How good is the stock blank shaped by Steve Boehne, have any of you pro’s out there got any advice on improving it, or is the stock one pretty good? At 6’6" and 230lbs, my 10’8" board doesn’t have the volume to ride tandem with my kids any more as they get bigger, hence the quest for more volume. I really want to make this glide easily, especially as I am wanting to use this on the Severn Bore which is a fresh water tidal wave up to 4 foot high, but very flat in places, so being able to maintain momentum is important.
Any ideas or thoughts appreciated. Have read most of the articles on tandems here, but it seems not many are made these days.
I’m no Pro but I have shaped a 12’8" behemoth. The blank is just huge! I made mine for Stand Up Paddle Surfing but it would be an awesome Tandem board. I made it 12’ x 27-12" x 5-1/8". I put V in the tail to help it turn. Momentum you say?? This board makes serious MOMENTUM! Stopping is the concern…Haha!!! If I were to charge someone to build this again I’d charge at least $1000.00 just because this is a major pain in the butt to build. I think I walked 4 miles shaping it… Hehe…
This photo doesn’t do it justice as to how big it is…
i am glad that this topic came up one of my friends is about to begin the journey on the 12’8 blank. he wants to make a serious nose rider out of it. and i think he has about the same dimensions in mind, but he wants it to be like 12’6
i told him that he will probably have to register it with hte state and get a boating permit for it.
i have to go pick up the blank this weekend and i am a little intimidated i got out the tape measure to see just how big it will be and its a lot of foam
i have to go pick up the blank this weekend and i am a little intimidated i got out the tape measure to see just how big it will be and its a lot of foam
I have shaped dozens of boards out of the 12’8". Among them all the lifeguard boards you see on the beachs of Oahu.
Steve did a good job designing the blank for its original intended purpose as a tandem blank. But the tandem focus didn’t allow the blank to be as versatile as it should have been for a blank of that size and the many possible uses that it might be needed for.
I get mine with my custom (private) rocker glued in. This “bottom” rocker is correct for my purposes, but when it is glued in it changes the “deck” curve substantially. And the thickness flow in the blank doesn’t handle this very well.
This is because the blank, as proportioned, is too thick in the tail and too thin in the nose. When using my private rocker, it is very hard to net a maximum thickness out of the blank and have the shape flow nicely into the nose. About 18" to 24" back from the nose it is so thin that I have to just barely trim the crust off the blank and it is still too thin. This leaves the foam flawed from the paper wrinkles and it will show up in the glassing .
The natural rocker doesn’t exhibit these traits in as severe of fashion because the bottom curve in the nose is flatter which pushes up the deck curve in the nose right where I find it to be too thin. Because you will likely be using the natural rocker, you may not see the same problems I do.
As others have mentioned these blanks are monsters and make monster boards. They are correct!
Man that is a lovely looking board! GREAT colour!!
I see what you mean by the picture not showing off the size properly, but size is relative… What level of V did you put in the back end, how many degrees, or did you just do it by eye, not measurement? Looking at the picture, did you put an extra layer of glass through the middle on the deck or not?
Steve from Infinity Surfboards advised me to cut the size back to 11’8" if the combined weight was going to be under 300lbs, however I am looking for it to carry up to 360lbs, the Mrs would kill me if she couldn’t ride with me, so it’s going to be somewhere near the 12’6" size to get the added volume!
Interesting Bill what you said about thinness on your custom rocker jobs, have you ever had a problem structurally with the board not being strong enough at that point, or are these things so thick once glassed that they tend not to break? As you say however I am looking at making a conventional tandem with the thickness in the tail and a decent amount of nose kick and rocker up front.
Man that is a lovely looking board! GREAT colour!! Thanks! I had the guys at The Factory LLC in Hawaii glass it for me. The board came out good after shaping I didn’t want to screw it up so I sent it to the pros…
I see what you mean by the picture not showing off the size properly, but size is relative… What level of V did you put in the back end, how many degrees, or did you just do it by eye, not measurement? It was an eyeball thing. With Stand Up Paddle Surfboards you don’t want a lot of V because it gets to tippy. It starts off about 18" forward the fin into around 1/2" at the tail.If I were to do a Tandem board I’d go check one out to see the bottom contours… Looking at the picture, did you put an extra layer of glass through the middle on the deck or not? I had it glassed 2x6oz bottom and 3x6oz top with no patches or strips. Its a freaking beast! Very strong though… The glasser is Carl Schapers brother Otis. Without a doubt one of the best I’ve seen. Everyone who sees this giant board marvels at the beauty of the glass job. Not an easy thing to do on such a huge board… Luckily when I shaped it everything came out nice and clean…Haha! Aloha
Oh my God, does it ever have the volume ! The stock rocker seems to be on the extreme side, the thickness alone, accounts for at least 6" on rocker from the bottom to dead flat. Then add more to the deck and you see what I mean. I ordered them with no sticks and custom rockered them for myself. With one half of the blank laying on stringer material, I could see the curve along the bottom and adjust it to something that looked more acceptible. There is no doubt that you can get a floaty enough board for you and your partner to tandem with from this blank
I recently had an intimate relationship with this blank when I had to shape a 12’ 6" gun and this was the only blank available that would net that length. I started by removing a 3" strip of foam down the length of the board in the middle.
Then I had Clark foam glue a gun rocker into the blank with a t-band stringer. As Bill Barnfield mentioned this blank did not much like being bent into anything other than its natural rocker.
So it basically resulted in having to first shape the blank into a blank before the board could be shaped, took a lot of work on the ends. I pruposely glued the rocker in such a way as to allow some of the thickness to be removed.
It was a lot of work but fun at the same time as the lines were amazing. Definitely worked up a sweat walking around that baby.
Sorry if this is a little off topic as this was not a tandem board, but it did use that blank. Could not have made it without the blank!
BTW, I just posted this board in the Resources section if anybody wants to take a look at it!
I had it glassed 2x6oz bottom and 3x6oz top with no patches or strips. Its a freaking beast! Very strong though…How much did this beast weigh when done??? I was thinking 2 and 2 x 6oz with another 6oz patch through the middle, like on some of the other boards pictured from the replies.
Another thing, on my 10’8", instead of having the fin box quite far back, 6" from the tail, I moved it well forward, must be 18" forward to the start of the box. On top of this, I really cranked the rocker from there back to the tail. This has had 2 effects, 1 with the fin in it’s furthest forward position(10" fin) this board behaves like a much shorter board, for it’s size it is really turns, but it is really skittish if it’s choppy. 2 with the fin in it’s fully back position, because of the increased rocker the board still turns well, I don’t have to stand on the tail to get the board to turn. The bottom is flat all the way through with 50/50 rails to start, coming to sharper rails for the rear 1/3rd. Now I’m thinking of replicating this on this new monster, instead of putting in the V tail…what do you think…unconventional…??
How much did this beast weigh when done??? I was thinking 2 and 2 x 6oz with another 6oz patch through the middle, like on some of the other boards pictured from the replies. I never weighed it but can I say its to freaking heavy! Too heavy. I wanted it to withstand the constant heel/toe pressure while standing and the constant banging of the canoe paddle on the rails.
Uncle D, have you got any more photo’s of this board, it looks really good, but the image is quite small, so can’t see it to well. Looks like you have a deck patch on it too.
I will be cutting some 13 ft blanks for Steve in the next week or so to his rocker template. The plan is to have me do the epoxy glassing after its shaped.
If you want a large blank, I will make anything up to 37" wide by 18 ft long! Just provide a template, and it can be done in anything from 1 lb to 3 lb density EPS foam. Your choice!
Let me attach a few more pictures. The tandem was the second board I glass after a 25+ year lay off from surfboard construction. Since the beginning a glassed about eight boards in addition to 2 giant fish boards we are currently working on now. I am hooked again. Anyway, let’s see how these pictures turn out.
Great pictures, looks really good. Like the tail block, not too mention that fin… how big is that? Is the whole board glassed with Volan or just the deck patch?
Did well over a mile up the Severn today surfing the bore…what an amazing feat of nature it is!!
It’s all Volan 6 oz. with 4oz. S-glass and the fin is the 10" Super Tanker by Island Fin Design. http://www.islandfindesign.com/
Like I said earlier, it took almost four gallons of resign. The bottom is glassed with Volan 6 oz. with 4oz. S-glass and the top is Volan 6 oz. with 4oz. S-glass plus the Volan six oz. deck patch.
Just thought I’d bring this up again since I decided to wrestle the behemoth 12-8 blank again! Haha!
This one is an 11’ x 25" x 5" with 16"N and a 15"T. I’ll be using it for my ongoing Canoe Paddle/Stand Up Paddle/Kayak Paddle surf sessions up and down the North Shore.
I took this 11’ from the nose back so the tail was 4" thick. I figured it would take forever to plane that sucker down so I cut this chunk off and could shape my tail rocker from there… That’s 2" thick in the cut off piece… This blank is ENORMOUS!!! Haha!
Tail to nose view… I tried to make this thing so it’ll fly on bigger walled up waves… Well, as much as a freaking 11’, 5 inch thick beast that still has the width to stand and paddle will allow me to go… Hehe… This is an ongoing progression into the unknown and newly explored realm of Canoe paddle surfing that we are doing here in Hawaii…
Nose to Tail view… I’ll post a couple more shots of the thing after I glass it today…
I can’t say enough about the sheer satisfaction to go out and build your own surfboard at will when and how you want. Again, thanks to Swaylocks and all you guys putting out great tips and advice!!! You guys make this whole experience so much more enjoyable… Aloha…
Very nice. I like the fact that it has volume but the tail and nose is pulled in. I was thinking about making a 12’ with the left over 1 lb. EPS and epoxy that I have from my fishing board. How much do you charge for shaping a 12’? Where do they sell those long paddles? That looks like something that I could play with.
This looks fantastic, seen the other pictures you have posted. What rocker figures have you used here, I know it is for a paddle board, but am really interested to see how they compare to my 10’8".
I like the 3 fin setup you have used. What toe in did you allow for? See I am in a bit of a dilemma at the minute as my tandem is going to be multi tasking!! It has to be able to handle surf at sea, I want it to handle similar to my 10’8" (which is single 10" fin, but with the fin box set fairly well forward compared to what is considered normal) when in tandem mode. However, when it comes to bore surfing, sometimes the water is only 10 to 15" deep on some of the sandbars, so a huge 10" fin is no good… So the dilemma is which setup to go for, a twin fin with two 10.5 boxes( running 7- 10" fins), or a 3 fin setup with a 10.5 box in the centre and 2 6.5 or 8" boxes on the side…? Any ideas???
