This is my first balsa sando. Josh kindly lent me his shed and helped me out with some of the tricky bagging stuff, where you need two sets of hands, but it’s pretty much my own creation (Josh was kind of distracted - while we were working on this his wife went into labour) There’s nothing new here in terms of construction - followed much the same path as Dan B, Benny and Silly. It’s the first board that I’ve made that came out almost exactly as I’d designed it (the rails are a bit boxier than I’d planned) There was one stuff up - the 3.5 oz glass I bought turned out to be volan. I didn’t notice it till I did the rails and fin box patches. You can see the bluish patches and messy laps
I wanted to make a board that would paddle and catch a lot of waves in crowded conditions but still be fun to ride and be able to duck dive. So I went for an egg with a twinser set up. Dims are 6’8" x 20.25" x 1 7/8". Big fins are 12" up, toed to the nose. Small fins are toed straighter and over lap about 1.5 “. I designed the whole thing around the fins. I added a bunch of things that are designed to keep the tail in the water and improve hold. I used a Round pin with plenty of tail rocker and tucked edges back behind the fins. I also stopped the rail balsa about 3” up from the tail and used a curved strip of core cell instead of a tail block. The perimeter stringers are 16mm wide til about 20" up then they taper to 8mm wide. I was tying to promote a bit of flex and twist behind the fins - again to increase hold. I also foiled the board so the volume was a bit foreward to keep the thing surfing on the tail.
Anyway only had one surf on it so far at Broken head 2-3 foot clean but weak wind swell. Managed to snare a few waves in the crowded conditions and it feels pretty interesting. I’ve never riden anything bigger than a 6’7" mini gun and haven’t ridden a Twin since 1982, so it’s a totally different feel. Paddles fast and gets in early, didn’t have the drive I was expecting - I may have overdone the tail rocker or could have been the weak waves. It’s got a fairly heavy glass job - 3.5 oz + 5.5 oz deck, 3.5 oz bottom, 3.5 oz inside both skins. 2x 3.5 oz rail glass. Board weighs in at 3100 grams including fins, which isn’t featherwieght but still light enough to throw around. I could do these little sliding snaps that threw heaps of spray. Here’s more pics. Expecting solid 4’ beachies on Sunday so will report back again.
beautiful board. looks amazing for your first sando. yah the boxy rails are something that i really have to fight. it is a whole different mindset to plan for the top skin.
how does the concave deck feel under you chest when paddling?
really cool outline. i have thought about that same shape for a summer south shore board many times.
i still am not convinced of the sandos in mushy surf. all mine really go when it is pumping but not so hot when the wavess are soft, could have to do with the fact that they have all been pin tails…
Thanks for the feed back guys. Chip, Silly, Josh - the fins are the new Futures composite (50% glass?) They are as stiff as buggery. I’m not convinced that there is actually a lack of drive - waves were pretty weak - like 6 sec period. If it really does lack drive, the first thing I’ll try is stiffening the tail by adding more glass tape to the rails from the fins back, I’ll wack in a box if I’m still not happy. Silly - be great if you made one similar, be really interesting to hear how yours rode. I can give you the rocker/outline measurements if you like and you could scale it to suit.
jjp - I like the deck concave for paddling, very comfy.
jjp - I like the deck concave for paddling, very comfy.
If people used perimeter stringers in general, I think every board would have a concave deck. With a center stringer board it will weaken the board too much, but with perimeter stringers…it is a performance boost. Comfy for paddling, better grip for your feet too. And since the board strength is mostly a function of stringers and glass, the central thickness matters a lot less for strength for the perimeter stringers. Looks like a good one, lots of planning and forethought and good execution.
beautiful board. looks amazing for your first sando. yah the boxy rails are something that i really have to fight. it is a whole different mindset to plan for the top skin.
JJP
I agree with ALL of that. Especially the “beautiful board” part
Pinhead, you did fantastic work. I love the look & shape of the board. Looks like “C” style rail construction (from that other thread)? Any special, unseen bits & pieces of other woods, foams, or fabrics hidden under the balsa? Same thickness for each skin?
It might drive like mad with a center bonzer-type fin & all 4 others as small as the front pair…
The board is a fine piece of work. The outlne and over all configuration looks grand to me. My take on building boards is that every one is an experiment and along with living the dream during the process, it’s a huge learning experience.
Because I’m good friends with Wil Jobson (had dinner with him last night and just finished carbon/kevlar/glass/epoxy glass-ons for his own personal 6’2" bat tail) I am priviledged to have a better understanding of twinzer set-ups than most. Here are a few of observations may put you closer understanding what’s going on with you board. Tail rocker on twinzers is almost alway a little less than a board with three fins of the same size – some tail flex definitely adds to the board’s responsiveness and is an important part of twinzer performance. Fin placement is a critical issue. IMHO the fins on your board are too far forward, 10 inches would have been a better placement choice.
Keep experimenting with it but if you can’t get it to drive. you may have to add a center fin box so you can put a small stabilizer in the center a la Mark Richards. With the fin boxes placed where they are cutaway fins placed at the extreme back of the fin boxes that have a lot of tip drive would help things. It’s a beautiful board mate I hope you can get her dialed in.
Beautiful board, I have to concurr with jjp, the rails are the hardest thing to get right, planning before the deck goes on is so crucial, very easy to end up too boxy, too pinched etc…Its so unlike ‘conventional’ shaping because of all the pre planning, but it really gets the mind working .
With the fin boxes placed where they are cutaway fins placed at the extreme back of the fin boxes that have a lot of tip drive would help things
Thanks, that’s a good suggestion I might try that.
Regarding the fin placement - initially I was going to set the fins at about 10". I got some advice from Shwuz - cuase I was inspired by his twinser egg, that his were set at 12". (Shwuz in turn got his positions from Havaard) Then I found a thread from MrJ about a twinser egg he had built (compsand construction) - with a flat rocker and fins set at 10 3/4" he felt it was too stiff. So I went 12". Regarding the bat tail board - I think its a different concept - basically a fish type short board. INMHO an egg is a cousin of the longboard. The perimeter stringer also skews any comparisons but gives you a few oppurtunities too - like how would Wil’s boards feel with the fins tied to balsa rail stringers? I’d like to try a shortboard too, using the 10" fin placment. Like 6’ x 19" with a wide, thin tail and flat tail rocker but with a slightly rounded tail outline into a soft swallow.
Yes its a c-type rail. I was going to run a strip of carbon under the bottom skin, from the nose to about 10" in front of the fins to get a concave happening in turns - but I misplaced it when I was ready to do the bottom, so nothing fancy.
