This build lifts off from my previous build in that I am re using the trucks and motors but since I have a new deck batteries and enclosures it is pretty much a new build.
Previous build
The deck is the meat of this build, my previous one let me down on the durability front, I got 7 months hard use out of it but it started to crack and fall apart. I think due to several factors, firstly it was a drop through design with open ends, I am on the heavy side at 110kg, I ride like an animal and the roads around here are very rough in spots, its a cheap Chinese deck, on top of that I ride in heavy rain pretty often.
The new deck is a Arbor Highground, 2015 addition. Personally I think the shape is nicer than the 2017 model. Its designed for downhill racing and is made in California so I expect top quality. I looked for ages for something that was top mount, good quality, with a eye pleasing shape and decent wheel clearance. Also in the $100 range. Then I found this Arbor for $120 shipped and it seemed like a good deal.
I’m calling it the Ceramic Surfer because the thing is a stiff as fuck, or stiff as a deck made from ceramic!! My old deck has a bit of flex which was nice for absorbing bumps, so that is my only concern about this new one other than that I think its AMAZING. Its 9 ply rock maple 15mm thick! So plenty of meat for routing out some areas for wires and batteries. It has a W concave in the middle for added stiffness and regular concave in the foot areas for comfort. Large CNC wheel wells and pretty big concave in the foot areas for added leverage.
This video is for the 2014 Highground but I think its same deck with different art.
I am building a 12 lipo pack inspired by @Namasaki I looked at so many batteries on hobbyking but these ones where the best value 60c in hard case. The only nicer ones where graphene 4s, which are almost twice the price and these 2 cell packs are thinner.
But mine will have bullet connectors between the batteries as I want to be able to separate them for taking on a plane if I want to travel with the board. Secondly I will make a harness for two 6s balance leads for charging with a hobby charger.
Supplies for 12s conversion
The main reason to go for hard packs was for added durability. I also wanted water proof so I knew I would be putting hotglue or epoxy into the holes where the wires exit.
But after I received the batteries I was very disappointing with their construction. 
If you shake the batteries left to right across the short axis you can feel the cells inside move. Secondly if you squeeze along the split line of the plastic shell you will hear a “crack” sound as it deforms. They used a very minimal amount of glue to hold the two half’s together. With a few minutes of squeezing and prying with my finger nails I was able to open the packs with just my hands! Once open it was clear to see there was a 1-2mm gap all the way around the cells and the cells where not double taped to the plastic housing which I was very surprised by.
Thoes two tinny pieces of white foam are the only thing bolstering the cells inside the pack. This would just not do for the kind of abuse I will be giving them. 
More atrosities where found when I dissasembled the cells, the cells where not double tapped to each other and only held together with two pieces of office tape! WTF. So I put double tape between the cells and added some glass fiber tape around the outside for added security.
So I decided I would fully pot the cells inside the case with epoxy! Yeah that should give me bombproof vibration and water proofing. 
I used 6 boxes of 90 min Araldite.
That’s it so far, pack is still under construction.
37Wh. Hopefully it will save me a bit of time at security. I scaned the original label so I could pull the colors in photoshop. Then printed it out and covered with some packing tape for protection.
This is because I will have voltage alarms permanently attached to two of the plugs while the other two are for charging. While the vesc has a voltage cut off, it only monitors total pack voltage, while this will monitor each sell individually which is much safer for battery health. The additional monitoring plug is just paralleled at the end. The 18awg silicon wire I used to extend the balance leads turned out quite bulky. I probably should have gone with 22awg. The wires are extra long at the moment as I will shorten them once installed.
sealers and paints, but I don’t like them. I went to wipe the board down with alcohol before painting it and then all the clear sealer became sticky. 
, have been making some progress over the last month.
Demotivated. The areas I left of original Arbor eco paint bubbled up BAD, and the white spots are from the matte clear getting too close. Rushed it. To fix the bubbling it really needs to be sanded all the way back to wood. 
But I never found the time or motivation to do that. So I just did a light sanding and respray to get rid of the white spots. The bubbled areas will just have to wait for a full repaint. 
The printed ones didn’t make a good noise.
it.
Add a footstop to the front & is bang on 
