Just did some some thickness measurements from the middle of the board.
I cut out a 2.5" slip from cardboard so it’s not the most accurate.
Thickest point is 2.36" (6cm) which is a little less then the kneeboard specs that you posted but it should do the trick.
…hello; depends on your ability and weigth etc but I think that the foil distribution is not the best way; also you runned out of thickness so will be difficult to have a thinner foil tapered out to the tail.
The fish is intended to be 6-8 inches less than your main daily board so if you put the same floatation, could be not enough to have paddling power etc.
In this way, you have a wider nose under your face (head) so the board is one with you when you taking off etc but in your case you put a not so wide nose, flat rocker not foiled shape.
An Agave fish would be not so lively like a modern fish made out of PU
Vincentv , so far it’s looking good , this is where there will be different opinions , but , I think you are at about your min thickness now , I would try to get a little more tail rocker and increase the nose rocker a little , try to blend the nose and tail rockers into the bottom of the board using the long sanding board , I would not try to foil out the board I do not think that you have enough thickness to lose more wood , Its hard to see the soft/low spot that you are talking about , but if it is not very low , say only 1/8 in or 3 mm , you may be able to correct/lose that amount when you shape the rails , my reasoning is that if you have a soft spot you may end up chasing it and make it worse , but in the end it must be your decision . When you have finished with the bottom adding nose and tail rocker and making sure to keep the bottom dead flat , draw a line 3/8 in / 8 mm around the board on the rail up from the bottom of the board , and , another line 3/8 in around the board on the bottom of the board , now from the half way point say about 36in get a flexy straight edge and taper / reduce the rail 3/8 to 0 at the tip of the fish tail , do this on both rails ,( not on the bottom of the board ), in the fish tail , taper the line from the tip of the fish tail to the deepest part of the fish crack up to 1/2 in , do this on both sides , do not remove any wood yet , now using the same line on the rail that you tapered , draw a line above that , 1/2 higher all around the board , that 1/2 wide band should not be touched until you have done a lot more work on the board it will run from the tip of the fish tail to the nose of the board , from the the top of that line up to the deck is where you are going to start shaping your rail bands , the first should be about 1in in from the rail on the top deck ,draw a line around the deck 1inch in from the rail . and that is where in my opinion you should start to shape the rails , once you have planed / sanded that rail band you will be able to see what will need to happen next , I hope this is clear to you , I do not know how to post a drawing of this process , but if you look in the archives there are pics of how to do this , if you are not sure ask questions , carry on .
Hey reverb, welcome.
I haven’t worked on the foiling yet. Just learned what foil means btw.
Just did a whole bunch of calculating and measuring and i won’t be able to make the tickness through out the whole board like the kneeboard fish example jrandy posted on here.
But most of the places it will be possible
I usually surf a eggshaped compact disc walden 6’4" which has about 45l. i weigh about 65kg and 1m80 in height.
Vincentv , do not use a felt pen on the wood the ink will soak into the wood , only pencil . befor you do any more shaping you should have , one line on the bottom of the board following the outline 3/8 inch in , one line 3/8 in up from the bottom of the board on the rail that tapers from the mid point to 0 at the tail , one line 1/2 above the 3/8 line on the rail , this is the most important line , it is your outline , do not go below this line when shaping , one line on the top deck of your board 1 inch in from the rail , you need to visualise a straight line through the wood from the 1 inch line on the deck to the 1/2 line on the rail , this is your first rail band and probably the most important to get right because you are going to work off of this , I urge you to check the archives for cutting rail bands it is not easy to explain but it is very easy to fuck things up at this stage , maybe some else will post pics or a link to rail bands , cutting rail bands is where using an electric plane is the best , but again so easy to fuck up , you have done well so far , take your time . carry on .
Vincentv , when you draw the 3/8 inch line around the outline of the board on the bottom , do not include the low spot you spoke about , try to correct it , use the plane shape you downloaded or use a flexy stick , this line is just for visuall reference at this point . When you get to shaping the first rail band , do not use the angle grinder , use a wood plane or a stanley file or a long sanding board , I am gonna be out of town for a while , if you have questions I am sure some one will help you , good luck , Aloha .
Back again. Today I had a day off and dove in to the workshop.
I did lots of calculations and measurements to see what i am able to take out as a rocker.
I followed the kneeboard specs as jrandy posted. In the nose at 5feet and 4feet i had plenty of volume and tickness, more then the amount on the kneeboard example so i was able to put a little more nose rocker in there as you can see on the pictures below.
Rocker example was;
POSITION ROCKER KNEEBOARD MY NOSE ROCKER
Nose 3 1/4" (8.26) 8,25cm
63" 3 (7,26) 6cm
58" 2 (5,08) 3,5cm
52" 1 (2,54) 2cm
44" 1/2 (1,27) 1cm
37" 1/4 (0.635) 0,4cm
I am pretty happy with this result. Its pretty close and i still have the full tickness and so flotation.
(Also i calculated all these position inch measurements and made percentages from it so i could use it on my longer 5"10’ outline.)
The tailrocker is another deal because starting from the middle to the tail down i have about 1/4" short on thickness. Idealy i want my tailrocker at 1"- 1,5". Right now the tailrocker is at 1/4".
Whats your opinion on this? Loose some volume/thickness in the back and go for more tailrocker or leave the tiny tailrocker as it is and go for the volume in the back…
Thank you gbzausa, i’ve been looking at lots of movies on youtube on how to shape rails and i’m getting a pretty good idea on how it’s done. It’s a shame that i took of so much wood on the deck on the sides but i’m optimistic.
Also one little detail…
Remember i cutted to deep back in the tail and that i had a soft/rotten spot in the rail.
This is how i fixed it. It was pretty impulsive but it looks good to me.
@jrandy; Any details on the tailrocker of the kneeboard you posted before?
It only says in in detail about the nose rocker on the papers.
Hi vincentv , 1/ good save on the rail repair , I think you should do the same on the deck where there is rotten wood near the fish crack , 2/ tail rocker , I think you could add a little more but you will be fine if you dont , old school fish,s had very little rocker and its probably better to maintain the volume that you have , remember you will still have to remove more wood as you progress . 3/ Glad you have been educating yourself with youtube , but there are a lot of stupid people on youtube and a lot of bad advice , so make sure you are selective about who you take notes on . 4/ please make that first rail band cut as I have explained it to you , I do not think that you should try to shape the rail bands as per the conventional way when using an electric plane , it is important that you know the correct procedure but I will lead you through a safer / slower way and you will have to post pics of your progress to get it right . 5/ It would be helpfull if you post some pics of the board standing up , both nose up and tail up , try to get the light the same on both sides of the board when you take the pics to avoid it looking odd , carry on .
Yes i hear you, only taking notes of the pro’s on youtube.
I will have to read your post again on the rail bands, sometimes it’s like reading chinese for a beginner. Aiming on starting the rails tomorrow. Now i’m flattening the bottom of the board again where i added more nose rocker.
Tail rocker for now at the tip is 0,6cm
vincentv , in the pics of the repair you made on the rail it shows a section of the deck near the fish crack that is rotten , that is the part I was refering too .
vintentv , before you start on the rails we seem to not be understanding each other , you have a pic of the nose rail with only one line drawn there should be two , one 3/8 up from the bottom on the board and then another 1/2 above that , finish sanding the bottom than mark the rails and then post pics . the lines are also for my benefit it will help me see the thickness you have to work with .
vincentv I see the hole but it is difficult for me to judge if that will disappear when you shape the rail bands , that is another reason to mark the lines on the rails .
I see which part you mean.
Question; i read somewhere that with traditional fish wide point, thickness and rocker all peak at the same point.
Any insights?
As i will keep the low tail rocker i am wondering until how far i should keep the nose rocker going. For now the lowest rocker point is right in the middle of the board a little after the wide point
The line on there was not for shaping the rail but for achieving the right amount of rocker 
I do understood your explanation after i saw a video of a guy working the same way. Let me see if i can find it again
Hi Vincentv -
Just as a point of reference, it might be helpful to orient your ‘zero point’ rocker at the mid point. With a careful eye and some rocking back and forth, you should be able to establish where the your straight edge rests against that point. “Shim” the stick a couple of feet on either side of that point to keep it in position… any small piece of scrap material will do - just something to keep it from rocking.
Now check your tail rocker measurement. A slight tilt off the mid point will affect end point rocker specs rather dramatically. I only suggest this as you are getting to the point of no return - I.E. this is not a good time for any rocker/thickness mistakes. Smaller and smaller corrections will lead to your final product.
On some of the apparent ‘rotten’ areas, you might consider using something like a tinted epoxy slurry/bog to fill. Maybe save a pile of sanding dust and mix it in to approximate the color. There are thinned epoxy resins like ‘Git-Rot’ that are designed to saturate porous wood and stabilize it. You will undoubtedly need to seal the blank anyway so this might be worth looking in to. I have used pigmented epoxy bog to seal EPS blanks. UncleD here on Swaylocks has done some nice abstract EPS seal coats. I think something like this could be done with your Agave.
Check a foam stain technique referred to as ‘Falsa’ - fake balsa-grain tints on foam boards. This might give you some ideas on how to pigment filler material on your board.
