Boards for Waves
Upcycled Surfboards
Wellington surf spot Houghton Bay has a wastewater run-off flowing into the ocean. This pollutes the immediate environment, affecting all that use the bay. Upcycled Surfboards addresses this issue by designing a board made from upcycled material, incorporating a sensor which alerts the surfer when pollution levels are hazardous, and feeds information to a mobile app which tracks and uses the data gathered from sensors to provide a real-time update on water pollution levels.
Wellington surf spot Houghton Bay has a wastewater run-off flowing into the ocean. This pollutes the immediate environment, affecting all that use the bay. Upcycled Surfboards addresses this issue by designing a board made from upcycled material, incorporating a sensor which alerts the surfer when pollution levels are hazardous, and feeds information to a mobile app which tracks and uses the data gathered from sensors to provide a real-time update on water pollution levels.
Uplcying Manufacture
The board is made out of three key materials. The majority of the board
is made from Upcycled polystyrene foam blocks, which are shaped to the
board’s size. Polystyrene has a hazardous life cycle, especially around
dumping the material, it, therefore, becomes ideal to reuse and re-purpose
the material for new designs, removing the instant need to dump the
material.
Upcycled plywood is added as a central support, creating a spine for
the surfboard and adding structure. This is vital to stop the board from breaking with
ease.
Flax-weaved cloth covers the board as skin, with resin to seal the
surfboard making it watertight. The resin which binds the cloth to the
board was eco-friendly to fit within the design objectives.
Built-in Water Sensor
Many popular surfing locations face the danger of water pollution. It can be hard to identify when water becomes potentially hazardous to interact with. To address this, a water pollution sensor was built into the surfboard. The exposed sensor, made with Arduino, will light red when the water reaches a certain pollution level. This gives surfers a real-time safety update on water pollution levels, from this data, can be gathered to calculate the pollution levels of water.
Built-in Water Sensor
We wanted to take the data from the sensor and use it in a way which helps surfers and provides real-time data for anyone in need of water pollution levels, such as councils. We conceptualized an app, which showcases what beaches are clean to surf at, alongside this, it showcases where surfers are surfing and basic surf information such as swells and weather conditions.
