A balance board is a great thing to have in your surf-related arsenal of things.
They can help improve your balance and build some of your stabilizer muscles – both of which will translate to improvements in your surfing.
Making your own balance board is very simple, and can usually be completed with scrap wood and material. It’s another great way to upcycle your junk instead of sending it to the dump or letting it waste space.
Not much of a builder? No worries, we’ve recommended the best surf balance boards for you!
Here’s are the components you’ll need to make a simple balance board of your own:
- The deck.
- The roller.
That’s it. Two parts. From there, you can get as complicated as you’d like, but here are some suggestions.
To make your balance board deck, you can either:
- Use some scrap plywood (anywhere from 1/2″ to 3/4″ should work well).
- Measure and trace whatever shape you’d like.
- Grab inspiration from an existing balance board or design your own.
- A good starting point can be a symmetrical deck around 3′ x 15″
- Re-purpose an old skateboard or longboard deck.
If you’re using plywood:
- Use a jigsaw to cut out the shape.
- Sand down and round any sharp of rough edges.
- Sand down the top and bottom up to at least 320 grit.
- Leave it unfinished if you plan to keep it inside or seal it with paint, stain, or varnish.
- Take it a step further for some barefoot comfort by adding cork, carpet, or astro turf to the top with some glue.
For the roller, you can either:
- Visit the hardware store and find a PVC pipe that’s around 5″ in diameter and roughly the width of your balance board’s deck.
- Re-purpose an old foam roller.
- Upcycle a thick cardboard tube, like the ones that come with rolls of fiberglass cloth.
That’s all there is to it – a simple, upcycled balance board.