So the saga begins. A couple of months ago I was sitting around having a couple beers with some of my close friends. We were having this discussion about one friends torn rotator cuff- It causes him so much pain when he paddles, that he hardly hits the water anymore. Now personally, I hate to see a friend stuck on land- I’ve had it happen to me after a severe neck injury and it was hell. So I’m constantly poking and prodding this particular guy about what causes his pain- is it the paddling in prone- have you tried kneepaddling etc… always trying to think up a way to get him back in the water. Anyway, I suddenly had and idea! Kneeboarding… why not try kneeboarding? You can wear flippers and favor one arm… seemed to be a great idea to me… my buddies on the other hand- they thought I was kidding. My friend with the rotator cuff problem- he wouldn’t hear it. He even took offense to it. So on and on I kept at it trying to get him in the water… finally it boiled down to: “how come you don’t kneeboard if you think it’s so neat?” So I had enough- next time it didn’t look to great for surfing, I grabbed one of my kneeboards that I have (2 5’5" thrusters that I found by some ones trash… I usually use them as small wave standup boards… work insane) and paddled out- How hard can it be? First wave I paddled into- I pearled so bad, I kissed the reef. Wonderful… second wave- dorky little shoulder, my friends are beginning to wonder. Third wave. Drop in, grab rail, and proceed to get SLOTTED OUT OF MY MIND! Hooked. Once I got the take off figured out, and where to sit on my board, I was having a blast. Getting barrels on 3 foot waves- so far back that I never thought I was coming out. So, I started dabbling a little- started looking around on the internet, discovered that there is a surprising amount of info out there. Then I stumbled across this website: www.flexspoon.com …Being the compulsive human that I am- I had to make one. I figured that I would share it with you guys- because thats what Sways is all about! -Carl
I used Adobe illustrator to trace the template off of one of the boards that I found on www.flexspoon.com. Then because I can’t get my printer to print out large multi-page prints, (gotta fix that sometime) I put the tracing on a grid that matched some graph paper that I had- simply copied the line across on a one to one scale. I did the same with the rocker. You can see how it made a nice paper template. The spoon’s rocker is flat for the back 3 feet, so I only had to make a template for the first 2 feet. -Carl
I have a ton of 2lb EPS scraps all over the factory these days (Thanks Grubby) I figure that I would begin by gluing a few scraps together- and use that as a base to shape my mold plug from. You can see in the second picture how I combined both the template and the rocker template as one on the final wood template. Pretty cool. Just in case I decide to build another one down the road- I won’t have to wonder what the rocker was! -Carl
So some of you guys probably remember my little debate with Rich Harbour about rocker- as you can see- I’m pretty anal about it. Templates are your friend. -Carl
Heres the template cut out- plus if you look close you can see a couple guide lines for my main bands. I did a couple bands on the the deck also- to use as more guides for the main bands. Because this is only going to be a plug for a mold of the bottom of the board- I won’t be shaping the deck. The blocks of foam that you see glued to the deck are there to keep everything from flexing. -Carl
Because I have never seen one of these boards in person, all I have is some pictures and a few comments to go by. I was having problems visualizing what the board was supposed to look like exactly. So to make things simple, I decided to first shape the spoon and glass it. After that I added bondo (cheap auto body filler) to the spoon shape to develop the flat bottom and edge. -Carl
Bondo is nice to work with- it mixes easy, kicks off pretty quick and is pretty workable in 15 or so minutes. You can shape it with your surform and sanding blocks- I used my grinder and disk sander too- worked out nice. You can keep adding and subtracting it as you see fit. Pretty cool. You can’t do that with foam. -Carl
Well, here it is after a lot of sanding and about 1 gallon of bondo- most of it ended up on the floor. My shaping room is covered in a fine layer of bondo dust- major cleanup time. -Carl
Very Cool!
Spot putty time. I love this stuff- I’ve been using it for years, along with bondo… my pops used to bondo the sh*t out of his old cars when I was growing up. Guess I learned a few things! … thats it for tonight folks! -Carl
if you ain’t already done so, you gotta put a link to this on www.flexspoon.com
wow ,
different concept , Carl !
[pardon my ignorance , but … do you have to glass over the …er… “bondo” , too ?
doesn’t it just kinda "flake off " over time , if it just sits on TOP of the glass ?
cheers !
ben
Very cool , Carl I have the fin temps for Greenoughs Edge board. I had his camara board at my place for awhile before it was sold when he moved to Aus. Also 2 of my freinds have Velo replicas by Paul Gross. The edge boards were Carbonfiber, Gross and George did these together , vacumed baged. Too bad Gross got hounded off of Swaylocks he has ALL the info on this stuff .
Carl I think I have some pics of that board, template , and foil shots I will try and find them.
Very nice, man. Very nice indeed.
How smooth are you planning on getting it before using it as a plug? That is,to which stage; sanding, wet sand, polish?
Thanks
doc…
WOW , Flexspoon.com has tons of info!!
Cool project, Carl! Love the Bondo…and it looks like you prefer Elmer’s Ultimate for gluing up EPS, too? Do you find it pretty easy to shape through the glue lines, on a smaller, curvier project like this one?
Special fin for low tide kelp on the point?
Very cool! Carl, your going to love learning to ride it. Very different from your foam KB"s. Unique sensations. Lots of speed. Lot of tuning to do once you ride it. Sort of ongoing project…