Yes you can build a surfboard from start to finish and scratch the itch. I am in the countryside of Japan located near a beach facing the Pacific ocean.
I have enjoyed surfing for many years and ridden different types of watercraft in the waves. Even my body can be included in the arena as well.
You do not have to surf or even know how to but if you have the desire to try it someday making your own surfboard will be a gift to yourself and others. There are many people whom have taken this path but yours will be individual just as your new surfboard will be unique.
One of my goals in this build is to use common products that can be purchased somewhat easily for a reasonable amount of money.
You will need some “foam” or wood or any material you feel compelled to use. I will go with foam from the hardware store. The only foam available here has some weaknesses. The archives here at swaylocks will prove to be a great source of inspiration, information etc. “Thanks”.
I had to buy three sheets to get my foam thick enough for my 3" thick old school “Lis” fish.
This design is friendly in a couple ways but most importantly it will match the majority of waves I see here quite well. You do not need to copy a known shape. In the photo you will notice the thin piece of long wood. It can be bent to form an outline that you could even call your own perhaps. If you need a pattern or “Template” I can send you one. Freely. Just say a thank you to Skip Frye, Steve Lis and sways.
Almost finished sanding, How about the tail? Fish? Retro?, Bat? Bonzer? 6’, 16 3/4 at 12 in the tail. 3" thick. Keels? Quad? Single?
Thanks gravy, Thats what I had in mind. My first hand shape no power tools. My fingers are a little sore this morning. Six inches up(?) and looks like a coffee can for the arc. Is there some history to the radius of the arc? Thanks.
What type of foam is that?
It is blue dow, about 1 lb. The only stuff I can get here. It is my first custom. I like the keel idea also boots. Can’t find glass cloth anywhere looks like resin will be a challenge also. Wish I had a couple bamboo mats.
Do they make boats where you live? I just had to go to a town 3 hours away to a boat manufacturer to get some shity boat epoxy and 8oz volan glass because I had a similar problem with materials here in Taiwan. Polyester is available here at the paint stores, but that wont really do with your foam. The materials I got sucked to work with, but I am really stoked with the board. Definitely better than a bed sheet and varnish. Hopefully it rides like I think it will.
Nice Number one. Better than my first so far. Foam looks interesting. Did you get that at home expo or something and glue it up or is that a pre-made blank?
Did you get that at home expo or something and glue it up or is that a pre-made blank?
Im not so lucky or unlucky I guess. Glued three pieces of wall insulation marked nose mid center tail, grabbed a piece of wall trim made half an outline and cut and cut. Then sanded and sanded and sanded no power tools. Took the fish to the ocean and rinsed him off, Did’t sink on the christening. Now I have a tombstone wall hanger waiting for glass and resin.
While I don’t advocate use of XPS for surfboards, you might want to try ordering the resin that XTR surfboards use on their XPS surfboards. They claim to have solved the bonding issues with chemistry and technique. You could always try to thermovent the glass once it starts to set (I’m picturing a thousand push-pins in the glass job as it cures!) and let us know how it goes.
They claim to have solved the bonding issues with chemistry and technique. You could always try to thermovent the glass once it starts to set (I'm picturing a thousand push-pins in the glass job as it cures!) and let us know how it goes.
Cheers, I will be lucky to get any glass or resin which brings me to the question of alternative cloth and industrial floor products that the store in this country area has along with xps, only xps.
Thanks for the link.
Cmon guys hair spray? Alternative cloth? Floor epoxy? How about I drill a round cup holder in the nose for my favorite beverage while I’m planting vertical stringers through the three layers to prevent shear slip? Who knows your brainstorming might even kick up a few waves around here. Mahalo
Update: Big score today after checking the surf, run into a guy who has been lining up with me on the bigger days and invite him to see the fish. He knows a place for cloth and epoxy. I return the favor and show him the vaneer I have been eyeballin on my powerbook. He starts drooling. He wants a sheet or two also. I intentionally point the fish towards him up on the rack showing off my foil and he couldn’t take his eyes off it. I noticed gettin a little kick out of that. One or two more weeks in the drydock for fishy waiting on supplies and will have another pic posted after.
just gotta clean up the glue lines with a blade and touch up a couple lines while I’m thinkin about how many little pin holes to drill in the skins before clamping them on. Oh yeah and the two tiered varying flex stringer I have to plant in this fish’ gut.
This is how I plan to finish up; any suggestions advice or comments greatly appreciated.
2oz cloth around the rails and couple other places on the nose. 2.5 mil deck and bottom wood lam skin. 2oz bottom and top glass and epoxy resin.
I think I will go with a “Where the wild things are” storyboard of a couple of the water illustrations of Max for the decks if I don’t use the wood laminate.
Here is a great line that doesn’t need cleaning from a post here at sways,
The same wave that breaks on my head breaks on yours and on and on… What are you waiting for? Are you going to die with your rocker measurements and curves clutched in your hand like some treasure map for no one else to see until someone in the future invents a special blasting hose to push the layers of sand away to check out your golden doubloons, oh - spare us the drama.
I love that quote from a post here,
So the gass and sheer strength. No, I do not want a lis~tless fish. If the guy de gasses what do I got left?
About three flopping sandwiches.
Can I seal this gass in the belly? Or just another Hindenburger. Yeah I could. How volatile is this gass? Better find out before we bake the spud. The iron test was kind a interesting last week. I was going to fry my fish a searing bond but looks like I have other options. Ridiculous considering all I wanted was a simple hassle free fish to ride.
I found a tough skin at the hardware store, now I have to protect the core. A rubber membrane perhaps? Why not get rid of the core and make a bladder? Wait, I am proud of my hand shaped piece of wall insulation. Hmmm.
Fish #1 May be the one and only blue dow xps I will ever make but you never know. I also found a source with eps foam but it is much farther. I will be interested in the epoxy results. Will be in the next couple days. The blue dow foam was more than a pleasure to shape and I will assemble the bamboo calipers for the final passes today or tomorrow.
The glue lines at the rail edges and under the nose are a shapers nightmare.
No epoxy resin! Big problem here however while I am waiting I will make another one! Big score today at the store. Got some pauli wina stacked in the back of the rack and will pick that up tomorrow. Yep, fish #2 will be a woody. Also found something else while I was there. Didn’t get the innertube. Had a couple waves today in the typhoon, good drops but a few bumps on the way down. Closing out fast and hard but you can always sit out back and usually get lucky. Strong rip prevented my paddle out twice, tried to get outside before sunset on a low but rising tide. Third attempt got me through one of the two small channels. It has been three or four weeks since we had anything around head high. Almost double today. No one in the water, some tourists over at the turtle farm, a couple sitting snugly upon a fat log that had washed in last night. A big sun, charcoal gray blue clouds and a stinging cold wind. Typhoon steamed north overnight. It is usually beautiful and clear after such powerful natural force. I was proud to be a part of today and the waves. I heard a surfer around my age got swept out yesterday. Men pray. 52 year old surfer and a 47 year old. I heard they were surfing a rivermouth. Yesterday it dumped rain here. The older guy made it to the beach, the younger one …
A famous surfer who shaped a board for me made me a beauty. It was in storage while I was helping my mother before she passed away. It is not in good shape after reuniting with it. I am thinking about moulding this one for any future surfers with heart. I took that ten foot noserider in peeling fast walls and it had more balls than almost any board I have ever ridden. Guys would just drop their jaws when takin it off the car rack in the typhoon swells here in Japan. “No, He is not going to take that thing out there”. Thanks MM. A great board.
AFM study of adhesion between polystyrene particles; \ The influence of relative humidity and applied load
J.A.S. Cleaver, a, and L. Looia
aDepartment of Chemical and Process Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, England UK
Available online 25 October 2006.
Abstract
The influence of relative humidity and applied load on the adhesion between individual polystyrene particles (diameter 12 ƒÊm) has been investigated using an AFM. Up to applied loads of 1500 nN and relative humidities of 65% there was no detectable influence of humidity on adhesion due to the hydrophobic nature of the material. When varying the applied load, a threshold applied load was observed to occur once the relative humidity reached 65%. At this threshold, the adhesion increased with applied load due to the onset of plastic deformation at the particle contacts. This was supported by coupling the prediction of contact area from the Maugis|Pollock model with a published value of yield stress for polystyrene. This gave a predicted applied load for the onset of plastic deformation that corresponded closely to the threshold experimental value. The plastic behaviour of the contact site at 65% RH is attributed to the adsorbed water which is known to act as plasticizer.
Graphical abstract
Below an applied load of 1500 nN and relative humidity of 65% the contact between particles of 12 ƒÊm diameter was essentially elastic. When varying the applied load at a relative humidity of 65%, a threshold load was observed at which the adhesion increased with applied load due to the onset of plastic deformation at the particle contacts.
And this is where the base info for a morph could begin
I haven’t done as many xps as soulnpower but i’ve tried a few. here is what I found works best. leave the blank rough sanded 60 grit w/ a rough surface. while you are waiting for your epoxy to arrive put the blank in some black garbage bags and leave it out in the sun or heat for a day or two. this helps to outgas any blowing agent left near the surface. seal with epoxy and microballons before glassing, make sure you completly fill in all the voids along your glue lines or stringer. use a little more resin than you normally would keep the lam good and wet.
no paint on the foam. blue looks kind of nice glassed anyway, people pay a lot for a resin tint that colour. if it does delam a little, no worries as it won’t absorb water and you will probably have resin left over anyway.
have fun, Japan is way up there on my list of places to visit in the next couple years.
One thing about the delams, they happen in the foam under the skin and not between the epoxy and the foam. Arcilic paint is no problem, but sand it before glassing. Big delams can be repaired good with 2 component PU foam, drill two holes and use a syringe to inject the foam. Apply pressure to maintain the deck form.
Always let the air out if a bump appears.
They changed the blowing agent in Europe to air which gave an improvement. The pressure they use in the foam is to increase pressure resistance, so lower kg/ sqm means less pressure in the foam. A good stringer and a strong lam, wet in wet, helps also to minimize shear in the foam which causes the delams. A domed deck is effective too.
Yeah cmon over anytime shoeless Im close to the beach in the countryside and I have plenty of room for a visitor. Thanks for your input guys. Can you do me a favor and post a pic of your favorite blue dow on my thread? If you need any materials from Japan let me know. They make some cool door skin papers about the same size as a sheet of foam. Number two won’t get any glue on the rails!! at least not before shaping!