Building a skateboard launch ramp follows all the basics for building a large scale structure, only it’s much easier. First you have to decide upon your radius. Ten to Twelve feet is nice for mellow launch ramps and Eight to Ten Feet is better for an all around street quarterpipe. Cut two matching transitions and connect them with joists or cross braces and cut them to your desired width. Lay your plywood level with the sides and bottom of the ramp and screw or nail it down. You will now want to put masonite on the top of the plywood. One sheet of masonite and 2 sheets of plywood will be plenty strong. You will want to bevel the bottom edge of the plywood and Masonite to make the street to ramp transition smoother. Or if you really want to get trick use a piece of sheet metal as the middle man between the ramp and the surface. This will make your ramp last longer and you will not wear the masonite or plywood as quickly this way. This is a launch ramp you will want to move it around so you can cut holes in the sides of the ramp so you can move it around with ease.

This image shows you what your Launch Ramp will look like.

The most important thing to remember when building any kind of ramp is the template, once you have the first one make sure you make an exact copy of the second one. Both transition templates can be cut from one piece of ¾ inch plywood.


This template shows you how you can get your pieces for your transitions out of one piece of plywood.

Here is how your Launch Ramp Joists should be positioned.

Make sure to use T-Braces and make sure your 2x4's are properly installed.

Well there you have it a simple quarterpipe, the products you will need and the price depends on where you buy the material but this shouldn’t run you more than $100. Here are the materials you will need to build this Launch Ramp

1 Sheet of 4x8 3/4" Plywood
2 Sheets of 4x8 1/2" Plywood
1 Sheet of 4x8 1/4" Masonite
10 8' 2x4's preferably Douglas Fir
2 1/2 boxes of 16 penny nails ( The big long ones they are marked 16D at he store)
2 Boxes of Wood Screws.

Now you are all set and you are ready to skate your launch ramp. One of my favorite things to do with a launch ramp is put it up on a wall and do wall rides. This is old school 80's style and it works nicely!