board #1.5, a 5`8 keel fishy in the worx

General Discussion
1

hey all!

im working on my second PU blank (US Blanks 6`2A) right now which is going to be a classic keel fish.

blank number one (US Blanks 7`9H) was declared a practice blank after some major f**k ups with the planer in the skinning and getting the blank to thickness phase. so i tried almost anything on this blank that will cross my way in the near future. which was a very good idea i guess. i only shaped one stringerless CNC precut EPS blank before, so dealing with a stringer for example was a totally new experience for me. also cutting out an outline, making templates and so on…this will also be the first project that actually will be glassed and completed.

the fish is 5`8 x 16N x 21 x 15.5T x 2 3/4

11" pin to pin, butt crack 5.5" deep.

i ordered a set of marlins wonderful double foiled 101 bamboo keels for lokbox for it, stoked. he was very helpful and fast with replies, thanx a lot marlin !!

the keels are 7 1/4" x 5", double foiled with something like 3 degrees cant built in already.

i want it to be pretty classic but a bit more userfriendly and willing to turn so

i guess i will place them about 6" up from the pins, lined up with the pins, and give them a little toe in, like 1/8" or so. does that sound ok to you guys?

i was really absorbed in the process of shaping so i didnt get my “real” camera so sorry for the crappy phone pics.

i`ll start with shaping the butt crack tomorrow, tape off all of the foam next to the stringer because im pretty happy with how it turned out till now so no more f**k ups please. any hints and tips are more than welcome!

i had a lot of trouble getting the skin off in deck nose rocker area with the planer so i got at it with the surform which lead to foam ripouts next to the stringer on the deck. what works well here? a sander? something not so expensive?

ok then,

thanks a lot for reading,

have a great time swaylockians and i wish you all a merry xmas and the best new year ever. thanks so much for all the help, wisdom, inspiration, sharing, etc. oh and special thanx to jim phillips fot the master shaper vids, you are mean jim!!! theres just no way someone gets it done that clean for the first 1000 boards or so.

happy swaylocking 2008!

cheers,

trimchris, shaping in the snow

2

I just made a 5’10" fish out of the same blank, and the best advice I can give you is to thin out the tail A LOT. I thought that I had thinned it out enough as they were super-duper flexy once the tail was cut, but once glassed the tail seems a tad too thick.

The board surfs really fun though.

I got Marlins Keel fins also, had him make them based on a template I made.

Check it out: http://web.mac.com/ianrammelkamp/iWeb/Site/RammelFish.html

3

TRIM

the deck in the curvy upy nose area is a bit tricky. Im no pro but what I do is take the planer at a 90 deg to the stringer and mow it across the board in that area. then use a spoke shave to clean up the stringer and a curved sureform to do the foam then blend it in to the rest of the board.

or you can just use the spokeshave and a sandblock but that takes a while to do

4

stanley makes a curved sureform?

5

hey all!

obproud:

your board looks sick!

and those fins, i guess they go fantastic. killer.

yeah, the tail seems to be quite thick, i thinned it out a bit already and will even more when doing the swallow tail today. i hope it turns out ok.

ken!

thanks a lot for the tips.

will try that next time.

cheers,

trimchris

6

Home depot or Lowes

they have a yellow handle with a 3" arced blade

7

hey again!

i finished the fish today. at least i think its finished.

it didnt come easy, it all started yesterday when i wanted to draw the swallowtail template on to the blank and it didnt fit on one side, so i took the square and measured once again only to see that the right tail is approx. 1/2 an inch narrower than the outline should be, so i guess i messed something up with the spin template when drawing the outline on the blank. i took some measurements and made pencil dots to get both sides as symmetrical as possible. then took the planer to cut into my roughly finished rail. ouch!!!

its still not really perfectly symmetrical but well, its my first board, so it must not be i guess.

shaping the swallow tail and butt crack was very scary in a way. i dont know but i always feel like, really scared to mess it up, which doesnt really help too, i guess. it took me ages but im quite satisfied with the outcome.

well then it happened.

i lifted the board onto its rail on the racks to have a look at the taper of the tail and suddenly the alsmost finished, sanded blank dissapeared. BANG!

it fell off the racks. OOOPPS! that was a moment after a lot of little dramas, mistakes and problems where i really started to doubt if this gonna be finished someday anyways.

got a heat gun (thank again sways!!!) and tried to get the foam back up again which worked quite well, there was only a little crack left. i sanded the area to blend it in with the rest of the board but once again was a little too fast and furious and took a little bit too much off. so that now the other side of the tail rail is a little narrower. HA! but what the heck.

its my first board, i learned A LOT! will watch out for a lotta stuff the next time. and im satisfied with how it turned out anyways.

here are the pics:

enjoy!

on the way to the shapping bay! wintertime, like -5 degrees celcius.

the shed

swallow tail in the making

then IT happened!

after the heatgun treatment

finish sanded

well thats it!

next one will be a 7`4 single glider kind of thing.

thanks for everything sways.

take care everyone!

trimchris

8

i think it looks a lot better than what you’re making it out to be!

what’s the heatgun solution? i’ve never heard of it. i did a similar thing except i totally gouged one of my rails with the planer. i haven’t really tried to figure out how to deal with it yet. maybe this is the solution…

9

hey JDM!

when you have a dent in the foam you can carefully go at it with a heat gun 1"-2" away from the blank, most of the time the foam pops back up again. but be carefull not to burn or melt the foam!

type “heat gun” in the search bar, thats what i did and theres tons of threads that will help you solve the problem. for sure.

good luck,

trimchris

10

that seems simple enough!

thanks!

11

trimchris,

That board is looking nice. You can spackle those mishaps. Your solution came out good, though. Are you going to bevel the butt crack? Makes it easier to foil the tail. Mike