I like the idea of opening my mind and allowing my ass to follow! i’ve got daft ideas coming thick and fast, however for now (first build) i’ll try to walk before i run!
Another quick question - fins - i was thinking of going fcs/future/something similar in a thruster setup (discounting quads due to the extra complexity and room to get things wrong!), though have been reading and wondering about the value a lockbox would add for the central fin too gain adjustablillity encase my fin placing is to far forward/backward?
Very valid point. mostly here in the uk. To be honest i’ve got one spot in mind really and it pumps when everywhere else i can think of is blown out. - if you check my link to magic you’ll see me snapping my board on one of the smaller waves that day. Other than that break and one other (which i’ve not found the nuts for yet) its going to mean beach breaks a lot of paddling and the need to get it under the water.
I’d use you shorter board as a starting point. Richard’s first two pictures (thirdshade) look ideal, not too drawn out. My stepup is 4" longer than my shortboard, same width, same thickness, bit more volume, bit more rocker. If your board’s too specialised you’ll surf it so infrequently, and it’ll be so far from your regular board you’ll not have the board wired, or the confidence to push it.
The board-building course is under way now so I’ve resurrected this thread.
Today was day 1 of the course so myself and my three classmates got hold of our blanks and have set about shaping :-)
The steps I/we have made so far are
Settled on a design and drawn this on. (following all the excellent advice I’ve had on this forum and a few of my own thoughts I’m creating a “fun gun” about 8’ x 23 x 2.5 with a pointyish nose and a rounded pin tail).
Cut out the outline with a saw and surformed this smooth to the right angle of a set square.
Mowed the crust of the underside with a power planer and then smoothed out the dips and humps (this was my first time with a power planer and I’m no natural!), I’ve stuck with the blanks nose rocker though have added a little at the tail.
4.had some lunch.
Fired up the power planer and mowed the deck down to size, though my board is long and wide i’m hoping to be able to duck it so took quite a lot out at this stage. Once i’d smoothed this up it became apparent that i’ve removed a little more volume from one side than the other though it looks even and I doubt it will be noticeable so I’m going to stick with it as is.
Tomorrow its onto the rails, I have to say its been really enjoyable so far and I cant wait ride a board that I’ve created.
Oh and I have just had an awesome surf too boot, I was the only guy on the beach and I scored one of the waves of my life. It must be the shaping good surf karma :-).
I was going to suggest something eggy. Sounds like you are leaning that way. If you don’t want a gunny down railer, an egg gets the job done without loss of speed I’m 6’3" and eighteen stone plus.
Hi tblank yeah the shape looks kinda eggy though is a bit pointier than most. It draws heavily the Al Merrick M13 and the Rusty desert island in concept (though i’ve never seen either of these boards in the flesh!)
So Todays boardbuilding steps were:
Turn the rails. Mine have turned out super thin as I’d already taken quite a lot out of the deck, I’m not entirely sure how this will effect the way the board rides, the optimist in me thinks this will help me to sink a rail and hold a line to zoom across waves, alternatively it could result in catching a lot of edges and other general unhappiness, I guess time will tell!
Draw on fin placement. For this I’m going for an fcs thruster set up. I’ve copied the fin placement of my favourite board (a progressive narrow and thin 9’1 longboard with a glassed in thruster set up). My intention is to have the back fin 10cm from the end of the board, does this sound right for this type of board and the sort of waves I’m looking to take this into?
General Sand, tidy & de-dust. On this today I cant see the extra volume in one side, I guess I’ve knocked some off doing the rails though would presume its still there?
Glass the underside. We used 6’oz glass and overlapped to the underside by about an inch. As my board is a little on the skinny side I’ve put two layers of glass down to aid the strength.
All in, a very satisfying day, with the glass on I can see the board coming to life.
Ryan
NB. I wish I could photo document this. I ordered a camera (gopro hd surf) in anticipation and was looking forward to taking stills and videos of the process however the retailer hasn’t even dispatched it yet. GRRRR. However the instructor is a sways member and he is taking a few shots so you may get to see the process yet!
Good on Ya Ryan. Well on your way. Knifey rails Cut! He’s a small guy but go to : youtube/Skip Frye Egg and see the video @ P.B. point. Small week waves, but look at the turns he gets out of it. Parmenter was turning out beautiful eggs years ago in Morro Bay, CA. And they were SPEED MONSTERS!
I’m getting very excited about riding it now, skinny rails and all
So today’s steps (day 3)
Flip the board over and sand the laps to blend with the decks foam. For this I used 80 grit sandpaper, a surform and then a dirty great big grinder with a 6" sanding disk, off these tools I found the grinder to be the most effective, fastest and kindest to the foam when I got a little over eager! the sandpaper has however left the deck with dirty looking reddish browny blemishes. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how this can be avoided in the future?
Drew on a simple design on the deck with a soft pencil, I should have dusted this down with the air gun as it smudged a bit when the glass was draped over it.
Cut the glass for the deck along with a deck patch. I didn’t bother being too fussy the about the shape of the deck patch as i thought it wouldn’t be visible later, I was wrong.
Stuck the glass down - this went fine.
5 Cut an laid a second layer of glass and resin (third if you count the deck grip) I must have been a bit easy with the resin as their are now a few tiny air bubbles in between some of the glass fibres.
Applied a sanding coat, to the deck, this included wax styrene to enable it to go off fully.
Went to the pub.
8. Flipped the board over and applied a sanding coat to the underside.
As I type the board is curing overnight before a hard days sanding, due to this I got an early finish and went for a surf, nice small but clean waves to remind us what its all about.
So day four is finished and the end is in sight todays steps were…
Sand down the sanding coat. this generally went well though I did manage to pick-up a burn on the foam where the glass got too hot under the random orbital sander.
Applying a gloss coat, I decided to tint the top of my board blue so used tape to mask the underside for this I followed the basic shape of my board pulling in the nose and tale to keep the shape in proportion. I then flipped the deck over mixed some resin up with a bit of blue colouring and spread it with a paintbrush. I’e ended up with a nice stripy patten where the brush had different weights of resin on it. I then left it to cure.
Once cured I flipped the board over masked around the rail leaving a lip to build up harder rails on the back foot or so of the board before laying on the clear resin.
The board is relay coming together now all that’s now left to do is sand and polish the gloss coat and insert the fcs fin plugs and the leash plug, before taking it for a test surf
OK so i’ve finaly got chance to update this thread.
Day 5.
A Morning of sanding, first off with the blemishes with some 200ish grit and down through the grades to 800. The only real area of work was on the hard rails that i’d built up at the rear of the board. It took a fair amount of sanding to get these into shape.
A quick polish with a polishing machine and some cutting compound, then a wash down.
Cut the holes for the fcs plugs for the fins and the gopro mount allong with the leash plug.
4. Plasticine round these holes and mix up some resin complete with shredded glass fibers and some glass balls and set the fcs plugs into place, It took a bit of effort to line these up correctly though the job was made much easier as i’d drawn out the lines on the board and Richard had pre-made some 4degree triangles to rest the fins against to gauge the cant. Unfortunately no leash plugs were delivered so this is a job for a later date.
Day 6. (the course finished on day five so this was done at home)
Sand round the fsc plugs so they are flush with the board. If you say this quickly it sounds easy though the coarsest grade of wet and dry I had was 300 and i dont have any power tools, the 10 fcs plugs took me a solid 8hrs. still the sun was shinning… next time i’ll make sure i plasticine much closer to the plugs! I’m happy with the outcome on the underside of the board however whilst sanding the fcs plug for the camera on the deck i’ve sanded the blue out of the polishing coat. Has anyone got any thoughts for or against mixing up more blue resin and covering these white spots?
Drive back to the midlands (as the name suggests their is no coast).
Order a deck plug
Consider how best to make a board bag for a 7’11 x 23 pointy board - if anyone can direct me to a resource i would appreciate it.
So thats it for now, i’ll be heading back down to wales in a fortnight and my camera has (finally) been delivered so i’ll finish it off and give a ride report with pics/clips. In the mean time i’m dreaming of shaping and surfing, if your by the beach catch one for me
