Saw this Da Cat on e-bay and asked myslef if would I take it out (if I owned it). I’m pretty sure that I’d take it out for a ride.
What about you others?
sure, why not? The thing came with a fin, not a wire picture hanger and a frame.
For that much money it should come with all three.
Youch…pretty high.Only thing is the guy selling it is full of it.I bet my bottom dollar Greg Noll didn’t shape it (it was probably Wayne Land or one of the other shapers in the stable)and as far as being shaped for Dora I say BS also.Whats it doing in Jersey?Word has it that Dora never even rode one unless it was a gimmick promo deal.THey shipped tons of these logs out to the East Coast.Ridden mainly by Kooks that got sucked in by a great ad campaign.Oh well…I love ebay.
I didn’t say I would BUY the thing. But I would ride it if I owned it. Who cares what some bozo thinks it’s worth?
I would ride the Da Cat on some clean special days and hang it with my figure 8 in the living room until I was ready to sell it for my kids college education. Noll shipped quite a few to the East coast, I heard about 2000 Da Cats’ s/b on this side. His sales represented his product pretty thoroughly and this was one of his east coasts best sellers. This board could have been ridden by Dora during a presentation but highly doubt it , the year is right around 67 on the board and a few East coast surf shops had teams that rode them. I have a friend who has hoarded 5 Da cats and will see what he has to say about the ride. I understand through the surf mags that they aren’t the best riders and Dora definatly preferred other models. Anyway E bay rocks and this will sell for over $4,000 it is in very nice condition but it won’t be me buying it that’s for sure. I say whatever you own…ride it and enjoy! That’s why they were made in the first place.
OK I’m sure I’m going to get flak over this but if I did in fact buy this board I would NOT surf it. Why? Because this extremely clean example (if it is in fact real) is worth so much money that I would not risk damaging it and ruining the investment. And it is an investment at the price it will probably bring. If I had that kind of money to burn, I’d simply get a reputable shaper to copy the shape and ride the new one. The agonizing part of it is that if I was crazy enough to buy this board I could drive over and pick it up in person in about 1/2 hour.
As for the comment about Da Cats being in NJ, is reputed that the East Coast was the prime market for these boards. I will refrain from comment here on why this would be, as I think it has been covered elsewhere.
I do know that there were plenty of Da Cats at the auction that was held a few years ago in NJ, and Greg was there himself. Of course, the originality of most of the baords sold there was in question, and for good reason. But the big collectors dropped a lot of $$ snapping them up anyway. After seeing the feeding frenzy for those boards, I would never surf one if I had it, because I could probably sell it eventually and buy about 40 new boards to surf.
I apologize if my post sounded negative…I try to be positive around here.It was missworded.New Jersey is a great place,I wasn’t besmirching(I just learned that word)it in any way.When I said Kooks I just meant that the boards really didn’t ride that well and sold mainly to beginners who read the Magazines.Down in Florida people on Cats got hooted at for some reason.From a Technical point of view the Cats were pretty low quality with ragged tape lines,bubbles,blanks with blowholes etc.They were pumping them out like wildfire.They looked poor next to a Hobie,Surfboards Hawaii. Harbour etc.Then again it’s just my own twisted opinion.It tried to sell my opinion on ebay and it brought zero bids.
M.Manzi…where do you live? I live 3-5 mins from lenny’s shop,I don’t know why someone chose to display it there.Lenny is kooky(nice guy…) his shop ad says ,and I quote…" drop in to lenny’s before lenny drops in on you" pretty kooky huh? But he is a decent guy really. I ride surfboards …so if I had it,I would surely ride it . I am guessing you live in Tampa…or down south?? Anyway,cool to know of someone else who is also a “swayaholic” and lives close…peace and waves…
“Ride em, Don’t Hide em”. They were made to be ridden. Under the right conditions, with the right crowd and waves it would be a shame to just let it or any other “classic” just hang on the wall. I’ve been trying to find some old stuff to do just that and haven’t been very successful. Im willing to part with a Skill 100 for the right board. If anyone in NJ has anything interesting, let me know.
There are some people with very odd ideas of what boards are worth…
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22710&item=3676509826&rd=1 for instance. No bids, no surprise there, five grand and that’s not even up to the reserve price. Besides being reglassed and a huge redone chunk in the nose and what looks to me like some pretty good rot starting in the tail…
Nah…only old boards I own are ones that were new ( and cheap ) when I bought 'em…
doc…
I ride, or have ridden at some point in time, all the old boards I have. Closest thing I have to mint is a 67 Hansen Master in what I guess would called 9 condition…I don’t ride it every day, but it’s in the water often enough, more so in the summer. I rode this board in the Manasquan Classic the year Noll, Carroll, August, etc, were there mentioned above…$75 bucks unridden since 68 or so.
I’m actually more concerned with damaging the fins than the boards. A “major” collector friend lent me a Con CC Rider Lightweight (or is is Superlight?) pintail…he said to ride it, no problem, which I have, but the fin is degraded from the sun and I’m worried about snapping it. If it were my board, I’d probably just keep riding it, but I’m thinking of getting a replacement from One World Juan.
Hey, dubstar, something similar to this?? http://www.sdsc.edu/surf/images/surfpi3.aol.com.jpg
The old long WAVE Set-box which has long been extinct, though you can use original windsurfer fins in the short version.
There’s two other ways to tackle that problem without changing the box to something more modern. If you can find a Variable WAVE Set insert of the type that went in that box ( arguably the worst fin system ever*, they’d break off in a weak bottom turn. ) those can be modified ( a tricky little job ) to accept a more modern Fins Unlimited fin. I haven’t made one, but I’ve seen a couple and they seemed pretty good.
*don’t make flanges out of 3/32" Lexan and expect them to stay together.
Alternative 2 is making a fin that’ll work - the base itself is quite uncomplicated, so that’s not an issue.
The High Density PolyEthylene ( HDPE) that they use for industrial cutting boards and some jigs works very well for that, and I have made fins for that system using it. However, like polystyrene foam, it’ll melt and refreeze behind you if you use high speed cutting tools like a router. I found that a small sander-grinder with the coarsest disc I could find for it ( an open-coat 24 grit is good) with minimal pressure was the tool of choice. Follow that with finer and finer grits of paper ( and slower speeds) down to maybe 200-300 grit and call it good. Makes a better fin than the original, one of the ones I made was surfed a foot into the rail of a lifeguard paddleboard. Thick HDPE isn’t the easiest thing in the world to find - one source here - http://thecuttingboardfactory.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TCBF&Category_Code=3WSA …and it comes in colors. A piece big enough for 2 fins is $22 US - come to think of it, I oughtta get a couple of those myself. Fin-making for fun and profit.
A nice plywood with lots of thin veneers is another good option. If you go with that, make a bunch of them. Howcome? Well, not only will there be several people coming out of the woodwork who want 'em for their old boards ( I’d look to get $75 a pop for 'em, myself ) , well… look at it this way; it’s a small wave board with a long fin so it’ll be dragging in the sand some and when that wears through the glass you’ll want to replace it. I’d also make the base undersize ( so it’ll work after you put 3 layers of 6 oz cloth on it) and add a few layers of cloth on the top of the base where the screws bear to hold it down - the ply alone isn’t the best thing in the world that way, you’re forcing the veneers apart. Use round head screws rather than trying to get the countersink/counterbores right.
Hope that’s of use
doc…
First let me say that I was not miffed about someone questioning the # of Da Cats in NJ, no doubt Noll had a brilliant marketing plan going, and it is still in dispute as to whether Miki really rode these or just said he did in ads. I was just stating a simple fact that a lot of the boards wound up in NJ. Actually I think it had something to do with Charlie Galento (Greg’s old North Shore buddy) coming from NJ and having the contacts for NJ shops which made Nolls so popular there. Remember we’re talking the '60’s here when “surf marketing” was in in it’s infancy, so who you knew meant a lot in those days.
I do in fact live in the Tampa area, and I would really be tempted to go down to Lenny’s and buy this thing if it were not for the highly inflated price which I cannot personally justify.
My comment about not surfing the Cat was based on the fact that I already have a lot of boards that I rarely get to ride due to time and surf constraints (hey, it’s thre Gulf). If I had only one board and it was the Cat, I’d probably surf it. I regard it as a practical issue. I know that boards were made to ride, but a lot of it depends on your individual situation. In my case if I forked out big $$$ for this board, I would not risk losing that money by damaging it, partly based on the fact that I do not NEED to ride it.
Again, just my 2 cents, not looking to pass judgement on anyone else…
doc,
we’ve thought about cutting boards for fins, but do they make boards thick enough? Most I’ve seen are to thin too get a nice foil out of. I’ll check the site, thanks.
The board is similar to the one above, but purply pink bottom wrap to black pinline and white deck, with a super graduated high density foam stringer one side purple one side pink stringer.
Has anyone used one of Juan’s fins?
I bought one that was almost as clean as the one on ebay back in 86 in Westminister for $50. Surfed it allot at San O and was very careful with it. Origanally it was missing it’s slot bottom fin, had a guy in Newport tell me he used to work for Noll in Hawaii and new exactly what kind of fin shape it required. So I left the board at his shop for over a month and was getting worried I’d never see it again. I finally got the board back with the fin and it was not even close to the origanal fin design, I was very disappointed but I took the board in fear it would shortly disappear if I didn’t. It surfed OK but my Yater spoon made in about the same year was light years ahead in the manuvereability. Had the Da Cat until marraige, and wanted to take my new bride to Hawaii and was a little short on cash, sold/traded for $550 and a newer Jacobs. This was in 92, felt I made a good trade at the time but probably should have held on to the Cat.
Quote:
I was just stating a simple fact that a lot of the boards wound up in NJ.
I think an article in Longboard a year or two ago said that NJ was one of the most popular markets for this board.
I’ve heard of a few people picking them up at garage sales for less than you’d pay for a nice meal. If I found one at that price, heck yeah I’d take it out. The only wall I’d like to hang it on would be 4’, green and glassy.
Hey, amigo,
The company has 'em listed at http://thecuttingboardfactory.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TCBF&Category_Code=3WSA and in their specials list…
<span style="color:Black"><span style="font-size:6px"><span style="font-weight:bold">Workhorse Series 1" x 8 1/2" x 17"-Industrial Grade Polymer Cutting Board</span> </span></span> Quantity in Basket: <span style="font-style:italic">none</span>
Code: SPECIAL1-8_5017
Price: $8.06
Shipping Weight: 5.37 pounds
Okay, and as to the base dimensions… it happens that I had a busted one on a shelf in the downstairs ( canvas working and sail repair ) workshop- and my cheapo calipers…
Okay, let’s see, the one I’ve got is sunburnt and flaky and has been busted once and glued back together, so take with a grain of salt. Most actual dimensions other than ones I mention are likely to be less. Dimensions over 6" are gonna be done with a tape measure, 'cos that’s as big as my calipers go. All dimensions in inches
a = .380
b = 1.00
c = 9.25
d = .70
e = 1.065
f = 12.125
g = 1.0
h = .75
The depth of both relieved areas, front and back, is .25"
General…
This was probably laid out to inches and 1/8 inches, so dimension A is probably something that you can make 3/8" thick while e can be 1". The overall base should taper from 1 1/8" at the front to 5/8" at the back, before the 1/4" deep cutouts for the screw plates in the finbox. Should come out of a piece of 1" HDPE with no problems at all. If you were clever with layout, having the fin itself pretty much parallell or tangent to the edge of the piece, I think you might be able to get two fins out of the 1" x 8 1/2" x 17" piece they have on special listed above.
hope that’s of use
doc…
Well, I do live in New Jersey and you wouldn’t believe some of the boards I’ve picked up at garage sales over the past 10-15 years. DaCat, Propper, Hansen, Phil Edwards - heck I even grabbed a Pat Curren gun for $65 in unbelievable shape. The waves may not be great 24/7, but we sure have some swell old boards lying around.
BTW - I’ve ridden each one at least once. The DaCat, as I recall, was a DaDog.
New Jersey was the dumping ground for Noll and his compatriots of that era. They were building boards for California in the winter and boards for the east coast in the summer. There are an awful lot of Webers, Nolls, and Bings, which sat in garages all year, only to be used on selected weekends in the summer. I can remember Robert August and Mike Hynson touring the flat waved beaches of New Jersey after the Endless Summer came out. It was a big deal and the craze was on. It was a smart business move on their part, but I think a lot of the thousands of boards were on big production schedules. To think that Noll shaped it or Dora rode it is a big stretch of the imagination. To make the statements on the advertisement like the ones for this board is a crock. E-bay rips another one, just like the other one. I’ll give you $200.00 for it. I take that back, but ride it just the same, no biggy.