Skate Ramp Building Tips

Surfacing

Surfacing can be the most expensive part of the ramp, it is also the first part of the ramp that gets ruined by weather if not protected properly. The three options you have for surfacing is plywood only, massonite, and skatelite. Skatelite is the ideal, it is what they use in the X games, unfourtunately it is over $100 per sheet. If you are not using skatelite, you must protect your ramp from getting wet, since both plywood and massonite will warp.

Alternative options to skatelite

Buy a tarp to cover your ramp when you arn't using it.
Use massonite, let it get rained on, but replace it about once a year
Use some sort of paint on the plywood to stop water from getting in, I have only seen this tried once and the plywood got a hole the first winter, email me if you find something that works.
Move to an area that it does not rain or snow

Space

I've been getting a lot of emails from people trying to squeeze a halfpipe in a small space. I'll do a length breakdown of the smallest 3 foot halfpipe I can think of. Each of the transitions needs to be 5.5 feet long (when using a 6' 10" transition, you could make this length smaller by using a steeper transition, but I would not recommend it). For a 3 foot high pipe, the ideal flatbottom is about 8 feet in length, I can see this being reduced to 4 feet, but only if it is absolutely nessesary. Then the smallest platforms I would recommend building is 1 foot, which brings the total length of the pipe to 17 feet.

As far as width goes, the plans show an 8 foot wide halfpipe, the smallest width worth building is about 4 feet (in my opinion).

Screws

I seem to have left screw details out of most of the plans (sorry). Use 2.5 inch deck screws except the plywood. For the surface plywood you can use drywall screws around 1.5 inches (these are less expensive), and note that you do not have to put a ton of screws into the bottom layers of plywood, just make sure to put a lot of deck screws on the top surface, which will hold all the layers down.

Bending the Surface Plywood

This is one of the more difficult parts of the ramp building process. First off make sure you bend the plywood the way it is being bent in the picture below

Second make sure you are using 3/8" plywood, anything thicker you will have a very difficult time bending. If you are having difficulties, make sure to take your time, you do not want to mess up the surface by screwing in the plywood in the wrong spot, or breaking it. As in the picture above, it is generally easiest to start from the bottom and work your way up with the plywood. Also note that we did not measure the last piece of plywood, we screwed it in then cut off the excess.

Get friends to help you, have them slowly put pressure against the plywood with their foot as you screw it in.

Drawing Transitions

This is a very crusial step in building any ramp, make sure to read the Drawing Transitions Section

Transition Between Ground and Ramp