (70%)-Carbon (20%)-e-glass-epoxy-single-double-triple-secret-sandwich. Our notorious Extra Heavy Duty Dyneema® construction with 2 years garantee**. Weight: 5.9kg*.
    Made with full Dyneema® on deck and bottom, overlapping on the rails.

*Weight quote based on a 70L singlefin waveboard, +/-4%, for different boardsizes add or take approx. 8% for every 10L.
**Conditions apply

As the boards are custombuild also a mix of constructions is possible.

More info

No sacrifice of quality

As a construction is only as strong as its weakest component, Witchcraft also uses the highest quality sandwich materials and resin. No sacrifice of quality is made in favor of costs or ease of work.

Sandwich

Each board is vacuum-bagged 4 times. Apart from the XLCK construction a special method is used to bond the sandwich material. This makes delaminating very hard and therefore there is no more need for an air valve, which is usually a source for problems. Every board gets baked at 60°C, for the XLCK and LD version with the air valve closed to test for delamination.

We have tried full double sandwich, but we have found that the extra resin, needed to bond the sandwich to each other, is heavier than the weight saved. The only advantage is for the producer because 2 thin layers are easier to bend and therefore a cheaper and more brittle sandwich can be used. (This is something some companies don´t mention in their advertising, is it?)
We use sandwich materials, which are specially developed for dynamic loads, in one thicker layer of sandwich so the board will be stronger all over. Only in the necessary areas we use double or triple of our thicker sandwich.
We also taper the sandwich towards the nose again to reduce weight and “swing-weight”.
And we use various types of sandwich for the various areas for more impact or pressure resistence, depending on the area.

About H-glass

H-glass is a new patented microscopically hollow glass fibre. It is 40% lighter and 32% more pressure resistent (against creasing, usually the reason for board breakage) than traditional e-glass. H-glass based composites also serve as a very efficient shock absorber. A very good alternative for Dyneema, especially for spots without rocks. Another first from Witchcraft.
More info (in german and english)

About Carbon-Kevlar

Carbon-Kevlar is fairly stiff and pressure resistent due to the carbon so a lighter inner build up of materials can be used.  Pure carbon would be too stiff and uncomfortable for waveboards and pure kevlar too flexible. The Kevlar helps to reduce damage on impacts. On overloads the 50% carbon, because it is much stiffer than the 50% Kevlar, will take on most of the forces and can break easier as there is only 50%. Therefore this material is more suitable for sailors with a “controlled” sailing style.

1K Carbon-Kevlar is a very fine special fabric usually used for model building with finer but much more expensive 1K Carbon fibres.

About Dyneema

Since 1994, under the tough demands of the conditions on Fuerte, Witchcraft started using Dyneema® fibre  as the main fibre in their boards. Dyneema* is the strongest fibre on the market. It is very light, even lighter than water but has a very high tenacity and energy absorption. Still it is stiffer than Kevlar and glass fibre, being slightly more flexible than carbon. It also has a long flex life and is not brittle as carbon or glass.
Comparison of technical properties of different fibres used in windsurfboards:

 

Density

strength

energy required for penetration

 

gr/cm³

N/Tex

Jm²/kg

Carbon

1.78

1.9

1

Glass

2.60

1.35

2

Aramid (kevlar)

1.45

2.05

6.5

Dyneema®*

0.97

3.1

12.5

*) DSM´s registered trademark for High Performance Polyethylene Fiber

Apart from the price, the problem with Dyneema is that it is hard to work with , hard to cut,to sand and to laminate. It requires high quality workmanship, since irregularities cannot be corrected afterwards.

Because of the Dyneema it is nearly impossible to puncture the board. On impact there may be a dent which can be heated out with a hairdryer or hot air gun, since the sandwich material we use has memory and returns to it´s original shape over 70° C. On heavy impacts, the thin layer of glass fibre covering the Dyneema for the finish, may crack, the Dyneema will usually still be intact to stop water penetrating the board.

We have also developed various secret construction "tricks" on the inside, to make boards stronger and to prevent a board becoming tired, that are quite simple but very effective (sorry, no “T”, “delta” stringers, wood or other "reinforcements"). But, as we don´t want to reveal too much here, you´ll have to take our word for it and let our guarantee conditions convince you.
All this results in a superior board with the highest strength to weight ratio possible, truly ``Witchcraft``