Bamboo Decked SUP Quad EPS Epoxy Fish

General Discussion
1

Did I get my adjectives in the right order?

I built several of these beasts. At the same time. What a HUGE pain. Never again. For a while. Everything took twice as much and twice as long. All my templates, tools, clamps, racks were half the needed size. I see why these things cost so much. Probably $500 in parts alone.

Here are the pics. 11 feet long, 29.5 wide, 5 inches thick. First one is building the blank. I bought a 12 foot block of 1 pound EPS and cut my own. Thank you ASP3000. For stringers I used bending ply scarfed together and doubled in thickness with epoxy My new set of clamps in the picture. I had to stand on a ladder to reach the top.

the blank is shaped. Damn. What a bunch of foam. Five inches thick. I scaled up my rail templates to get the right tuck. It seemed to have worked. One pound foam is love/hate. Shapes easy, shapes too easy. But I wanted it light. I triple sealed it before glassing.

Board is shaped and glassed. Double 6 under, triple six over. And a bamboo veneer deck patch where you stand. In this pic, I have applied the bamboo veneer over a 1 oz layer of cloth saturated in resin, laid over an inflatable air mattress (deflated), then wrapped the whole thing with a roll of that clear plastic wrap they wrap boxes with, then pumped the raft up (thus the pump in the picture) to apply pressure to the bamboo veneer to hold it down. It worked. Covered that in 4 oz. Then put a layer of 6 oz tape on the rails to keep them from getting beat up with the paddle.

Board finished. Probably 30 hours of emotional ups and downs. Design Master paint from Michaels Art for rail bands, leash plugs top and bottom for a shoulder strap (can’t reach around it).

Before the FU big fin box.

There is lot going on on this bottom, as you can tell. Yes, there is vee in the bottom. How else you gonna turn the damn thing. Besides G Loehr says fish track without vee. (That was a joke, he is right, of course, but at this size, does it really matter?)

I made another one with a Dcel deck vacuum bagged on. The bamboo is the ticket.

Questions?

2

Dang Greg. I reckon that looks great! Now go surfing!

hunter

3

Hunter, thx, your prior work inspired me. These boards are friends up in SC. When I get a second wind I may build one for myself.

4

outstanding. quads run good. i like mine.

5

I am very impressed! Great job. My next project are superboards!

Mahalo,

D

6

great work greg

unreal

id love to have a go on one of them things

7

Wow, Silly, Chateaux, theboys, Uncle D, you are all my heroes. thx guys for the support. All of you inspired me.

8

I feel your pain! more work than 5 boards.

I was thinking never again, then I rode it.I turns-nose rides better than my normal log and is light.

Now I just have to learn how to stand and paddle.My current record for saying up paddling 30seconds.

Fun!

Your boards look great and are made from scratch.You should try one out with your friends and let the shaping memories fade away.

Ian


9

Hi GregTate -

I like the tail hips and the tucked edge transitioning. The bamboo deck reinforcement is a nice touch.

I think I’d just ride it as a super longboard. Looks like a ripper!

10

Awesome project. More photos please!

I really get excited an motivated by seeing all the cool stuff people are doing in their work shops. Do you remember Where’s Waldo?

bar clamps

hand saw

box of fiberglass

quad fin short board

foam blanks

mixing cups

guy working on board (glassing in logo?)

hand cleaner

Big gulp cup

green tape ,white tape, blue tape

shaping stands

solvent

paint

shaping stands

is there beer in the fridge?

What are your plans for a paddle?

11

Greg, For all the painful work, the board looks great! I think that’s a very workable shape that will make the behemoth actually surf well. Give us a report after you get it in the water.

I am just finishing up a balsa gun with lots of little wood details in it and I think I know how you feel: The building process was like going through labor (not that I really know, but projecting in my mind what it might be like). Then the baby gets there and you’re relieved and happy to see it. But, dadburn it, I got to wait awhile before going through that again.

Anyway, nice board.

Doug

12

OK, More photos and info. Here is the shaped blank in rocker profile. It weighed just about exactly 5 pounds. Not bad for 11 feet with a stringer. Remember it is 1 pound EPS.The completed board weighed 23 pounds. With 5 fin boxes, and 8 leach plugs.

The other board was finished with a Dcell deck vacuum bagged on. My Frig pump over heated and cut out in the middle of the operation. I made up some new cuss words. Here is the dcell deck board. Yes, it is lime green. The customer wanted bright lime green.

My little vac pump. I’m going back to Compsand bamboo boards and I am not sure I can do it with this little jewel. Notice all the fans I put on it to cool it off? I was also spraying with a mist of water (blue mist bottle) to evap cool it trying to get it to restart. Which it did, but left a little uncompressed glass here and there. I covered it.

OMG!!! I forgot to put in the vents!!! What an idiot!!! IT’s 1 pound foam!!! SSSSSHHHHH______TTTTT!!!

Geez. Get a grip. Count to 10. Deep breath. Back to the shop. (I haven’t delivered them yet)