Will My Front Door Surf?

I wanted to see if we could turn my front door into a real working surfboard… again!

A while back we tried this concept and learned A LOT. Perhaps the most important lesson was that your surfboard needs to be a surfboard shape. While this may sound pretty obvious, we had thought that if we had a semi-pro surfer, which we did, we would still be able to turn this creation into something workable. We were wrong.

We also learned that design makes all the difference in the world when it comes to functionality, which brings us to our sponsor for this video: Toyota! They’ve let us test out the second generation Toyota hydrogen fuel cell vehicle called the Mirai and we are legit super stoked about this vehicle. Also, we should mention that this is a great parallel to design aesthetics when it comes to the Mirai - which, fun fact - means “future” in Japanese. This second generation Mirai has a sleek sporty-luxury look and feel to it.

Okay so back to our front door, or Durf Board… or Surf Door .. let me know in the comment section below which one y’all like better.

Our biggest issue with theis first build was that it was perfectly flat and if it doesn’t have the nose turned up, it just doesn’t work.

This time, we used a stringer, which is kind of like a backbone stencil for a surfboard that gives it the right hydrodynamics - which is the same thing as aerodynamics, but for water. This stringer will help give the board a nose-up shape allowing our test surfer to not bite it on every wave.

Next, we placed the stringer in the center of this XPA foam we got at the hardware store. Then we dismantled our front door, soaked it in water and shaped it around our foam inner core. After that, we rounded the edges and sealed the board with epoxy resin and fiberglass sheets. For the last step, we sanded everything down and added the fins.

The fins helped stabilize the board. Also, a super cool fact: the Mirai we took down to the beach has aero-stabilizing fins at the front edge of the side windows. This aids in a smoother ride and better fuel efficiency.

Overall, here’s what we learned: When you optimize the shape of the board the result is infinitely better. This is also incredibly similar to how the Mirai was designed… with efficiency in mind. Through aerodynamic tuning, regenerative braking, and larger tires, this Mirai XLE can achieve 76/71 MPG while making the driver feel like they are driving a luxury sports car… with an awesome audio system I might add.

I’m super obsessed with this car because of how much technology and thought have been put into it. You can learn more here: https://toyota.us/3UbITuq

Also let me know in the comment section below, did you know how a hydrogen car worked? Did you know this tech even existed?

Thanks again to Toyota and we’ll see you soon!