I’ve got a couple of these blanks that have been sitting in my garage for years. No reason to shape this board now, other than I just needed a project to get me out of my depressive funk lately. I have a million other projects that make more sense logically, but that’s a story for another day.
I decided I needed to make me an 8’6” longboard, cuz that’s the size of the blank. Not sure what I’ll do with it when its done, I really don’t need any more boards!
These Ecotech blanks are kind of a mess - they have a super tough shell that is very hard to get off, and this one had a bunch of plastic type crap around the edges I literally had to chisel off. It also had no stringer, so there was that also.
The other unique or unusual thing about this blank is that it is very close tolerance. Like you could almost just clean it up a bit and glass it as is. So there isn’t much need for actual shaping, if you’re going for a classic longboard, which I am. So that’s the plus. The minus is that you have to be super careful even skimming the shell off, cuz there isn’t a whole lot of room for error, like there is with a normal slightly oversize blank.
I really wish I could have left the hard shell, at least on top, cuz that would make this bugger super strong. But the blank has a bit of twist I need to shape out, and I dripped a bunch of resin glueing up my stringers, so I really needed to plane down to shape-able foam. Too bad, cuz the shell on these things as they come off the truck is really bullet proof.
I’m almost wondering if this might have been an experimental popout type board. Cuz even tho there’s a little extra thickness in the nose & tail, there is zero extra thickness thru the middle.
If the last one has no twist to remove, im gonna check into maybe clean it up just a little then glass it & go. Would be super strong, even if the nose & tail are just a little clunky looking (like a softtop).
The first thing I did was mark some lines for the stringers. Then I cut the middle line carefully as I could with a hand saw (I don’t have a decent band saw for this).
I glassed each side of the halves along the cut edge, with pigmented resin and scraps of 4 oz. cloth, sanded, buttered both sides with some more pigmented resin, added a stringer from some pieces of 1/4" plywood I had laying around, and clamped the halves back together. I just clamped down on the blank, because the shell is so hard I could do that.
Then I did the same thing twice more, but no wood on the outer stringers, just 4 oz. glass scraps each side, sanded, buttered with colored resin, and clamped up.
Finally after a couple days tinkering around, I had an actual blank. Today I planed the hard shell off, and its ready to shape. But it doesn’t need a whole lot of “shaping”, its so close tolerance, all I have to do is maybe thin it out nose and tail, add some V in the tail, maybe a little concave in the nose, and fine tune the rails. The plan shape and deck dome is exactly the size and shape of the blank as I got it.
BTW I got this blank years ago (for an excellent price - I think I bought like 6 or 7 for about $30 each) from McDing, Swaylocks OG that I don’t think is around the new forum anymore, but sorely missed by some of us. Anyway, I got several, and built boards from most of them, just two left.
These blanks are very hard on the outside, but get softer toward the center. The foam is a little yellower than modern blanks, but overall pretty good quality.
Ecotech is a now defunct company that made surfboard blanks years ago. I couldn’t find anything on a google search, but probably one of the many failed startups in the wake of the clark foam fiasco. The quality seems to be ok tho, and like I said, McDing practically gave these to me (to get me started on shaping foam from my HWS days.)
Huck, are you surfing again?
I had my left hip replaced in May and I’m far away from being able to surf right now. My quad and groin area are still very stiff. Working on trying to loosen up those the areas, but it’s been a challenge and painful. Getting better every day, but seems slow.
I surfed my last surf about 2 months ago - my hip surgery went pretty well, but took a full year before I could get out on a regular basis. I think I surfed 3 times the first year after my surgery. That was 6 years ago, so I had 5 good surfing years with my prosthetic hip.
But awhile back I went surfing in a cold day, and could barely walk when I got out. I recovered from that, but then lately my hip strength just won’t let me pop up anymore. I tried about 4 more times, I could get waves, but my popup was tottery and just ridiculous. Once I’m up I’m ok.
So I’m learning to SUP and bellyboard, but its a new learning curve all over again.
Sorry to hear that. I’m hoping I can surf a lot once I recover. My brother only surfs at a standing wave park because he doesn’t have to paddle or pop up. I’m hoping to get better and try to get him back in the ocean again.
I bought some dirt cheap Chinese blanks after Clark closed up and they had really hard skins. I didn’t have a planer back then, just a surform and my sanding blocks. It was really hard to get the skin off.
What does he (or you) think about SUP? I’m trying to learn, and its a whole new learning curve, but its a way to catch and ride waves without having to pop up. Have you guys given it a try?
My brother and I have SUP boards. I made one and I have an old wide windsurfer I’ve used, but I didn’t have good balance to paddle out into the surf and catch waves. Turns out my legs are weak. I can paddle around on flat water, but out where the waves are it’s too bumpy and windy. I just sat on the board and caught waves then either stood up or rode them sitting. I don’t like big boards, so I never enjoyed trying to surf the SUP. I had a blast riding them sitting using a kayak paddle. I stay way off to the side and out of the way of the good waves.
I don’t think my brother ever used his, he has a 12’ Munoz board. He got it for a good deal because a Waikiki concession bought them and then weren’t allowed to use the pointed nose boards for rentals.
My brother goes to a standing wave pool near his house. He doesn’t have to paddle or pop up. A one hour session is enough to wear you out.
No, I glued up the stringers and cleaned it up, very little work left to finish shaping it, but I haven’t been motivated. Too many other distractions and projects taking up my time and attention.
Cleaning it up I skinned the blank. Kinda had to bcuz I was a bit sloppyy gluing up the triple stringers. But I have one more of these blanks, same size. If I work a little more clean and careful, I could glue it up and glass it with minimal sanding.
These blanks are pretty close tolerance, not a lot of foam to plane down. So if I did that, without skinning it much, it would be hella strong. The skin on these blanks is like alligator skin. There really wasn’t any real shaping to this one, just skinned the blank and that’s all I had room to do.
Hopefully be getting back to this project soon, as I have a customer / collaborator lined up for this board.
