Conditioning Your Bases – how to keep your skiboard bases in prime shape.
While a polyethylene base is made of a low friction material, water does stick to it. The skiboard base glides best however when water beads (meaning small droplets of water) form under the base acting like small ball bearings. This enables the skiboard to glide faster. Wax serves this purpose.
Wax also helps to protect the base from oxidation. When oxidized, the base won’t bead water and becomes slow and sticky. Ultra Violet rays radiating off the snow contribute to the oxidation process and a subsequent breakdown in the polyethylene base. The bottom line is: wax helps skiboards to go faster, ride smoother and protects your bases.
If you don’t regularly wax your bases they will also wear out prematurely. That is not good! Trying to skiboard on worn bases will slow you down and not provide the proper ride. You’ll then need more expensive tuning. After all, glide and speed have to do with the condition of your bases (and thus whether you have an enjoyable day on the slopes).
In the end, anything you do to protect your bases is better than nothing. No matter what the speed, proper glide is essential. Take care of your boards and your investment. Additionally, make sure that you carry your boards so that the edges don’t cut the bases – skiboard bags are perfect for this as are the backpacks or fanny packs that will carry your boards.
Waxing Options:
1. Hot waxing is best, but takes more time and attention. Hot waxes penetrate the base and make for the smoothest ride. It also lasts longer. See below for hot wax instructions.
2. The next best waxing method is the hair dryer method (see below for details) with a high wax content wipe on wax such as our Skiboards.com High Velocity Wax. This requires much less effort but with great results.
3. Next in order is simply using a regular wipe on wax. These will work with very little effort on your part however try to apply them in warm, dry conditions. Again you can use the High Velocity Wax just as a wipe on if you have no time to use a hair dryer. it is formulated to work great for this.
4. Lastly, and the easiest by far, are the teflon-like applications such as Zardoz Notwax. This can be applied while you are on the lift and can be used over wax for maximum speed. However, depending on conditions, Zardoz may need to be applied up to two or three times a day.
Too lazy to hot wax, but demand the best ride?
The Hair Dryer Waxing Method:
We have found this technique to be quite good and the next best thing to hotwaxing. This works best with the Skiboards.com High Velocity Wax as it has one of the highest wax contents of any wipe on waxes.
- Clean the bottoms of your boards of dirt, etc. and scrape off all the old wax.
- Take a hair dryer and heat the bottom of the skiboard (do one at a time).
- Apply a coat of race paste evenly.
- Use the hair dryer and heat again drying the wax.
- When dry, you can carefully scrape or wipe off the excess wax.
- For even better coverage, repeat this procedure.
Quick, easy and inexpensive. And you don’t need to ruin an iron. Works even on trips. And the best part is, it really gives a great ride and is way cheaper than getting your skiboards hotwaxed at ski shops. For the “icing on the cake”, apply a coat of Zardoz NotWax on top for that super fast ride. It is our favorite here at Skiboards.com when time is short. Keep in mind that Zardoz does not work as good and may get sticky in very cold conditions. Best used for warmer weather.
Hot Waxing
- This Skiboards.com Hot Wax Tune Kit with Iron includes a block of universal wax good for a wide range of snow temperatures – specially formulated to achieve maximum glide.
- Clean the base of skis, snowboard or skiboards. this will prevent dirt and dust from getting trapped in the hot wax and in the base. Use a base cleaner to remove old wax (not included) if necessary.
- Make sure boards are flat. Place tip of iron about 2″ to 4″ above the base, touch wax to iron and drip wax from iron onto the base. Space wax drips approximately an inch or so apart and scatter throughout the base.
- Next, gently place iron on the base. move it around to spread the hot wax over the base getting full coverage. be sure to keep iron moving as staying too long in one spot can burn your base. This is a bad thing!
- After you have a nice even and smooth coat of wax on your base, unplug iron and set aside. Let the wax cool for approximately 15-30 minutes. This allows wax to bond to base.
- Once cool, use the enclosed scraper. Scrape from tip to tail with long smooth strokes with scraper angled. The idea is to smooth off excess wax and create a smooth coverage and a thin film of wax.
- The notch in the scraper is to remove wax from the steel edges. You can do this before or after you scrape the bases.
- Finally, use the brush to clean off any wax dust, and to texture and buff out the base. Work from tip to tail and use long strokes. Get it slick and smooth. Don’t press too hard.
- You are now ready to hit the slopes with a fresh wax job. Hot waxing protects your bases, makes it easier to turn, provides maximum glide and overall just make the whole snowriding experience more fun.
Happy Turns!
The skiboards.com riders