2 - 14'0 Paddleboards

General Discussion
1

As some of you may recall, My name is Allan and I live in San Clemente, CA.

I got into paddleboard racing when I met a guy down at SanO one day with one strapped to the roof of his car. He took me out and I got hooked!!! I did a few races, using one of his boards and decided I had to have one. It has to be one of my favorite things, getting a mile or 2 offshore, where the sounds of the beach just kinda fade away. Definetely one of the better ways to enhance your open ocean existence. (better than sitting on Sways all day, which I still do…)

So I started shopping around, looking for a good used board. The 2 large sticker price of some new ones and the 1200-1500 used option wasnt cutting it for me.

See, I made one fatal mistake. I took my hyper active girlfriend out one day for a few harbor laps, then we decided to go on a little 6 miler. Not only was she keeping up, but she was kneepaddling 70-80% of the time. Not easy on a belly bottomed 20"wide board in 2-3 foot seas for your first time…

So now you see my dilemma… How can I just get one board and hog all the fun for myself. I must have 2 boards.

This of course was around the time I was gearing up to build my 12’6 beast. So when I ordered the blank from Ken at Segway, I had him throw in 2 stringerless paddleboard cuts as well, which brings the total to…

An ape$hit ton of foam to mow…

When I was researching paddleboard shaping, I didnt find a wealth of information on Swaylocks to help me out. So I figured I would try my best to add the the knowledge pool. I would love some of the guys with more experience to chime in with better ways of doing things. I went in blind as a bat, but managed to get them knocked out…

The Blanks (I capitalize the word blank, so that I give it the respect it deserves. Looking back, I wouldnt have sized them both up and asked them “whos your daddy?” because they told me.) ended up at 14’ x 22" x 6.5". Theyve got 4" of nose rocker and 2" of tail rocker. In hindsight, I would have made them about a half inch thinner for me and about an inch thinner for Jami, with both blanks having a gentler overall rocker throughout. But what do I know, I just like to make big boards.

2

So I knocked out a template on the asp3000 software and taped it up, transfered it to a piece of masonite and cut it out. I ended up double ending it for a ittle more versatility and all in all, I think its a good line… wide point it 8" forward off center.

Once I had the offending chunks o’foam smuggled into my gay-rage, I laid the outline. I went 21" wide for me and 20" for Jami. Im going to try to just show one photo per process. If its a different color, or different knee well configuration… just use your imagination and go with it.

My nemesis… with a center stringline popped and ready to be “dealt with”

Once I was hapy with the outline, I borrowed my neighbors worm drive to make sure I knocked out a solid 90 degree cut. Just so everyone knows… worm drives dont cut all the way through 7" thick foam. He was very interested in the foam dust in his motor. I was finally able to shopvac it out.

Hacked out and ready to be cleaned up.

Unleashing the fury…

Cleaned up and looking sexy…

About this time, production hit a halt so I could finish up “Operation Large Marge”. Here is my “cocita del surf” with wayyyy to much going on…

Next time I do this (I guess some people never learn), I will make a smaller hotwire for cutting outlines and railbands. That way I wont have to sweep as much. Foam blowing all over the “hood” pisses off my neighbors…

3

With the outline cleaned up, I set to the task of laying out my bottom contours. I kept the outline wide for more stability knee paddling, so I knew I wanted to maintain a flat mid section, with a prominent hull shaping nose with a vee shaped belly and more tail rocker for railroading swells. the rail bands proved difficult to blend together for what I wanted… here is their story…

where all the magic happens… ignore the board in the lower right hand side of the screen, its a figment of your imagination.

This thing has a flat look to it, but alot more tail rocker than you think. Big boards for big boys… uhhhh and girls too.

I then set to it, trying to figure out how to make a bottom contour band program for these boards, when I really had no idea what I was doing. The following is proof that. All in all, I think the bottom on the first board came out mo’ betta dan dis’ un, mainly because I wasnt scared to screw it up. Hey , I had 2 chunks of foam…

Then I picked up ol’ Bessie, and got to it… I started with the easy down rail stuff, then rolled them up onto the bottom to build the hull.

Please feel free to ignore the shaky rail bands. 14’ long boards will wear you out! I pretty sure I cleaned those up. This is the nose (or bow, I not really sure what to call the parts of this thing at this point. maybe Ill call it the “now”) The 1/4" tape is there to keep me off my center line.

All of this blended together quite nicley. Im just a slacker at glassing, so it takes me awhile to get done.

4

Fantastic. Please continue to post your progress, if possible.

If it’s not too personal, what is your weight and height (Jami’s too if it’s not proprietary)?

Thanks,

Kevin

5

Im appalled that you would ask such a question! A gentleman nevers tells such things… crap I cant even say it with a straight face…

me 27 6’0 200#

Jami 29 5’4 125#

Again, take these numbers into no account, for I know absolutely not a thing about what Im doing, so I dont really have the oppurtunity to factor it in to board design, just the golden rule - smaller person can get by with a smaller board.

6

WOW,

Seeing that much foam puts a smile on my face.

I have a 21’ kayak and love the sound way off shore.

Maybe I can talk my wife into a paddle board.

Looking good, now Get her done!

Ian

7

Theyre both glassed with fin boxes in, one waiting on a hotcoat. My brother is painting some “dia de los muertos” skulls and scrollwork on mine and a big monkey on Jamis. After that, its a gloss coat and pads. Then, see ya suckas!!!

It just takes me longer to resize/ host/ post pics. Then I have to figure out something witty to say because my board shaping cant talk the talk for me…more tomorrow morning… if theres no waves…

8

lookin’ hot, man! can’t wait to get myself out your way again so i can try 'em out. maybe i’ll even go for a ride on large marge this time. hmmmm…how cold is the water in december/january??

9

ah…we’re going to need a pic of your girlfriend too.

(Nice job on the boards. Keep us posted.)

10

A lot of foam to mow for sure but looking good. I’d beg for info on glassing. If you think about it, its a lot of resin to mix in one pass at the next stage vs. a 6’ board. Food for thought.

Fellow Paddleboarders - Unite and take over!

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epoxy…mix half the batch for 1 side, lam…then mix up a new batch for the other half. repeat for the next side. no need to stress yourself out with your resin kicking off in the bucket. epoxy is the awesome!

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Quote:

ah…we’re going to need a pic of your girlfriend too.

ummm, I’ll bring you up to speed…

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=278923

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=281047

Sigh…how many times do people have to tell you mister Tate. First, do a search. Then do another search. Then ask your question.

Its alllllll in the archives!!!

wow, thats the first time Ive got to say that… feels pretty good.

13

A noble endeavor! The boards look great so far. Based on my experience paddling, the limiting performance factor is almost always the paddler rather than the board. I paddle a 16’ hollow wooden board that I built from a kit and I’ve been smoked by guys on 12’ stock boards but I’ve also thrashed guys on super-expensive custom unlimited boards. It all depends on the paddler. Paddling a board that you built will also give you the added competitive edge of righteousness!

I’m curious why you are building 14’ boards rather than stock or unlimited class boards if you are interested in racing. It actually might be quite clever strategically because there seems to be a growing number of races that include a 14’ class and often there are fewer paddlers in that class than in the others.

I glassed my 16’ wooden paddleboard with epoxy and it went very smoothly with great results. That was the first time I had worked with epoxy and it was much easier to use on a big board that polyester resin would have been. That said, using 2 oz. cloth on wood must be about as easy as it gets for laminating. I didn’t have to deal with foam sucking up the resin. I’m curious to hear how your glassing goes.

Jack

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Quote:

I’m curious why you are building 14’ boards rather than stock or unlimited class boards if you are interested in racing. It actually might be quite clever strategically because there seems to be a growing number of races that include a 14’ class and often there are fewer paddlers in that class than in the others.

Jack

yaaaa… stradegy… thats it…

I liked the glide of the unlimited’s but didnt want the hassle of installing a rudder system. If I went past 14, I would have to race unlimited class. Thats all for next round. But the coup-de-gra… my carport is 15 feet long with a storage area of about 14’6… It made the decision relatively easy for me.

Im into races, but more for just the “hiking with your arms” experience that paddling gives me.

But I am going to need pics of your “woody”… uhhh that came out wrong. Did you go with the gray whale kit?

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Quote:
Quote:

But the coup-de-gra… my carport is 15 feet long

“Coup de grâce”.

(finishing blow)

16

cup o’ grease,

enough to make soap.

…ambrose…

traditionally saved

on the back of the wood burnin stove

perfect for dabbin on yer hair

when goin out saturday night.

hey thats tonite!

17

Storing a couple of unlimited boards would indeed take a lot of space. A good 14’ board will work just as well anyway for most people most of the time. I use my board as a way to get some paddling in when there is no surf, but I do an occasional race if its low key and I don’t have other plans for the weekend.

I didn’t know how much interest there would be in my board because I built it from a kit so the design is not mine, but if anyone wants to know more about the kit or board, feel free to PM me and I’ll be happy to ramble on about it. I’ll resize a few pictures of the finished board and post them.

18

A few pictures of the complete hollow wooden paddleboard:

297×1045 27.2 KB

257×1024 25.7 KB

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johnmahogany: that is beautiful!

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So after I got all the railbands cut out, I set to the task of blending everything together. I must admit, I did a bit of whittling and hacking. I plead the fifth against all other inquiries…

From the bow looking aft (Ive decided to go with boating terms, it makes me able to wear pirate hats more often… savvy?)

The above picture shows the defined “flat spot” on the bottom of the USS Curious Allan (coastal explorer model) and where said bottom rolls into a hull towards the bow.

Next pic is straight down the botom… My camera takes uneven or Im larger on my right side… who knows yet… The nose (I mean bow) is alot cleaner now… I promise

The deck all rolled and scooped for knee wells. You can make them flat, but I scooped mine pretty deep (2" under the caps) to lower the center of gravity for a more stable paddle when youre up on the knees. You cant really see the channels from the pics, but theyre there. It shows up better in some of the glassing photos.

And now they get a bath in DNA and get ready for prom, Uhhh, I mean glassing… “dont they look soooooooooo handsome!!!”