Couple of quick replies-
Rich H.- I would have to say yes, Clark made amazing blanks compared to their competition. I’ll bet you are measuring the sh*t out of your rocker these days. 
Thank you guys for the comments!
-Carl
Well guys, I’ve got a long update for you- Lots of news, and lots of pictures!
First of all, a good friend of mine, Delaney Parker, decided to swing by the factory on Saturday with his camera! So the first couple of posts will be some of his pictures. They are of myself putting the first few layers of glass down into the mold with RR epoxy. Nothing special, but I thought you guys would enjoy a few action shots, a little different than the usual “this is the board sitting in my shaping racks” pictures that I usually post.
-Carl
Ok, heres 3 more pictures by Delaney. He’s a great guy, with a very busy schedule. I’m really stoked he came by. Thanks man! So, for the first lamination, I put down 5 layers of 4 oz. I only laminated 2 layers at a time, to try and keep air bubbles to a minimum. It was a little sticky having to put down layers of cloth down on top of wet cloth, but it managed to turn out good. I’m glad I choose to use the 'poxy for the lamination, It allowed me to chill out and take things slow- It was nice not having to stress about the resin gelling on me. It allowed me to think every move through clearly, an I needed it, because at this point of the board construction, I’m pretty much just making it up as I go. I have been using www.flexspoon.com as my main reference point. -Carl
This next few pictures is of the shell popped out of the mold. I added an additional 5 layers of 6oz staggered from the nose back. I staggered it a bit to much, but it’s nothing serious. I’ll be adding a bunch more glass where ever I need it later. The shell popped out of the mold pretty easy, and just looked really cool! I am really stoked to have tangible that I hold in my hands finally! The board isn’t just in my imagination anymore. -Carl
Pour foam time. I built a nice little cardboard dam around what I wanted the inside perimeter of the foam to be. From my experience though, I knew that polyurethane pour foam goes off really fast (like 1 minute or so) and sticks to pretty much everything like crazy. Messing around with this stuff is what eventually led me to discover polyurethane foaming glue! So you can see in one of these pictures how I attached a layer of polyethylene plastic to the inside of the cardboard to act as a barrier. Worked out great. The pour foam (8#) ended up hard as a rock! You can see that I have my work cut out for me in the last pic. Time for the planer and a little 5000 RPM grinder action! -Carl
Here a few pictures I took after I ground away a bunch of the extra foam. That pour foam is some HARD stuff. It was hard work even with the hand grinder! This is as far as I’ve gotten, hopefully this week I’ll finish the shaping and move on to making the fin and glassing the deck! Enjoy, and feel free to ask any questions! -Carl
Looks great…looks long. Is it long for a spoon? I really don’t know, but it looks longer than others I’ve seen.
Are you planning to knee it or paipo it? Both? Some interesting comments on fins & placement in Paul’s recent ‘fin this board’ thread…
The best part is, I can tell how much fun you’re having
Wow- freakin’ amazing!!!
What a great project Carl! Really looks good. Keep it goin.
Poe Rava
You’re killing me with these five-day pauses.
You mentioned staggering the hull lams. Don’t do it on the deck. I did on my second board (epoxy) and found out the hard way you need that strength compression-side all the way to the nose. You don’t want it buckling the first time you pearl hard. I ended up reinforcing the rails nose to 3/4 back with 6 oz carbon.
Also, I was reminded by an SC kneelo whose very good father has been feeding him this thread that there is a spoon in your area for comparison. PM me if you’re interested.
I am LOVING this !
SO glad you took photos of the whole process …thanks heaps ! [this deserves to be in the ‘resources’ section , alongside vac bagging and Bert’s great fin making thread.
Will you photograph the fimn making and foiling stages too ? I hope so !
I hope also that your photographer friend gets some shots of you surfing it , when it’s all done !
GREAT stuff !
cheers ,
ben
[almost makes me want to try a standup version ! …if only we had the waves for it !]
thinking of building one chip???..maybe stand up on it???..it be hard but a unique experience im sure unless keith malloy has stood on his Velo…
yeah , it will probably be only ever a thought , THAT one !
keith malloy has a spoon ??!!
unreal !!
where does he ride it ?
[and… kneeling ?] THAT would be interesting …
cheers !
ben
ive seen him holding it in two different surfer mags…one being the jack johnson/chris malloy guest-editor issue and one in the article on keiths quiver…he says it needs really good waves but flys…so he has rode it…doesnt say where…i believe it to be one of the replicas Blast hawaii put out…Red/clear with probably 5" of rocker… i posted on flexspoon.com that to ride standup a longish-board flexspoon should be built…that way you could have enough foam to paddle without fins…otherwise you could use what standup bodyboarder do…kicks fins or other shortish blade fins…it be a site to see…well i just got my blanks yesterday…and i was thinking of kobetich-style 5’10 mellow-velo or an edgeboard of similar dimensions… the other will be a lis style fish…ill post pics and stuff
The Malloys have a Paul Gross spoon like the one on Blast. They ride it!
Keith was out at Rincon yesterday in 52¢ªwater, no wetsuit, riding a longboard like a hood ornament. I think they could make a movie on those guys (insert Bonanza theme music) ala John Wayne, amazing group!
Carl - unreal work!!
logjam next month??
i beleive that paul gross was the one making the velo-replicas on blast hawaii…
Epac,
What time were you at Rincon? My wife and I were there between 2:00 and 3:30PM. Didn’t see any of the Malloys but there were two diehards in spring suits. Both young and apparently didn’t know any better.
nat young made a stand up flexspoon. they don’t work end of story, i think mainly to much flex to control between you feet. not saying flex is bad, but the flex of a spoon is too much for standup
Flextails (even for standing use) work very well if made properly. See the thread, “Australian flextails”:
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=248768;search_string=australian%20flextails;#248768