I keep second guessing the width.
This board will be wider at 21 1/2" than any shortboard I’ve ever owned.
While I was cleaning up, I kept looking at the blank…
One minute I’d think to myself, “oh man, that’s gonna go!”.
Another minute I’d think “it’s too wide”…
I’m just gonna leave it and see how it goes.
The goal was for a mushbuster so, I think the width will be fine.
We’ll see.
Extra width is good stuff.
Chrisp,
Loving everything from your ballzy approch, glue up
outline and rough in.
Then.
The shot of your tail
All kinda flags went up
Hummm?
This pix told me the story…
Low rocker, flat and tucked edge.
Thang otta go like a raped ape!
As to the width…
In MHO it should offset the pulled in nose
Sonny,
what You got there, is taking the mush buster
to a very cool level.
More!
Wow Chris, really nice build. Super clean glue lines, flawless execution 
Got to say, I have a 6’2 of a similar shape, about the same width too. Really fun in mushy, small waves, paddles like a dream. Only thing I would change is the super thick rails on it. Otherwise fun.
That’s looking killer!
…so are you uh…planning on using that blank off the fence for anything?
Thanks for the kind words guys…
Saltyjon, it’s yours!
Shoot me a PM if you want to come grab it.
PM sent
It was good meeting you Jon!
Hoping that blank works out for you.
It’s great to meet another Swaylocker in the area.
Next step is glassing the deck. Short laps. Single 4oz.
I also took the precaution of doing a dry run in the bag… Last time I bagged, I had some issues pulling vacuum. I eventually got it to pull vacuum after adding some masking tape. Everything went well in the dry run today.
Next step was to prep my pencil. Regular carpenter’s pencil but, I sanded it flat on one side with a sanding block. After that, I rough cut the bamboo and layed it out on the board.
Great to meet you too, and thanks so much for the blank! Gotta say the board you have here looks even better in person, honored for the opportunity to see it first hand! Stoked to see it coming along
Next I needed to do the final cut on the bamboo. First I found a rough center on one side and marked it with pencil, then I followed that grain to the other end, and marked it there too. Next, I lined up the center marks in the bamboo with the center of the nose and tail. Now I weighted down the bamboo and made sure it was all smoothed out. Then I went along the rail with my flat sided pencil. I was using my left hand to hold the bamboo down and using my right hand to draw a pencil line along my rail’s tucked edge.
Now I prepped the bamboo to be bagged. I firs made sure the outline was cut smoothly. Then I layed out the bamboo and used some Super 77 spray adhesive to lightly “dust” the bamboo. Next I rolled out some 4 oz and got it as smooth as I could. Then I cut the glass about 1/4" around the outside of the bamboo. I got a couple wrinkles out in the middle but they should be alright. Lastly I got ready to bag by hanging pieces of tape around the board. It was about 90* F in my tent and I knew I would have to work quickly getting everything in the bag. Having the tape ready really helps.
Here’s everything taped up and in the bag. You need to make sure that your tape is pulled tight so that it doesn’t get sucked in between the bamboo and the blank. Also, as your bag is sucking down, you might want to pause the pump and pull out on the bag to make sure that it doesn’t get sucked in between there too.
While the board was in the bag, I prepped the GearBoxes for the bamboo covers. You have to sand down the white plastic covers by the thickness of the bamboo veneer. That way when you glue the veneer to the white plastic covers and install everything, the bamboo is flush with the edge of the boxes. Robin explained it to me via email but, I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes. It really helps me to see something first. Anyway, it took some noodling and going back over his instructions a few times but I think I got it figured out. At any rate, the covers are sanded down and the bamboo fits flush in there.
And, here is the board out of the bag. I got a little happy with the resin and had some bleed throughs/arounds. The resin collects where the bag had a crease and you get these little ridges. 100 grit on the medium pad makes short work of those. Also, and I am really not stoked about this, I neglected to line up my center marks when I was taping up the whole thing for the bag. AAARRRGGGHHH! Why bother to make center marks if I’m not going to follow them??? Oh well, like Lavarat said to me “some of us just need wider pinlines”. Hahaha… I probably wouldn’t be able to recognize it as my board if it was perfect anyways. Oh well I’m sure it won’t effect the ride.
So, after that, I cleaned everything up with 100 grit on the sanding pad. Only took 5 minutes. I also addressed the edge of the bamboo on the one side that was a little too close to the rail. Mainly in the nose. Should be no problem.
So good, I love the gearboxes. I have the kit, be sure the router jig has the arrows pointing to the rail… dont get distracted between your 3rd and 4th fin route… (not that i would have done that…)
I had an issue with my last effort at vac bagging but I used foaming poly urethane glue and not epoxy. It was a 1mm thick jarra veneer and it kinda got bulges in it as the foam expanded. Needless to say that blank that needs the veneer all removed and a re baggin is on the to do list.
The big question i really would like to know is what is the spray adhesive you used to glue down the cloth to the veneer before you bagged it I have some spray adhesive in the shed but… Is there a certain sort that does not react with the epoxy? I just dont think I can handle another abject failure with that project.
http://www.grainsurf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6103&start=40 This is the build thread for the one im talking about. You may have like to have a look…
Either way ill be waching this one closely, LOVE YOUR WORK!!!
Right on Sk8ment, I’m a fan of your work too.
Bummer on your veneer…
I use Super 77 Spray adhesive by 3M.
You can find it at most harware and home goods stores.
Just a light dusting will do. It may not even be necessary but I like using it.
EDIT: I also use that on my powerpad to stick the sandpaper to it… I used to think that you had to have Tack-E or Stick-E. Not so! Super 77 works just as good as those AND is really cleaner. It’s way better.
