Making a skimboard for the flats First thing to note; this is really not that hard! There are a ton of different designs for skimboards. You can make them out of plywood, foam, and probably any kind of wood that is flattish. The easiest material to work with is plywood, 3/8 inch plywood is perfect, although you can definitely use thicker, The only trouble with thicker wood is the obvious fact that it is going to be heavier and more clunky to ride on. Once a piece of wood has been selected the next trick is shaping it. The shape of your board is entirely up to you, there are some basic principles that will help you decide what shape of board you will want. The more round that your board is the easier it is to do spins on it, some people go so far as to make their board circular, theonly draw back is that they are impossible to actually steer, and therefore limit the rider in what he can do. The other extreme is to have a long narrow board, these boards lend themselves well to carving turns in therds lend themselves well to carving turns in the water and really long rides. The longer boards are harder to spin, but it is still possible to pull off a 720 on one of these longer boards with some practice. I personally recommend a longer narrower board, they do take a little longer to get the hang of but in the long run you get more bang for your buck out of a longer board. Basic length and width for a narrow board would be 4 feet long and 2 feet wide, that is pretty rough just go with what is pleasing to the eye. And try for symmetry between sides. The rocker of a board is another important feature, (rocker is the actual bend that the board has). But you say "Our wood is flat and strong it will not bend!" And I say "Then get out your sander and sand it down!" You don't really need to sand off much just a few millimeters. I have heard it said that if you just sand the corners down so they are round that is optimum but my gut feeling is to sand off a little more than that. Sand off some all the way around and make the board good and smooth to the your feet don't turn into a bloody mess if you accidently kick the board while running. The last and most important thing is to make the bottom SMOOTH

This is important I once made a board that wouldn't skim 15 feet on because the bottom wasn't smooth. Now that board is holding a tarp down on top of the woodpile. The best is to give the wood a sanding to get the humps out of it and then put a layer or two of fiberglass resin on the bottom. Failing that paint is okay too. If you can't do any of those things then at least make an effort to sand the bottom good and smooth otherwise you are not going to have much fun! Every bit counts to make your rides longer, turning and spinning easier and your smile bigger. Remember that every day is a great day for skimboarding! It is easy to start thinking that it si too cold or not sunny enough but once you are out there "yahoo" is it ever fun! You're running so much that there is no possibility of getting cold. Getting tired... now that is a different story happens all too often but don't worry about getting cold.