Back Ground - 1st post. I am boat builder who has built wooden, glass and aluminum dinghies to yachts. I know my way around the shop, but I am a fish out of water when it comes to surfboard design.
I recently fell in love with surfing. I am riding a 6’4" 1-7/8" pin tail that I learned on while on West Coast on a project. I brought my new found passion with me back to the East Coast and my board sucks for here South East - Georgia & Florida. I am building a hollow woody longboard but one of my kids who has shown no interest in surfing asked if we could build one for him. After waiting several months to see if this was just a phase like the garage full of karate, lacrosse, cub scouts and music gear is evidence of, he is still pushing. I have taken him surfing twice on foamie long boards and he likes it for the most part. So, I was thinking a funboard would be a good project. Something for me 6’0 175lbs to my 5’5 115lb youngest son or wife could ride. Something easy but could be a lot of fun. Looking to make a wave catcher. I would like to do a fish but son and wife do not have the balance for a slippery ride. I am thinking of a homedepot foam 7’10" - 8’ 2.34" - 3" board but I have no idea about the dimensions after that.
Would anyone have a clue to the dimensions I should be looking for for South East knee high waves (rocker, tail, nose, concave, fin etc.)?
If I am doing a forum no-no I am apologize in advance.
Too Long Didn’t Read: Need funboard dimensions for east coast for 175lb man to 115lb son that can catch a knee high wave…something around 8ft would be great.
8’0 x 17 x 22 x 14.5 x 2 3/4" squash tail is pretty standard for a mini-mal.
However, if wife and son using it, may be a bit too wide for their arms both carrying and paddling, so 7’10 x 17 x 21.5 x 14.25 would work well.
For mushy surf, nose rocker 4.5", tail rocker 2.25"
For steeper surf, N 5.0", T 2.5"
Keep the bottom simple, flat up front with some shallow V(help roll the turns) to flat.
2+1 fin set-up w/ sides at 12" up, Future SB1’s in sides w/ 6" Future Performance longboard center fin. Single fin w/8" flex fin. Thruster with boxes around 11.75/3.75".
keep some meat in the middle, foil to medium full rails (more stable then thinner). Keep it as light as you can.
I am in the process of making a very similar board. It is a HWS using 1/8" skins, 1/4" frames and balsa rails…
Rename 8.0.SingleFin.brd.pdf to 8.0.SingleFin.brd and open with AKU shaper… This is just my thought - it has flatter rocker, etc. It should work… ;) Gonna try it anyway.
Welcome aboard.
I would say that
lcc pretty much nailed it. My most popular board lately has been the
8-0. Some thiner, some wider, but it is just a great “daily driver”
for the east coast mush. I like the mild 4.5/2.25 rocker.
My only recommendation is to not go the HD
route for foam. It's good for practice, but is just too soft for a
hand lay up.
I would reccomend getting a proper blank when you decide what shape you ultimately want. You are pretty close to Surfsource and Cat 5 guys in Fla. Both good people to work with and they will have everything you’ll need and… it will be more than you think.
Well, all the information you guys gave me is being used. I did go with home depot foam and cedar stringer for my first non wood board. I figuared this would be cheaper if I screw it up and it does not come out well (learning board). All in all, I will only have $65 in it when done. I have plenty of epoxy laying around West System and MAS. I have a 44" x 50yd 6oz glass roll hanging out in the shop. I spent $30 on (2) 3/4 foam insulation 8x4 (could not find thicker), $20 on a surform tool and $15 on material to make surfboard shapping stands. Granted I have been using saw horses for construction phase.
7’10 x 17 x 22 x 14-1/2
2-3/4" thick
NR = 4-1/5
TL = 2-1/4
I have a lot of shapping coming up. I am going snowboarding in Colorado this week and next so it is going to have to wait.
I do need to make casts of my fins on my board so I can just mold up fins and glass them on.
It is starting to come together. The Home Depot foam is not easy to sand because it likes to tear and rip. Can’t wait to glass this thing. White is “Paint N Patch” I used to fill rips, dings and as a very thin fairing compound.
It is just that I know how cruel kids can be, and thought of how embarrasing it would be to (eventually),show up at a surf spot with that board. To put it in perspective, I bought last night a G & S in good condition (If 4 dings get repaired), fin and box intact, off Craigslist for $25. You will need to spend more than that to continue.
A44 - finish your board, ride it, and then go onto the next one with lessons learned. Anyone gives you crap about it, ask them to show you their self-made board. Lose the doubts,keep the grins…
Sickdog: I can understand your feelings, however as a parent the most important things are lessons to your kids. Yes, I can buy them boards and stroke checks for $700 - $1500 each at the surf shop without a second thought. But the lessons my kids are learning with this project are worth more. They are learning how to research, apply that knowledge and that it is okay to test and try new things and fail. That it is easier to buy something but to create something with your hands is 10x better. I am able to teach them about Polyester, Epoxy, paint, foam, tools, safety and what it is like to hand sand something for 6 hours straight. These are lessons that will shape their character in the real world. I am glad you voiced your opinion but this is a surfboard building forum not a “look at my craigslist purchase” forum. Plus show me someone’s first board with a 14 y/o and 10 y/o help that is retail ready and I will show you a unicorn. I imagine a wave on a board you have 20+ hours into is better than a wave on a board you bought off the shelf, but just my opinion. Keep checking back and when it is done you can blast away on it, I am one of those people that you can’t rock their boat.
P.S. I forgot the most important part of this. The kids are spending hours at a time with their parents rather than sitting on the couch watching Jersey Shore or some other show that makes them dumber and less of a human. Score one for kid parent time that they will remember when I am dead when they look at a crappy surfboard tucked in the corner of their garage when they are adults! Just like I think of my time with my grandpa everytime I walk past a model boat we built toghter that looks like a turd with a red water line painted around it. I can even remember we were drinking cold cokes out of the little glass bottles and he showed me how you pull the tape off of paint when it is tacky because it sucks when it is cured. They won’t give a flying “F” if anyone makes a remark about the board just like I did not when my friends saw my model boat that looked nothing like the picture on the box it came in.
First attempt at any artistic and complex project is always sketchy right?
Proceed sir...and you are going about it with a "lessons learned" attitude. Absolutely agree (not that you need my approval) with you getting the kids involved in this way...awesome you sound like a great Dad!
Now as lessons learned goes the next one will be much better...they always are...always....and if you get a proper blank to work with it will be so much better it'll blow your mind!
Your committment is excellent! Keep Going!
Can't wait to see the finished product...and I believe that you can pull it off and it will surf just fine!
Post pictures and be proud you have almost built your first board!!!!
I’m with the others - keep going. Boards don’t have to be perfect (or even all that good) to be fun.
With that said, I’d also suggest to keep working on your blank before you glass it. Don’t just push through just to get it over with. More curves and fewer straights in the outline. Foil the nose and tail more. More symmetry.
For symmetry you can lay one edge of a line of masking tape along your center line. Make sure it’s straight and make sure it’s right on the center. Use a carpenter’s square to measure the widths on each side of that center line every 3" or so. If you can bring the outlines in so those numbers to match within 1/8" of each other at each point along the outline the board will look pretty symmetrical. If the curve is reasonable it’ll look nice. I would do the curve on one side first and then bring the other side into symmetry. With where you’re at right now, the judicious use of a sanding block is plenty - better to go too slow than too fast.
For foil you can measure the thickness a few inches from each end rather than right at the tips to figure out where you really are. If you can get the thickness down to about 1" or so when measuring 3" from the tail and 3" from the tip and you can blend that in with the rest of your thickness through the center you’ll be working with quite a nice looking foil. People can and do go thicker or thinner than that depending on what they’re looking for, but most people aren’t exceeding 1.5" in the nose or 2" in the tail at the 3" mark.
Same for your rails. If you’re working with a 2.3/4" max thickness in the center and depending on how much dome you want to put across the deck between stringer and rails you’ll want to bring the thickness in the transition area of the deck down to about 2" or so when measured 2" inboard of the outline at the wide point. That will give you rails that won’t be excessivlely thick or thin.
It’s like sculpting in that your final shape is lurking somewhere in your blank - you just have to remove the excess foam to reveal it.
gdaddy: You called it I am 2" thick at the nose 3" down. I am 2 1/16" at the tail 3" in. I made calipers and bi-directional ruler that slips over the stringer, going to be using that in the next couple of hours when I finish working and the kids come home from school. The advantages from working from home when not on a airplane. I think a lot of the crazyness came from two things. 1) grinding down to rough shape with a DA Sander verse using a hotwire. 2) The flat to vee to flat has thrown off my transitions into the rails.
Woody: Thanks!!!
I am still going with the thought “will get it best as I can and it will work because they made boards in the 1700’s that worked in primative cultures”.
Did re-learn a lesson. When I built wooden boats cabinet makers would always come over and ask advice because they got a gig restoring a wooden boat for a client and I would tell them “no right angles, cabinet makers always screw up their first boat because they are not boat builders.” and they would screw them up and I would wind up fixing them. I came into this thinking I could get a dang good board because I was a boat builder - nope first one will not be the prom queen because I am not a surfboard shaper but all the other stuff I listed above makes it worth while.
I think that an eye for craftsmanship and curves and symmetry from the one should directly translate into the other. They both involve hulls moving through water.
With that foam I would imagine you could take the stringer area down with one tool and use a sanding block to bring the foam down evenly to match.
The stringer is not a problem, I have more hand planes than Stanely ships a year. The HD foam is the bear. It rips, tears and shredds. I just need to spend more time shapping the foam with 80 grit belt sander paper on a fairing board and maybe do that when the kids are out so I can get it closer. Since this foam is so fragile I was thinking about skim coating with epoxy before I glass it. I know it will make it heavier but less likley to dent or worse. Thoughts?
