Before I over shape it....suggestions please!

1st board here. Its coming along pretty good so far. In the plan view pic the left rail looks pretty smooth but the right either has a flat spot, a bump or both. The profile looks a little off too. Do I need to take some more foam from somewhere? Kind of unsure…I did make a major mistake by not using enough of the nose rocker when I carved it out. It basically came out as a flat blank so I carved the rocker in as best I could. Its a lot flatter than I was hoping for. Also, the bottom is basically flat all the way thru. Trying to put some Vee in wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. So before I mess it up, ANY constructive criticism or pointers is more than welcome. Thanks!

G’day Headhigh

My suggestion for the rail bumps would be to use some abrasive shaping screen (screen back) and work the rail again, apply pressure to the bumps and back the pressure off over the flat spot between them. Take it easy and checek the job after each pass.

To get a little more rocker in the nose you can glass the bottom first then apply some weights to the nose to bend it down just after the resin kicks. You’ll have to counter-balance the wieight on the tail or you’ll end up with it nose diving into the floor. Use some plastic sheet under the weights so it does not mark your glass job. Let it set for a day or so to ensure that the glass job holds the blank in place before you take the weights off.

Hope this helps.

My “constructive criticism” 2 cents worth. Glass it and ride it. Nothing like your first board! The next one will be better.

looks good; not much nose flip but other wise the rocker looks good.

as for the rail… looks like you might have more width in the right side

above the flat spot. if so you can use some of that extra width to re curver

and blend to help remove the flat spot. if you don’t have the extra width

(and it is just something I am seeing, camera angle/lighting…) then glass

it and enjoy it. surfboards don’t have to be perfect to be fun. especially the

ones you build and ride. that already gives it alot of extra stoke points in

the magic board direction.

to see if you have even curves/width on both sides use a string (or chaulkline

if you don’t mind doing a little sanding to remove the chaulk) to create a

virtual stringer to measure your lf/rt side widths.

looks good

Thanks for the help guys! Yeah, I tried using some screen. That was also a lot trickier than I thought. I’ll have to practice on a scrap piece before hitting the rail again… Thats a good idea on the centerline. A little more off the deck sure wouldn’t hurt…Still waiting on the fin set too…Is it possible to get a EPS blank as smooth as a poly blank? I have been fine sanding with 220, but it still seems to have quite a few cavities. I was planning on skipping the spackle/microballon process, but now I am wondering if microballons might help smooth it all out.

Headhigh,

Glass it and ride it. Good first board. Flat bottom and low rocker means a fast board. Your going to be stoked riding a board you made with your own hands. For the next board make sure your template does not have any flat spots. Its tough getting those out of the board after its been templated without totally screwing it up. My experience is the more you try the worse it gets. Count the number of strokes with the screen. Same number on each side. IF you take too much material off the deck your going to get into the really soft foam. Can’t help with EPS. What do you mean by cavities? You should be able to sand it smooth as a babies bum. Mike

Don’t bother to sand it too fine, just 100 does fine. Any smoother, you will have delam problems, as nothing for the lam to grab to, as styro is weaker than poly blanks.

After your 7th board, worry about symetry and eveness.

After your 22nd board, worry about getting it to have the right look and flow.

For now, glass it, ride the heck out of it, and enjoy #1.

Appreciate the comments fellas. Other than cleaning up the mess, that was a lot of fun. Learned a few thing by mistake during the process. Should make the next one go smoother. Here’s a link that might be helpful to the beginner builders if you are going the EPS route.

http://home.earthlink.net/~bike-surf-photos/boardnumber1.html