[SA Chris]

Visual shmisual.

[mrjonathanr]

I feel pretty guilty because the building is eating into an already small expanse of garden and the 40* option means creating a ridge in the roof which will make it even less visually attractive. It can always be demolished in the future I guess.

That's the wrong attitude. The way I see the garden it significantly eating into what could be a world class training facility.

Good luck with the build.

Good point! Just need to find some world class climbers to use it...

[dougc]

Hey all,

Third kid on the way towards the end of the year so trips outdoors or to my local wall will be somewhat harder to manage for a while. Thinking of building a woodie in what's left of my garage (other half was converted into a room by the previous owner) so I can at least do some climbing. Dimensions of the space are:



Initially I thought a 40 degree board would work best, but it works out 2.2m wide, which I'm not sure is wide enough? It'd look something like this:



The other option is to have it the other way around, but I given the dimensions of the room, it feels like you'd probably have to keep the garage door open when using it as there wouldn't be a lot of clearance from the top of the board to the wall and the door behind?:



I'm leaning towards the first option just because it'd mean I could still climb on it during the crappy weather (i.e. with the garage door shut), but does 2.2m sound too narrow to be any use?

Also; I've included a 20cm kicker at the bottom, but given the lack of height available I'm not sure if I'd be better off just having the wall go all the way to the floor instead?

[highrepute]

Congrats on the latest addition...

Option 1 would be best imho.

Mine's 2.4m wide with no extra room to the sides and I think most of my holds are least 30cm from the edge of the board. So I think 2.2m would be fine.

regarding the kickboard - originally I didn't have a kickboard and the 40degree board went all the way to the floor. The problem with this is you can't use the bottom bit so it is kind of taking up space with no use. I now have a 10cm (might be 15cm can't remember) kickboard, the smallest I thought I could get away with - i like this because you can start problems with or without the kickboard as desired. Not having the dead space at the bottom of the board means the board shifts slightly towards the back wall - giving slightly more space behind you when climbing (this isn't loads but is noticeable).

[dougc]

Congrats on the latest addition...

Thanks!

regarding the kickboard - originally I didn't have a kickboard and the 40degree board went all the way to the floor. The problem with this is you can't use the bottom bit so it is kind of taking up space with no use. I now have a 10cm (might be 15cm can't remember) kickboard, the smallest I thought I could get away with - i like this because you can start problems with or without the kickboard as desired. Not having the dead space at the bottom of the board means the board shifts slightly towards the back wall - giving slightly more space behind you when climbing (this isn't loads but is noticeable).

Ah I didn't really think about the fact the very bottom would be kind of impossible to use anyway

I think I'll probably go with option one with a small kick board. Thanks for the help!

[highrepute]

Yo. I currently have a board in our house. But it's taking up a bedroom that we now need to use so the board is going to have to move. My current plan is build a shed at the end of garden and stick it in there. I can think of lots of reasons why this might be not as good as having it in the house. The board might have to get a bit shorter/steeper to not be too high. I wondered about a gas heater for very cold nights. Getting power out there for some lights? just trail a wire whenever have a session or just use battery powered stuff? How do i make it so I still want to use in on those cold wet winter evenings? is condensation a problem?

Picture of the board is here.

 Anyone got any knowledge/advice they'd like to share? ta in advance...

[GazM]

My board is in our large wooden shed. There's no heating, no power, no insulation and the roof drips after prolonged rain. But I love it.

I use two battery powered lamps for night sessions, same as for outdoor lamp sessions. For some reason it's rare that conditions are condensed and shit, perhaps because it's a breezy wooden shed and not insulated at all. I've never felt the need for heating, despite many sessions in sub-zero Highland nights. The first few pulls are a bit chilly but I soon warm up. I take my laptop out for the psyche tunes.

Basically, its all a bit Spartan, but its the best i can muster and it seems to work. Go for it!

[mrjonathanr]

For lighting, these are amazing. I got the £30 one, it’s incredibly bright.

https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/portable-lighting/cat8340010

[lagerstarfish]

Dolly's shed is a piece of art - no heater, but it does have a disco ball

I can't think of any reason to have a heater for training for UK bouldering

warm up in down jacket, pull hard in fleece, pose for unnecessary gurning in beanie and no top.

[moose]

For lighting, these are amazing. I got the £30 one, it’s incredibly bright.

https://www.screwfix.com/c/electrical-lighting/portable-lighting/cat8340010

I use the Diall 30W site lamp for exploring boarded-up burned-out buildings - it's a good'un - cheap and the light lasts for a good 5 hours. 

Dolly's shed is a piece of art - no heater, but it does have a disco ball
I can't think of any reason to have a heater for training for UK bouldering

I am quite possibly a bit odd (and have Reynauds and very dry skin): I have a fan-heater and a plant-mister in my wood room to provide a bit of "sticky damp"!

[petekitso]

After a mere three years in 'concept planning', I am planning to build a moonboard in a garage.

I don't have enough headroom so the board will be just shy of 50cm shorter than the standard. I'll need to reduce the distance between rows from 20cm to 17.5cm.

It's obviously going to make a difference to the grading and comparability with other moon boards but I think its a better alternative than losing a couple of rows. Its only 15cm less across a six row move which doesn't seem like a massive difference to me. I am weak anyway so don't imagine I will be running out of things to fall off anytime soon.

Does this seem like a stupid idea to anyone?

[Eddies]

It's a great idea... just don't put and moon holds on it!

[mrjonathanr]

Sounds good but it won't be a Moonboard, changing distances will make the difficulty of the problems totally different to the app ones. If you were after using the app I think you would be better off just losing the top rows and accepting problems finish short.

Why not just create your own board? I have one of similar dimensions, it's great.

[Nutty]

Doesn't seem stupid to me. Given that you can't fit a to-spec moonboard in the space, you could consider making it steeper if you have the horizontal space to do so (going to 45 degrees would take 21cm off the height, 50 would take 45cm off the height) and having a shorter kickboard than the standard moonboard (i.e. only have one row of footholds instead of two).

[petekitso]

Ah - that's food for thought definitely. Thanks

Having access to the app is a big part of the appeal for me. I have enjoyed using them at walls and I like the idea of working up through the grades on it. I appreciate problems are going to be easier but there is plenty of top end for me to work at even if the difference accounts for a couple of letter grades . . . Problem with losing a couple of rows is obviously missing the last move of every problem and loads would then finish a few rows down.

Shorter kickboard is already factored in.

[mrjonathanr]

Well the grades would be different to the originals but you’d still have the bank of problems to go at. Grades would still be a relative measure in relation to each other...I suspect a lot of MB grades are inaccurate anyway. Shorter moves on a steeper board might work well.

[slab_happy]

Might be worth checking out this podcast ep -- http://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/blog/2017/3/11/episode-31-devils-advocate-the-moon-board-featuring-ben-moon

IIRC, it includes discussion of best options for shrinking a Moonboard when you've not quite got the space, and the pros and cons of different options.

[petekitso]

Thanks for that.

If anyone else is interested the relevant bits for scaling are at 44mins (the Americans) and 1.30ish (Ben Moon). I found most of the rest of it pretty dry . . .

Ben's advice was reduce the kickboard by 50%, scale down each row rather than lose rows and - if strong - push the angle towards 45%. He also suggested that 5% steeper did not massively affect the difficultly of the problems. I am not sure that would be my experience (and I also remember some discussion on here about how correcting the angle of the school room board by a couple of degrees did impact on difficulty).

Anyway, thanks.

[webbo]

My board was 40 degrees, however when my brother in law rebuilt it at my new house. It ended up at 45 degrees. I have 15 problems that I do to warm up, I have only done the fifteenth one once since the angle changed. There are holds I can no longer use.
Maybe if you climb 9a it isn’t a big deal.

[teestub]

Likewise, changing the top half of our local board from 40 to 45 made a massive difference to the existing problems, Mr Moon must just be too strong to notice!

[jwills]

Hey everyone,
I currently have a full-scale 40 degree Moonboard in my garage. It's amazing but I find all the feet really good and I'm either totally solid on them or just jumping to the next hold. The drawbacks of this aren't lost on me and given this I'm really interested in putting up a bunch of wood holds/feet to the wall. My main questions are:

1. Has anyone added to a Moonboard in the past like this and do they have any tips based on their experience?
2. Any suggestions/guides on making home wood holds? I'm specifically interested in wood type, size of holds, and if any special treatment/sanding is needed? Currently I'm climbing 7A/7A+ benchmark problems on the Moonboard app if that's any help. 

Thanks!

[highrepute]

I've not got a Moon board but have a 40 degree board which I think is the same angle as moon. Most of my holds are homemade wood. I just use whatever off-cuts I have lying around. I guess mostly that's pine or some similar softwood. I've also used plywood.

Footholds I have two types. The first is just small blocks of wood - i heard it said that Jenga blocks are ideal but I just cut up some wood. Secondly, these Birch split wood balls - hopefully that link works. They are what are on the Motherboard at the works. I find they work really well at 40 degrees, but I have friends who hate them - you have to really work to get any use out them which isn't to everyone's taste.

Making holds I tend to just cut up some wood with a Mitre saw. With the board at 40 degrees i find a right-angled block is a nice hold that is fairly difficult to hold. So the simplest hold you can make is to just cut up some 2" x 1" (or whatever really), sand the edges round and screw it on. I got a cheap orbital sander for sanding. I'll also cut at angles to make the holds better/worse. I like 18mm ply for making crimps, I can just hang a square cut piece, angled at ~15 degrees makes it a nice incut hold. A broom handle or other similar cylindrical piece of wood is quick way to make holds. I drill holds and countersink for screwing them on - otherwise the wood splits.

Here is picture of some of my board to give you an idea. some of those holds are bought. The homemade ones are nothing special but I find them good. If you got a few ££ spare just buy some.

It's not rocket science. Make a hold, screw it on and if you like it make another. If not make a change.

[Will Hunt]

I have a 40 degree board and have a set of yellow Moon board holds on it (not in a Moon set up) and a mix of wooden Crusher crimps and pinches of varying sizes. Contrary to popular opinion, I've never had a problem with the yellow Moon holds. I don't find them particularly rough and I can use them even when my skin is in a fairly poor state. The only complaint about them is that they can be a bit samey.

I never do feet follow hands, so I have a mix of footholds. The moonboard footholds (designed to go on the Moonboard kicker) are basically foot jugs so are forbidden except during warm ups. I then have a set of these two:
https://coreclimbing.co.uk/buy-holds/shop-by-type/footholds/geo-screw-on-feet-micros_1/
https://coreclimbing.co.uk/buy-holds/shop-by-type/footholds/geo-screw-on-feet-board_1/

The micros are suitably shit and are good for making things quite hard going. The board footholds are what the Depot have on their 30 board, where they feel quite juggy. They work really nicely on a 40 board.

[mark20]

Like highrepute says, those wooden half-balls would be a good and quick solution to your foothold problems. I like them. I also have the Geo-screw on 'board' holds Will linked to. They are mostly flat, or only slightly sloping so you can dig into the back of them and they can feel OK in a good pair of shoes. The wooden balls on the other hand are really slick and you have to push your feet into them, rather than dig (which causes your feet to pop), so make for a totally different feel in my opinion. It's nice to have the variety.

I know someone who made some small triangular 'volumes' for his a steep board, to mount wooden holds to. Get some 3 inch wooden fence posts cut all the way down diagonally, to give 2 long triangular posts. Then chop up into whatever sections you want. So when they are mounted on a 45 degree board they have a vertical face to screw shit crimps to, and a flat 'roof' underneath for positive undercuts. Can also be mounted at 90 degrees to that, for better sidepulls/gastons/or pinches. Hopefully that makes sense. I'll try and put some pictures on here later.
The advantage then being, you don't have to make lots of fiddly holds cut at angles to hang on a steep board. Just get some different diameter dowels, and bits of rectangular wood and round off the edges

[jwills]

Thanks so much everyone for the ideas and links. I think this give me a pretty good idea of how to go about it.