Hi everyone, after upgrading from a soft deck to a new 'breakable' board, i have come to the conclusion that i will need a nose protector for the foreseeable future.
I am going to attempt to make my own Carbon fibre one 'cos it'll look cool 
Can anyone tell me what grade cloth i should use and where a good supplier of CF cloth is SOR in Perth?
I'll post some photos of my experiment. 
Cheers all.
You can get carbon at Fibreglass and Resin Sales in Kew St Welshpool. Use about a 200gm satin or twill weave as plain weave won't go around the compound curves.
Will expensive to do it in all carbon, plus 100% carbon will be brittle so maybe use a fair bit of glass
Have u used carbon before - you know if you want it to look the goods it will have to be moulded as you can't sand it back like fibreglass?
plan was to layer the CF between Glass sheets so i can sand and shape it when set. Just enough CF to add strength though.
Good advice for the twill weave Mark, cheers
[edit] whats recommended to mount the protector on the nose for ease of removal at a later date.
I'm not too keen on those rigid mast protectors......
My brother in law is specialized in catapults, so he had a carbon nose protector fitted on his Fanatic.
After a few crashes he removed it to check underneath, the carbon nose was intact, but the board was smashed..... Go figure....
He now has a deviator installed, only issue is you can't turn your sail from the front of the board....
As above, carbon is too stiff and will transfter the impact shock to your board. The last thing you want is a crack and a leak that you can see.
Maybe you can make an oversizised one and line the gap between nose protector and carbon cone with EVA foam.
I could have used one on the weekend. I hit a bag floating in the water (at Botany Bay - hope it wasn't the other part of the torso they found) at decent speed, stopped me dead and I went over the front to put a nice crack in the nose of my board. 
Rigid nose protector = cracked mast on hard impact.
Best to go the pool noodle concept imo.
Looks like carbon np's aren't what i'm looking for. Still might give it a go at making one, just for the fun of it. Next project will be a fin mod me thinks
Just bust it and fix it...That's my motto
....It hurts the first few times
But you will get over it.
try the deviator (what a name !!) or as I saw on the futura the eva foam nose guard
Looks like carbon np's aren't what i'm looking for. Still might give it a go at making one, just for the fun of it. Next project will be a fin mod me thinks Still make a carbon jobbie if you really enjoy the challenge but all you need to do is glue some mid density EVA foam under it as Waiting4wind suggested. Think motorcycle helmet, it works on the same principle. 
Just get a pool noodle the bigger ones with the hole in the middle (approx $5 from the reject shop or similar) then cut a ~40cm length and then splice it open. Go to bunnings and buy a peice of pvc pipe roughly the same diameter (or slightly smaller) than your mast width that is below the boom (approx $5 for a 30cm length). Splice the PVC pipe and cut out about a 2cm to 4cm gap (depends if its for a rdm or sdm) from top to bottom then sand sharp edges smooth. Glue pipe inside noodle. Done! You can then clamp it onto the mast below the boom right where the mast makes contact with the nose of the board.
Hey nosinka...how good are those old Fanatic Cross's?! Fast, great for chop-hops, great allrounders. Just 'retired' mine, but miss it already.
Looks like carbon np's aren't what i'm looking for. Still might give it a go at making one, just for the fun of it. Next project will be a fin mod me thinks
I bought a JP nose protector for my Xcite after crunching the nose a couple of times, didnt like parting with the cash as it pretty expensive for a bit of foam with JP written on it. But years later it has done its job well, I,m over the pain of paying for it and now my son is getting into the sport he will use the board and I,m pretty sure it will save the nose from many more catapults to come.
I cracked the nose on my board a little bit so i just cut three layers of an old foam sleeping mat into the shape of the nose and gaffer taped it into place. Worked a treat so far and didn't cost me anything as I had the materials at home.
The mat I had doesn't suck up too much water but that could be a problem if you get foam that loves water.
Anyone had experience with the NSI nose protectors? Seem to have a perfect one for my old X-cite and its only 32 bucks... www.northshoreinc.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=17&idproduct=109
Looks like carbon np's aren't what i'm looking for. Still might give it a go at making one, just for the fun of it. Next project will be a fin mod me thinks Still make a carbon jobbie if you really enjoy the challenge but all you need to do is glue some mid density EVA foam under it as Waiting4wind suggested. Think motorcycle helmet, it works on the same principle.
