Building a Flex Spoon Velo Edgeboard

loftusm · January 1, 2012, 11:41am

This is my first post and I want to say a special thanks to guys like MOW and Surferguy and all the others who have taken the time to share their knowledge and experience with the rest of us.

I was surfing kneeboards in the early 70’s and am just getting back into it.

I have finished making 6 solid core kneeboards and you guys have been inspired me to make my first spoon.

This spoon is 5’3" x 22". Tail is 18 3/4" @ 12" and nose is 19" @ 12".

6 layers of 4oz glass on bottom and deck with an additional 2 kneepad layers on the deck.

Will let you know if it breaks.

I call it a flex spoon velo edgeboard but it is a bit of a hybrid. This wasn’t intentional, I just got carried away with some concepts from both. The next one will be a velo.

This is the first photo of my first flex spoon, velo edgeboard. Not
finished yet. Still need to put the fin on and finish the bottom.

The blank arrived, as promised, before Christmas, Thanks to Matt from Dion.

The blank is 6’7" x 25" x 2 1/2".

I got too anxious and took off too much of the tail so I glued on additional pieces and reshaped them. All part of the learning curve.

The first 6 layers of 4oz cloth have now been applied.

Cut the deck from the tail to the nose along the rail line just to remove some excess foam.

I undercut the foam to separate it from the bottom layers of glass (6 x 4oz). after taking this photo I changed to a long, thin, serrated knife which worked much better.

Next time I will put a piece of aluminium foil between the bottom layers of glass and the foam, along the cut out shape, then I will only have to cut the outline shape on the top and it will fall out.

However, this way did reduce a lot of dust.

Now cutting down through the foam to meet the undercut and then pop them out.

Ye old carpenter’s chisel to pop out the blocks. Be careful not to put too much leverage on the chisel.

Not going too bad. Once all the foam is removed a disk sander will quickly remove the residue off the bottom layers of glass.

The top 6 layers of glass are now on and being supported by a flat board with nails put through the top.

This provides equal pressure to hold the tail section flat and doesn’t leave any marks. Used some logs waiting for my lathe. Still seasoning them.

Ready for a final sand. Getting excited now.

Applied some acrylic high fill primer to prepare the rails for painting. This will give me a perfect finish for the paint.

Using all acrylic paints. Could have used by mates panel shop and done it in 2 pack enamel, but that would have taken too long.

As usual, too impatient to wait.

Painted the deck white with the top of the rail silver and side rails white and clearcoated both. I will finish with a purple pinstripe on the white side of the rail.

Took me 3 goes to get the rail lines exactly the way I wanted. Next time I will spend more time getting it right the first time.

There is 4’'s of lift at the nose. Looks adequate. The bottom is still high fill primer. I will deal with that when I finish the fin.

Just about there. I will post details of how I have made the fin and then the final photos when finished.

thanks Guys. Look forward to your comments and feedback. Feel free to ask any questions. I’ll do my best to give you intelligent answers.

THE FINISHED RESULT.

I have cleaned up the photos to give you a clear view.

Surfifty · January 1, 2012, 3:55pm

Looks good. Thhis may be my next venture, keep posting.

loftusm · January 8, 2012, 3:30am

I would like to hear your comments and feedback on my concept for glassing a flexspoon edgeboard.

I am making it from a solid-core, stringerless blank (no mould).

I have attached 3 images below outlining the concept.

The proposal below is applied to both sides of the board, so in total there will be 10 layers of glas.

PROPOSED BOARD SIZE

I am 196lb

Boad: 6’1" x 20"

Nose lift of 3 1/2"

flat from tail to 34" towards the nose.

Primary objectives:

Reduce overall weight.
Increase strength with less glass by cross layering the layers.
Optimise flex potential by layering/staggering glass, especially in the tail area, developing an organic foiling of the board. This will reduce the need for sanding and hopefully end up close to the required result through just the glassing process.

IMAGE 1

IMAGE 2

IMAGE 3

Please fee free to provide any input and feedback as, I’m sure, this info will be helpful to others too.

tynemouthmatt · January 6, 2012, 4:05pm

Thanks for posting this…been thinking about spoons for a while, especially non moulded ones like this, looks great, might have to give it building one ago.

chrisp · January 6, 2012, 4:49pm

SO COOL! Thanks for posting!

Looks like it came out really clean, good job

Airboy808 · June 25, 2012, 11:29pm

Any updates on this? Very interested.

loftusm · June 27, 2012, 11:31am

Hi Mate

It’s all going really well. The board is functioning exactly as expected and as a spoon should, thanks to Albert Munoz who has beeing riding it, and still is.

I have also just finished making a composite version with carbon fibre, Kevlar/Innegra and normal fibreglass.

It is more edgeboard than the grey and white one

Simon Farrer is currently test riding this board and I am looking forward to the feedback.

Check out Simon’s site if you are looking for some great kneeboarding videos.

www.simonfarrer.com.au

.

If you want any more info, just let me know.

max

gdaddy · June 26, 2012, 3:34am

It seems like this kind of board could really benefit by the inclusion of some wood veneers in the lam to replace some of the fiberglass.

Surffoils · June 26, 2012, 8:20am

Now were back on track with a great thread.

Thanks for posting.

huie · June 26, 2012, 9:21am

chippy61 · June 26, 2012, 11:55am

GREAT THREAD , Max , I LOVE a surfboard build photo thread , step by step learning ...good on ya , mate !!

thanks so much , Max !

So , where have you been surfing the two spoons , Lofty ??

are you on the northern beaches ['dion' , is why I asked] ...

...have you surfed them at 'L.A'. ? Wedge ? Bower ? D.Y. point ?

I'm guessing , watching George surf his at ?"Sandspit [?] and lennox , that it benefits from a wave with a bit of juice , and shape / run to it ....

how much did it end up weighing , Max ? [....and your first ones' weight , too , please ?]

..... DID the second spoon end up much lighter / stronger , or not ?

any issues with the 'joint' where the foam rail['s glass] meets the hull's glass ? not delamming , or cracking ?

.... I ask , because I read that Greenough's early one[?s?] had issues [?the black railed one , from memory ?]

and

.... can you please tell us about the template and the layup of the fin ...

is it silver , too, like greenough sprayed his , in the epic film "crystal voyager" ?

I can't believe I missed this thread first time round ... so glad it resurfaced , cheers !

I'd love to see someone make a successful standup one , one day [?soon?] .....

chippy61 · June 26, 2012, 11:58am

" Looks good. This may be my next venture ...."

hi there , 'Surfifty'...

anything to report / show , please ?

cheers !

Monkstar1 · June 26, 2012, 3:35pm

How much does the carbon one weigh?

With that glassing schedule, when do you put on the fin? Is there also a hot coat and gloss coat on the bottom?

Surfifty · June 26, 2012, 7:31pm

Chippy,

It’s been a slow go with low motivation lately. I m still trying to finish my first HWS and hot rod before any new projects get started. I m sitting here now pondering when I’ll go into the shop to start shaping and wrenching. Soon I hope.

llilibel03 · June 27, 2012, 1:29am

So cool! A build thread! I have a friend who has always wanted to make one and could not find detailed information. This is great. Thanks. The board looks killer.The spirit of Sways is not dead.

chippy61 · June 27, 2012, 3:17am

Re: [loftusm] Building a Flex Spoon Velo Edgeboard

So cool! A build thread!

I have a friend who has always wanted to make one and could not find detailed information. This is great. Thanks. The board looks killer.

The spirit of Sways is not dead."

Llilibell ,

.....you , and lofty ,

and others who build things ,

take the time to photograph them , and SHARE your STOKE !

.... that is the TRUE SPIRIT of 'Swaylock's , RIGHT there !

GOOD ON YOU !! .... and , everyone else who actually makes boards and fins , and actually surfs , and actually makes the effort to take photos , and actually shares them here with others , to encourage them !

[In my books , at least ...] THAT is what actually makes swaylocks a great , and enjoyable place , that people will WANT to visit regularly.

....YAY !

the TRUE swaylocks will , hopefully , always SHINE through !

....As my present 'avitar' photo would seem to suggest ....

..... DON'T let the snarling dogs try to stop your fun / [creativity... = the main quality that attracted me to Swaylock's in the first place , back in the early "noughties" ! ]

cheers !

:)

Surffoils · June 27, 2012, 9:23am

Thats a great pic Ben, Ive got 2 JAck Russells and they are more 'dog per pound' than any other.

If it flies, lands, walks, crawls or slithers onto our property, the Jacks tear it apart like a Xmas popper.

On the plus side, we have less vagrants jumping our fences.

loftusm · June 27, 2012, 11:25am

Hi Mate

The carbon one weights 7lb and the full fibreglass one weights 13lb.

Feels fantastic.

I put the fin on last, just before I coated it with accrylic clear matt.

There is a final hot coat under the acrylic clear.

max

loftusm · January 21, 2013, 9:44am

Hi Ben

Sorry, no personal feedback, but I do have some very experienced guys riding them for me.

The grey one is 13lb and carbon composite one is 7lb.

The fin is fashioned off the tail fin of a tuna with a Max flavour, long and thin making it really flexible.

I'm hoping the carbon composite one won't break because I have put a layer on kevlar/Innegra on both sides to hopefully prevent that.

thanks for your comments ben.

max

chippy61 · June 27, 2012, 12:49pm

...is Simon riding them at Narrabeen , or at 'the point' , down the road a few beaches ?

cheers Max !