I enjoy reading build-threads, so I´ll have a try and start one, too.
This will be board Nr. 11.
I wanted a board with a little “performance” combined with a classic and relaxed touch.
I´m a bad surfer and a lazy one. So “performance” means I want to duckdive it and want it to handle better waves from waisthigh to slightly overhead maybe.
I went for something eggish, quite short (for my skills and my weight, I´m 6ft4 and 230lbs), but with a sharper nose for the duckdiving.
It will end up around 6.5x21.3/4x3 or so.
It´s 2 lbs EPS, bottom will be 2x5oz both full laps + a finpatch for the US Box, deck will be 1x5oz deckinlay + 2x5 oz with full laps.
As always I start with looking for boards that fit my aims and start drawing and comparing outlines.
Rocker will be a tad more than 4.5inch in the nose and nearly 2 inch in the tail.
The tail has a good amount of area, the nose is fishy but slim enough to swing nicely and pierce the water easily when duckdiving.
I make 2 templates from 3mm masonite for the foil and hotwire the foil from a block of EPS.
Than I make a template for the outline and hotwire the outline.
Roughing in the deck and bottom surface with 60grit paper in a wood by hand.
I do it by hand and eye, final checking is with a digital bevelbox on severa spots spread over the length.
Usually when my eyes tell me bottom and deck are parallel, the bevelbox is within ± 0.1 degree.
Close enough for my surfing skills.
After sanding the outline rectangular, I shape the bottom.
This one gets a little single concave under the frontfoot (flatting out the rocker, giving some “gaspedal” hopefully) and a little segment of a Vee sitting in some kind of channels.
I thought this coul work with the single fin alone as well as with a quad setup and should give some good hold and release at the same time. Maybe… who nows. It´s just fooling around with some bottomshapes and test how it works out.
Than I start cutting the railbands.
I´ve read how Bert Burger does it and after I´ve tried it his way, I prefer it over other ways.
I start from the bottom and do the deck after that.
I don´t take no measurements any more. The first3 boards I stayed close to the greenlight railband sketches. But skipped that after board 3.
I figure out how high/low I want the apex to flow and how big of a radius I want and translate this into railsbands coming from the bottom up to the deck.
This is easier and more natural to me than taking numbers and drawing lines and try to connect them.
After rough cuts with my cheapo planer it looks like this.
Smoothing it out with 80 grit and it looks like this.
Single concave under the frontfoot. 1/5inch roundabout.
Tail
Next step is routing the FCS Fusion and the singlefin box.
I reinforce the box with wooden stripes and put everything under 2x5oz + 1x5oz (patch) glas lateron.
I know, most of you warn people from setting it into the foam before glassing, because it is looking for trouble.
But it seems to work for me. I´ve done it 4 times this way and every fin is straight in the finished board (I always check).
Tail with fin-layout and outline/shape:
I´ve made an sword from an alloy bar with a slightly tapered pressfit on my lathe. It fits the finbox very snug. I use it to align the box and for checking in the end.
Today I spackled the bottom.
I use “presto onetime”, thinned with destilled water it´s like shaving foam. I think this is the closest thing to DAP faf we can get here in germany.
I only do a very thin coat and scrape it of tight with a hard squeegee. It barely covers the bead-holes and needs just very minimal sanding.
Bonding eps/glass is very good. (did test with several spackles). The epoxy soaks quite deep into the eps.
But even this thin coat improves the look of tints very much compared to not spackling.
Best compromise between looks and “no delam mumbo jumbo” (copyright Resinhead I think) for me when I do it this thin.
The left side is spackled, the channel is still unspackled for comparison.
Bottom done with spackling:
When the deck is spackled, it will be ready for glassing.
Don´t know when I´ll glass it.
Got a broken collar bone on the right and am a little handicapped at the moment.
Not much, I´m gettin better at shaping and sanding with left, spackling went okay with left as well. But it´s not as natural as with my right arm/hand.
I´m not sure if glassing will be okay. I´ll see and will keep you updated.
If you see something “doubtful” in the pictures or if I do some procedures in the wrong way or combine bottom contours/finlayout/tailoutlines in a disastrous and stupid way, please comment and don´t hesitate to criticize.
Michael
