Here is my #003. Hotwired 2 lb EPS, 3mm Komatex stringer glued in with clamps, 6’4" 17.5 x 21 x 15.5 x 2 5/8. It’s basically my attempt at a Bear Surfboards Fat Ass Wombat. It will be a 2+1 fin setup, flat bottom with a little vee in the tail third. I need to know what type of rails to put on this board. 50/50, 60/40, soft, hard, where to transition, etc.? I know it’s personal preference, but people seem to like the Wombat, so I was hoping to replicate it’s rails as close as possible. Also, what type of center fin would be recommended? Thanks for any advice.
Hi Jonah -
That nice egg template screams out for thin 50/50 nose rails transitioning to a down edge in the tail. With the squared off edges on the blank, you will have lots of work to do. Maybe consider hot wiring long wedges off the top rail crown to thin it out? I just did that on a longboard and I figure I saved some time over making a zillion planer cuts.
Hope you don’t mind a semi thread hijack…
This might interest jrmdds too.
John, did you have a specific way you roughed out the deck roll with the hotwire?
I can’t free-hand at all with it, did you use guides somehow?
I’ve been trying to come up with a decent way of doing it, the mess from the planer is my least favorite bit of the build process.
Any tricks you can let slip?
Jonahs at that stage now, just about to look like a snow man…
Cheers!
Kit
Hi KKSurf -
I have nothing to hide. LOL
I take an outline template and place it on the blank a few inches inside of the actual outline. It isn’t lined up exactly like the outline of the blank. I line it up so the forward edge of the template at the edge of the blank is about a foot or so from the nose and take it back to the tail where the distance from the edge increases. I’d say the back edge of the template crosses the stringer in the tail about 6 inches from the end. The actual position is eyeballed but I mark the template and the blank so I can replicate the cut on the other side.
I also take a profile template and clamp it around the edge of the blank so the top edge of the template is below the top edge of the blank by a couple of inches or so.
I heat up my hot wire (I have an adjustable angle version that is shorter than what I use for profile cutting) and run it down the length of the rail trying to keep it in contact with the edges of the templates. I cover the edges of the templates with 2 layers of foil tape to prevent burn throughs. It turns out nothing like Bill Barnfield’s professionally planed rail bands but it certainly saves a lot of planing and reduces the loose EPS bead thing. I finish up with a planer, surform and sanding blocks just like normal.
The guy who produced that old vacuum bagged sailboard video (Tom Sullivan) shows a similar technique using a variable angle hot wire jig. He also uses plain masking tape laid down the center of his blank to allow cutting of both sides of vee in the bottom. Again, like doing the top rails, each side comes off as a wedge panel with one cut instead of dozens of planer passes and lots of EPS beads flying around.
There we go, simple as that!
Pretty slick thinking, and a pretty quick reply too!
Awesome man
Kit
Thanks for the advice on rail type. On my #002 I used masking tape to mark my rail bands, a strip on the deck and a strip on the side of the rail, and then I used a smaller hotwire to cut the bands. The hotwire drags along the tape without burning it. It works great. I hate those messy beads of foam.
I like the idea of softer rails on eggs… just my personal preference. I just did a single fin, rounded pin egg for a guy that has a sort of relaxed, fish-type rocker (except for a touch more kick in the tail), and I did 50/50 in the nose, transitioning to a soft “modern rail” in the middle, with a soft, slightly tucked edge in the tail. The idea was to give it a more flowing feel to the turns and hold on the face, rather than the skimming release of the hard tail edge. I’m still waiting on feedback, so the jury’s still out.