Making Your Own Indo Board

Indo boards are probably the most popular retail balance trainers aimed at surfers. They're pretty basic in construction, and K Mac at the forum has kindly put together a how-to guide to make your own balance aid. And here's how, based on a 39" x 12" x 3/4" board.

Here are the ingredients

• 49" x 12" x 3/4" plywood
• 6" diameter pipe
• A saw
• A tape measure
• Wood glue
• A heavy wood file / belt sander
• Sandpaper and sanding block
• A drill with normal & countersink drill bits
• 4 x 1 inch wood screws
• Wood varnish
• White spirit

Balance Trainer Construction

Go shopping at your hardware store to get the bits you need. K Mac suggested that most building sites have these readily available at a "cheap" price, but we're not sure we would endorse this approach.

The first step is to cut down the piece of plywood to your chosen size. In this example it's 39" in length. The off cuts are used later for the "stoppers".

Sand down the four corners to make nice rounded edges. You can also round the edges of all the rails. Make sure you sand them so they are very smooth.

Once you have nice rounded edges, you can use them as a template to make the blocks/stoppers.

Use the counter-sink drill head to make your holes to screw the tail blocks to the main board.

Rounded corners with stoppers attached

Sand down all the edges and stick or spray your own design on it. A bit of customisation goes a long way. If you are painting the board, make sure that you let the paint dry before the next step.

Customise Your Design

Using exterior clear varnish, mix the first coat 80/20 with some white spirits and then leave it for 24 hours to dry. Repeat the varnishing to add another coat.

That's it! You're done. The pipe sits under the board. Balance away!

The finished design

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  Guest

  on May 8, 2011

  cool surfboards

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  Guest

  on Jun 20, 2011

  Great design. What'd you use for the roller? Was it like 8 inch PVC pipe with electrical tape or what? Thanks

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  surf patrol

  on Jun 20, 2011

  I think it was 6" PVC pipe.

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  Guest

  on Jan 13, 2012

  6" pvc pipe and non-skid tape on pvc pipe

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  codie

  on Mar 28, 2013

  I appreciate it, im a first year surfer and needed the help and this gave me the edge to finally get the balance to ride my dream thirty footer in africa

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  Guest

  on Oct 15, 2014

  Good for you