My first shape came out decent enough and even though I enjoyed riding it the volume was a little more than I like so I let my bigger friend ride it and he had a great session and ended up buying it from me. One board and I’m already a professional!
I’ve been too busy these past months. Busy and broke but the friend who bought my first board wants me to shape him another and he bought two blanks, one for me and one for him. I’m really excited to shape again. The blanks are US blank Red’s, a 6’6"EA and a 6’7"P. Last time I used RR epoxy and S-glass and it worked well so I think this time I’ll do the same but maybe cheap out a little and do e-glass on the decks.
I’ve never ridden a quad and neither has my friend so I was thinking I’d do the 5-fin convertible deal for people with commitment issues. I’ve also never had a swallow tail board so mine will be a narrowish swallow and I think he wants a squash.
I want to shorten the blanks up to 6’3" and 6’4" but I’m unsure if I should cut off the tail, nose, some of each or if it’s a bad idea to cut much off at all. I got some masonite and made a template off an old magic 6’2" thruster that I outgrew. For my board, which I will be shaping first, I was thinking I’d use the fronf half of the template up to the wide point, which is 1.5" forward of center and then for the tail I would bump it a little wider to give myself a little straiter rail line more befitting(?) a quad. I don’t know much about quads or 5-fin convertibles and most of the quads I’ve seen are more small wave shapes than what I’m looking to build. I know that some people do make quads for big waves and I’d like these boards to be able to handle some good Oregon fall surf since it might take me all summer to finish them. I welcome any input whatsoever.