2nd vac bag attempt

General Discussion
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number 2 board almost done , got the rail blending sussed out , taped the inside skin but had slight delam problems and had to inject resin to restick , will seal inside joints with cloth and resin next time for better adhesion and peace of mind,

6ft x 18 1/2 2 1/4 for son number 2 who is in australia at the moment ,

4oz inside ,6 on the bottom , 2 x 6 on the deck, 6 lb with fins, should be strong ,

i weighed all the balsa strips and put the lightest on the botom ,i found some high density balsa strips so put them under foot, i think 5 1/2 pound could be acheived easily but i would rather have strengh and reasonable weight

i dont play golf but this type of surfboard construction is similar where you think i can do better next time /next round, frustration and elation in the same moment, i should give up but i can/t, swaylocks /balsa addiction, pete

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cool pete…

but 5.5 is not that easy my friend…but i guess im just a slow learner…there’s lots of tricks i havent tried yet…hotter than hell here right now so motivation is low…got hurricane prep going on too…generators…room a/c etc etc…onward

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Hey Pete. Nice job.

Where the hell did you find the balsa in England, all I can find is bits big enough for model aeroplanes, or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough.

Again, nice job.

Jase (MMM)

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to meecrafty, sounds a daft question but are usa lb/s the same as uk , the gallon is different? just a thought because if i put 4 oz on the bottom and 2x 4 oz on the deck i think 5.5 uk lbs would be achieved easily and the strengh should be good as well , pete

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hey pete board looks awesome…

my current one i taped the outside of balsa … and pre wet my cloth … sqeegeed out excess resin … had no bleed through wotsoeva…then just filled any small gaps with q cell… i did a few tests and feel that inside taping doesnt really work for me personaly… i used 150g on 2 0z with quite a bit of excess resin sqeegeed out …i willl probably go double 4oz on the bootom tripple on the deck with balsa fins… the board is ready for outside seal and glass now… and has taken about 8 hours so far…

Quote:

i dont play golf but this type of surfboard construction is similar where you think i can do better next time /next round, frustration and elation in the same moment, i should give up but i can/t, swaylocks /balsa addiction, pete

i know what you are saying … ive made a whole new bunch of mistakes …

anyway cheers mate …nice board… wish mine looked that good

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8 hrs and your ready for outter glass??? are you using metric time? that is pretty dam fast…

i have been doing 2oz under and 4oz over on the bottom and 4oz under and 4over on the tops. 1lbs foam 1/16balsa and i can jump up and down on them with out leaving a mark…

hey peteuk that looks really great, nice work… i bet the with the size boards your making that 5.5lbs should be no ptoblem… i have made a few 6’10s just under six and they are still strong as hell…

the shaping of the rail to accept the deck is a bit tricky… did you tape off where you wanted the edge of the deck skin to end before bagging it on?

again looks great, you have lucky boys…

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jjp, i think the secret of the rails is all in the angle of rail band before you bag on the deck , on the first one i did the forward rail did/nt blend very well and i had to cover it with some mahogany veneer, the angle was all wrong, on this one i made a curved sanding strip to carry the curves of the deck over the rail bands so when you sand the rail shape it looks neat, pete

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pete …

that is dam nice work dude …

selecting hard pieces for the foot area makes sense …

there are other ways to deal with the problems inherent with the stomp areas …

i know that will be one area that will cause some grief in the future …

thats part of the pretreatment process …

hows the feed back on the performance on the first one ??

have you got anything internally , to strengthen the fins systems ??

for a guy who doesnt build boards for a living , you really do some quality looking work …

regards

BERT

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agreed pete…4oz all round would do it easily…however im also making my boards a bit bigger, more volume so using your current construction i would finish just about 6 or slightly over…squeezing that extra 1/2lb out is not trivial but i should have something done by july or so assuming we dont get clobbered again with hurricanes :frowning:

but im absolutely jealous by your results…super clean all around…nice work craftyman!

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nah sorry blown out to 11 hours forgot about nose and tail blocks … i have gone a bit rough on the rails this time . i will probably paint them…

what do you mean by jump up and down on them .?? that sounds freaky

I dont think i could try that .

i was gunna go 2 by 4 oz botttom …3 by 4oz top… would that be to heavy

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looking nice! Are going to ride it before you handle it over to your son?

If so, let us know how she rides.

I finished my first balsasandwich attempt on friday and rode both saturday and sunday, and it was a BLAST!

It beats every board i’ve ridden before!

It’s 181.5x47.8x5.5cm and weights 2.1kilos(I think that’s around 4.7 lbs)

I used 1 lb eps,3mm balsa top and bottom and 4oz interior and exterior.

And I put on some plywood fins without any boxes for weightsavings.

Back how she rode…On saturday it was about shoulder to headhigh and the peaks were wide and running fast and then turned VERY mushy. It was faster than ANY board i’ve ridden and I could make the very fast sections easy, And the best part was that I could ride thru the VERT FLAT sections with ease, noone else could make it thru those sections on a regular pu/pe. The take off’s werent much different from a regular board but after your first pump you were really flying!! This is what really amazed me. And it’s much more responsive too.

Can’t wait to ride it again!

And the best part of that day was that I ran into a guy riding a SUNOVA!!!

I had never seen one around and it happens when I ride my balsa for the first time…

a BIG BIG thanks to Bert and everybody that has inspired me to make an balsa sandwich, you really have changed my surfinglife! no kidding!!! IMPRESSED!!!

Jimmy yoshio shibata.



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one word for you guys who are doing these strong balsa sandwich vacuum bagged boards … R-E-S-P-E-C-T !!

Totally …

Parker Davidson , here is the answer to your question “seriously , can today’s surfboards get any better ?”

eyes and ears wide open ben

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good looking board yoshio, did you go single 4oz top and bottom? the board for my son is too under volumed for me so son number one will give it a go ,

bert, the fin plugs are set in ply or mahogany rings or tubes that are resined through onto the deck and then glassed over then the fin plugs themselves are resined into the rings, its a bit of a pain to do time wise but i could/nt think of another way that would be strong and water tight, the first board i made has been in continuous use but i hav/nt seen son number one surf it yet, but he likes it and prefers it to the poly board he had made to replace his favourite board, a few of his friends have had a go on it as well and it has won approval with them ,in fact i may lend this latest one to one of them until son number two comes home from australia, my son in aus wants me to send him the board ,bit like coals to newcastle or selling sand to the arabs ,

i have used 2 x 6oz on the deck to resist denting and with the high desity wood there as well hopefully it will hold up ok , son in australia is especialy hard on boards so i need something strong, my sonova board has no deck dents at all under the front foot area, the glass looks like a new board, amazing, pete

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nice one yoshio … where are you mate

shonan???

chiba ?

i was in japan last year for a month but didnt take a wetsuit .couldnt borrow one my size 6 3". you got some nice setups over there

Hell crowded though

first time in my life i saw thirty guys out in 1 ft closing out beach breaks…

Does the crowd thin out when it gets big i hope

your board really looks great …

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Quote:

Hell crowded though

first time in my life i saw thirty guys out in 1 ft closing out beach breaks…

Trigg Point Perth …most every day…

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Peteuk, I went single 4oz top and bottom…Have only sufed it twice and so far I can’t find any dents and ive pressed hard with my thumbs on the deck but no dents…we’ll see what happens.

Silly,I usually surf chiba and if the typhoon swell hits shonan I’ll go.

And it gets less crowded when it gets big. It can be perferct 6 foot beachbreaks at shonan and empty…every one seems to rush to more famous reefbreaks when it gets that big which means crowded pointbreaks…I prefer the beaches…

Jimmy Yoshio shibata.

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how cool was that …

uncanny coincidence ???

well interesting feedback …

there are so many reasons why they work so well …

impressed by yet another creation , good looking stick yoshio …

hows this one for another coincidence …

this guy is coming to australia from england and had arranged to buy some boards down the coast …the last time he was in australia was 30 years ago in queensland …

he meets a guy on the plane who tells him about my boards and says you gota catch up with this guy(me)…

anyway while hes in west oz he cant find me , as i stay pretty low key …

i walk into a pie shop for lunch , hear this guy talking about high performance engines , and i make a comment , we start talking engines and drag cars , as fast cars and engines are one of my interests …

he then says , you wouldnt know where i could find a guy called Bert Burger do you ??? i say whats he got to do with engines ?? , the guy says he was looking for some boards as he is a surfer , i tell him that im bert and it was kinda coincidental to have 2 people into both high performance motors and surfing , very different combination of interests …he then said that because they were heading south were passing through without finding me they were getting lunch and continuing on , figuring they would just see the original guy as planned , so quite coincidental that he should actually meet me randomly …

so he comes around to get some boards , and as he is approaching the board racks he starts freaking out , and just saying no way , no way , over and over …

in the rack i had this old mid 70s looking retro twin , that was obviously about a 7’-6" single , pin tail at one stage but someone had hacked it down to a 6’-4" swallow tail twin fin …

it ends up it was this guys first ever board , he brought it in noosa , couldnt afford a new twin fin at the time so he hacked this one down , he even said he had put his name under the section where it had been reglassed , on closer inspection , his intials were faded but still visable …

hes freaking out over how coincidental everything was , getting that mysterious vibe people claim …

i say thats nothing , it happens everywhere i go …

ive got a thousand other stories or events just like it or even more uncanny …

regards

BERT

now one thing i am surprised about …

not once have i showed anything about my methods in regards to my balsa boards …

but instead showed crew how to make a custom surftech , yet not one person has even repeated that one , instead opting for the harder option of making something along the lines of what i do …

having to figure out way more stuff for themselves …

im impressed and flattered at the same time …

well done to everyone who took the plunge …

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Yoshio, nice board! Japan checks in.

Bert, it was such a logical step from your d-cell thread to the balsa strips, I’m not surprised. And actually, I think balsa is easier to come by for most people. We’ve all seen it at a lumberyard, hardware store, or hobby shop at one time or another. And, I’d guess that any surfer, upon seeing balsa in any size or shape, thinks to himself about the old balsa boards we’ve all seen in surf museums.

But don’t worry, I’m working on a garage surftech right now. I’m loving my 10’0 balsa sandwich noserider so much, I’m reproducing the template & rocker. And this time, I’ll concave the deck, foil out the rails a little more, and use lighter glass. And 1/8" d-cell top & bottom instead of wood, mainly to save the time of ripping & gluing…

I’m figuring aruond 12 lb. On the 12’ board, wetting out the glass on a sheet of plastic before putting it on the foam saved so much resin (used less than half of what I’d mixed, measuring for a pour-on lam) that it’s rediculous.

Again, I so much appreciate all your input & comments. I think I reread what you say about all of our boards about nineteen times, analyzing for hidden hints and directional recommendations…Thank you

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On saturday it was about shoulder to headhigh and the peaks were wide and running fast and then turned VERY mushy. It was faster than ANY board i’ve ridden and I could make the very fast sections easy, And the best part was that I could ride thru the VERT FLAT sections with ease, noone else could make it thru those sections on a regular pu/pe. The take off’s werent much different from a regular board but after your first pump you were really flying!! This is what really amazed me. And it’s much more responsive too.

isn’t that a coincidence…sounds familiar very very familiar.

lighter is so much better when you performace surf…the board just doesnt fight back…it goes where you want it to go with little or no lag…you can accelerate the board quickly before you hit the flats and get thru them with more projection and speed…i rode a local semi-pop wave this spring about 150 yards getting thru two seperate flat sections…that never happened to me on a poopee…all the nay-sayers are simply missing out

I tried hard to avoid blasa but d-cell was a disaster for me personally…i eventually figured out the drama…but balsa has that springy effect and i’ve been able to figure out some easier ways to work with it so its good for now…i think balsa is cheaper too…plentyfull and environmetally friendly…better all round choice