Build Thread #1

Hey guys,

I’ve been a long time reader/admirer of this site yet haven’t contributed a
whole lot to it yet.  After having the itch for several years to build a
board I finally got my hands on a blank and the necessary tools.  In the
past I did mess around with shaping by making one of those H.D. pink foam boards.
(never glassed just shaped) so I guess this would be board # 1.5.  I’ve
also been making a ton of handplanes(guns) since the summer.  

So heres how the story goes.  In the attempt to give shaping a chance
as well as to save a buck or two on buying a blank, I keep my eye open for a
broken longboard or some sort of discarded larger board that I could
reshape.  This past summer I wound up picking up this p.o.s. longboard
from work that already had the nose chopped off and reglassed.  Since it
was a complete disaster and I like to be challenged I decided this would be the
best choice.  

pos longboard

So my eye caught the attention of …Lost’s “the plank” model; I
really liked the idea of having a small wave, beef machine as an alternative to
a LB on a small day.  I also already have a real nice 5’6” twin keel that
gets plenty of summertime rotation, so I wanted to make another alternative to
that.   Keeping that in mind as well as
the interest in a quad, I decided on making my board 5’4” x 20” x 2 ¼.”  BTW I’m 5’10//11” 145lb.

Looking good.  I’m working on my second old-beat-up-longboard reshaping project.  The first is a 4" 10" MiniSimmons and the current one is 5" 2" .  Definitely less expensive than a new blank, but I think more work!  Looks like you’l have some spots to fill in on the deck.  I have some too, so I figure I’ll fill 'em just prior to glassing.

Then came the fun part….attempting to correct all of the flaws this blank
already had and transforming them so that they can successfully be applied to
my board.  Pain in the a$$ #2 flattening
the rocker.  Due to where I drew the
template the board had both nice nose and tail rocker.  Since it is a small wave board I wanted to
flatten and mellow out the rocker in the middle.  In the end I am happy with what came of it,
but it was a time killer and also made me pay close attention to bottom rail
line…making sure not to have any waves in it. 

After that fun was out of the way I planed the board to thickness, I added a
slight single concave to vee off the tail.

 I followed that by turning the rails
leaving them pretty full, roughly 1 ½…” For paddling and glide.  So heres a few shots I took after those
steps.  I still need to fine tune the
rails, nose, take down the stringer, go over the whole board with a screen, and
mark for the fins.

deck

bottom

rail

tail bottom

All in all its been a solid experience; my whole thought process during the
time has been consumed with this project while working on it or not.  There are flaws on the board but there is
only so much I can do (with the quirks of the blank I used and the need to get
it perfect) I’m not going to pull my hair on this one.  I know certain steps and situations would
have been completely avoidable if an appropriate blank was used but I enjoyed
the challenge and look forward to giving it ago again sometime soon.  Hopefully with a better blank and shaping
room situation. 

I’ll def post pics after its glassed as well as a ride report.

 

wbrame  most of the chunks blended as I planed to thickness.

Looks good, and I like the shape.

Thanks.  So far so good, considering the extra leg work because of the preexisting shape of the board.  Hopefully it goes well.

Boards been glassed, hopefully there will be waves soon to try it out in.  5’4 x 20 1/2 x 2 1/4 full.

 

 

If you can do that with an old beat up longboard, imagine how good you'll do with a fresh blank. Looks great!

 

I've been trying to find a snapped longboard for a mini simms, but do you think i can find one? no way!!

When I saw all the white stuff on the ground I was gonna say clean up your mess.

Then I realized that's snow.

HAHA... nice job!

Thanks guys, its been a bit snowy in my area this winter so dont mind all the white stuff.  I figured I’d try it out of this board rather than wasting a fresh blank, however, by doing so it brought its own set of problems.  But the experience definitely helped and has increased my confidence once I go at number 2 (using a traditional blank).

 

beerfan  I was looking for a while myself and came across this old board down at the beach I work at in the summer; which was never ridden because my boss attempted to cut the nose off, reshaped, and glassed for his son a number of years ago.  Its definitely way easier to buy a blank and not have to deal with all the imperfections of an old shaped board.

 

Nice job!  Looks like it’ll be a small wave fun-machine.  I just finished my reshape project as well.  It’s amazing how you can get the nastiest piece of foam to look pretty decent when it’s all sanded down.  I had a couple spots to fill and a soft spot to beef up when I glassed it.  Other than that, it turned out the way I hoped. We took it out today and the friend I shaped it for was pretty stoked.  Check it out.

 

 

[img_assist|nid=1057195|title=5' 2" Hippo del Fuego|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=427|height=640]

Dudeman...great name...board looks cool...

Wbrame....I'm here...in The Valley of Discovery.....right by Discovery school.....I like your color work......

Care to comment on the color job?

Ray

Thanks guys,  I’m pretty excited to try it out, but we’ve had a terrible winter for waves.  Hopefully March will turn things around.  I’m looking forward to the next build.

 

wbrame  Looks good.  Let us know how it goes.

Stingray,

Thanks! I know the Discovery area well.  We take the kids over to the park every so often to bike or fish.  As for the color work, I just mixed up separate batches of red and yellow resin. I added just a little of red to the yellow.  I like how the two colors blended together like fire.  Since the board has some hips, I named it El Hipopotomo del Fuego. My plan was to hide some of the flaws in the foam so that’s where the the decision for the color placement came to be.  I thought I could clean my squeegee and put the clear resin on without getting the color on it, but I quickly found out that’s not as easy as I imagined.  I kinda wish I had just done the whole board in the swirl.  Next time, I’d like to do an hourglass/resin swirl design by taping around the area to receive color then laminating the first layer of cloth and trimming like a cut lap.

 

So I got the chance to take out the board for its maiden voyage
yesterday afternoon in some clean but small waves.  (knee-waist, a
little weak and fat from the tide)  Heres my break down.

Pros:
· The low rocker, wide outline, and thickness through the rails allowed it to paddle fairly easy into meager knee high waves.
·
On the small gutless ones, it cruised over the flat spots with very
minor pumping and could also be choked up toward the nose to plane
through as well. 

As the tide dropped a bit it was easier to see
what the board had to offer.  As long as I had my back foot over the
sweet spot, it was very responsive.

· It picked up speed rather quickly and turned on a dime.
·
I Was able to wrap a few cutbacks given the situation.  The fins/board
type allowed me to gain the speed necessary and maintain it throughout
the turn.

Con:

· Due to the low nose rocker - late
takeoffs, off the lips or any close to vertical reentries can cause the
nose to dive.  Changes in weight distribution can be compensated to
increase the rate of survival.

Overall I was quite pleased that
it did more than float and paddle…it probably will paddle better as
well when I can shed the 5/4.  Although there are limitations with the
board, it was designed as a LB alternative/grovler so in those types of
waves there is usually little vertical off the lips or things like
that.  One of the main reasons I like boards like this and keel fishes
is the quickness, overall speed, and ability to wrap cutbacks, floaters,
and milk waves in small conditions. 

Now that it I know it works, I’m definitely eager to start the next one.