It was over a year in the making (started this project in Spring of '05), but here is the step by step process. Benny’s $14 Home Depot blank is what got me going. The cost of ordering blanks was inhibiting, so I just made my own. If it hadn’t been for that post, I would probably still be thinking about shaping. Homemade rocker table with plywood and 1x4" cross beams, 5 layers 3/4" #1 EPS from the local hardware store (this was the thickest and most dense they had), used 1/4" ply for stringer. I glued up the EPS and glued in the stringer with Elmer’s PU glue. Much cheaper than Gorilla glue.
I made a template using Adobe Illustrator. I think I traced, er, I mean used for inspiration, a Mandala shape from the internet. I traced it on the foam. Cut out my outline using a trusty stanley handsaw.
I don’t have any photos of the shaping process, only the end result. All I can say is that it was very messy, little foam balls all over the yard, floating through the air. I used a combination of Harbor Freight planer, surform, block plane, small block plane, sandpaper, will power, ESP, mind control. I switched haphazardly between all of the above tools, but it finally came out OK. I watched both the Master Shaper and 101 series DVDs and I think I managed to add many new, but unnecessary steps.
Hurricane Katrina interrupted the project at this point. My family and I evacuated to Houston, TX from New Orleans. While my family stayed in Houston, I made frequent trips home to work on the house and get my business back up and I was able to complete some steps on the board. With a Harbor freight airbrush set up, I painted the foam and added some hand drawn pinlines.
It’s now about February '06 so it was time to glass. I also watched the Master Glasser and 101 glassing DVDs. I ordered my Resin Research epoxy. I didn’t intend for it, but they sent me FAST set, which paralyzed me with fear. But it was no problem. The stuff is really great. I’ve never glassed before, but in comparing my limited use of PE resin for ding repair, RR epoxy is great! I used the tan Bondo squeegie, used plenty of Additive F. 3 layers 6 oz on deck, 2 layers 6oz on bottom. Fast set was never an issue. The only issues were with my technique. I got the resin a little to frothy moving it around too much. I did let it soak in and it worked out OK. No worries
Laminating deck.
Here are my fin panels. Double foiled fins 5x9" keels made with 3/4" plywood. Nothing fancy. Laid up with 2 layers 6oz E glass each side and fin rope along edge of fin. I set the fins with no cant and 1/8" toe-in using 5 minute epoxy. Glassed the fins on with my “football panels”, 2 on each side of each fin with glass rope around base extending a couple of inches past leading and trailing edges. I trimmed excess glass after the epoxt set.
Leash loop using straw. Also, my work area in the house.
Here is the first hotcoat going on. The labor was free. I hotcoated the deck then taped the bottom to get a resin edge on the back third of the rails. You can see the resin build-up before sanding. Hotcoating is great because the high gloss takes your eye away from a lot of the shaping mistakes. It makes a bad shape look almost rideable.
I did install a vent plug. I tried to make a couple from Burt’s posting, but they’re so cheap, it didn’t make sense using my cruddy homemade one, when a new one is about $1.50. I used the power drill and epoxied the vent in. I put it right on the stringer so it could draw from both sides of the stringer, since I forgot to drill holes in the stringer.
I did a second hotcoat/ gloss coat. Very shiny. All in all, I’m very happy with the finished product. I haven’t surfed it yet. Gulf surfing is hit or miss, but I will post pics as soon as I do. The dimensions are 6’4" x 2 5/8" thickness. 17" nose x 21 3/4" width x 16 1/8" tail. I’m already in the process of getting a large block of #3 EPS and constructing a hotwire.
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… and I think I managed to add many new, but unnecessary steps.
aw man, i couldn’t stop laughing at this… i can totally relate. it looks so easy in the video, right?
also, love the glassing in the same room as a computer, etc. my wife would kill me if i tried that…
keep the photos coming, this is a great thread.
Final shots.
Thanks to everyone here on Swaylocks. This site is priceless. Without Swaylocks, I can’t imagine ever shaping. Just about every aspect of the process was influenced by something I learned on this site.
great job! I couldn’t agree more about glassing in the house and my better 1/2. Gotta love epoxy for that one. I like the free help, too. Won’t be free in a of years, trust me on that one!
Swaylocks rocks for sure.
jonah: i reckon you’ve made a beautiful surfboard mate! good on you. happy surfing.
Pictures tell a hell of a story. There is no separating this man from his wave and his board!
I have the same exact drill and sander as the ones in the plug drilling picture. Thought for a second I had posted the pic… That sander is the best $30 I have ever spent.
Great board. I bet sanding between those tails was a bitch.
I’m so stoked to see you having fun like this!
The board looks absolutely great. I’m sure it will go like the dickens some day when the shrimpers are all at home and some 'cane is hitting Belize.
Great kids, too. My boys of a similar age just throw things at me when I’m glassing.
A mention of that $14 blank thread never fails to make my day. So glad to help in any small way.
I love the internet. All of us, communicating all over the world, sharing stuff, working together.
Man, I’m sappy when I’m tired. Goodnight. 
Nice job.
“will power, ESP, mind control”
darn it …
so THAT’S why all my boards suck , eh ?
my resume [‘c.v’] …
very little will power , no esp , and very little mind left to control , courtesy of years of unsafe s… shaping … (er …I mean ‘glassing’ , I think ?)
thanks for that priceless gem , not found of any of the videos I’ve watched !
ben
…‘shrimp’ , eh ?
“… barbecued , stir fried , boiled , roasted shrimp … there’s ALL kinds of ways to cook shrimp …”
[‘bubba’]
word, thats cool . . . glassing inside your pad? that’s insane (like epic) . . . I guess epoxy is a little more user friendly than poly resins . . .