Plans for Building Your Own Balance Board

Here are plans for building your own balance board to practice surfing at home.  Indo Boards, or other types of balance boards are great for working on balance and form in the comfort of your home.  However, they’re a bit pricey ($100+), and easy to make at home.

I made mine out of plywood and a foam roller.  You can probably have the wood cut at the lumber store for free.  If you have a saw and drill at home you can add safety guides to the bottom.  The safety guides will prevent the board from flying out from underneath you.

This board is 18″ x 30″ inches (or 45cm x 76cm).  The foam roller is 6″ x 36″ inches (or 15cm x 91cm).

diy indo board dimensions

What You Need

Foam Roller: 6 inch diameter.

Plywood: 30 inches wide x 18 inches high x 3/4 inches thick.

Without Safety Guides (NOT RECOMMENDED)

If you’re not adding the safety guides to the bottom, you don’t need any tools.  You can simply buy the wood pre-cut at your local lumber store and order the foam roller.

With Safety Guides (RECOMMENDED)

The safety guides are recommended to prevent the board from shooting out from underneath you.  To make the safety guides I just cut the corners off the board and then screwed them into the bottom.

diy indo board guards

diy indo board guards

Using the corners as the safety guides allows you to use the board narrowly and widely across the foam roller (See examples below).  It’s easier to use the board wide at first.  The more you practice, the more you’ll want to make it more challenging and change your stance to narrow.

Using a Balance Board Wide

diy indo board plus foam roller

Using a Balance Board Narrow

diy balance board indo board

Stoke Drift