Does this board make my rails look fat?

General Discussion
1

Hey all,

After months of reading the archives and learning just enough to be a danger I decided to jump in and try my hand at making a board.

I’m 5’10", 36 years old and about 170lbs. I surf irregularly on the mid-Atlantic USA and spend much more time thinking about surfing rather than actually doing it. I’m a pretty mediocre surfer. I ride a 6’2" thruster and wanted something with a bit more surface area and volume for the winter, but I wanted to stick with a shorter board. Fish have been all the rage lately, so I messed around with some templates and outlines I saw on Swaylock’s and gave it a go.

I wanted to post these photos as a great big “THANK YOU!” to all the contributors here, as well as to demonstrate the wrong way to make a board. For me this has been a means of experientially learning about surfing-- I can’t believe how much I’ve learned through the postings here, and shaping a board has allowed me to examine each line and contour with an appreciation for what it will theoretically contribute. If I get the the point of actually riding the board, maybe I will discern why the board behaves as it does.

I am using only the basics while shaping. I’ve come this far by using a handsaw, square, tapemeasure, hand planer, wood block and sandpaper. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve already put over ten hours into the sanding and resanding of the board, and I still have more to go.

The board was originally designed to be 6’0 x 15 x 21 x 16 1/2, 2 3/4 thick with an 11" tail. After some, ehem, modifications, the board is now 6’0 x 14 x 20 1/2 x 15 1/2. After reading the discussion about volume and paddling, I shaved another 1/4" off the thickness, to make the board just under 2 1/2". So a couple of questions I wanted to put out there–

How do the rails look? They seemed too boxy before, so I tried to pinch them and make them less boxy (Consequently, the board is now 1/2" thinner at its midpoint). East coast waves don’t have all the juice as many places elsewhere, so I wanted something for waist to head+ that will be FAST.

Fin setup? I was thinking about making wooden quads, a la Pavel canards, but I’m having second thoughts. I can imagine the board as a thruster too, and although I would like to use removable fins and try both, this seems like a compromise that will produce a mediocre setup. Between the toe-in angle and positioning, it seems like the differences between a quad and a thruster are significant. Am I wrong here? Chipfish, you’re the mix and match master, so I’d certainly love to hear your comments.

Thanks again you all,

2

So heres a few from the first day of sanding. Note the stands-- I made them from 2x4’s, duct tape, and insulation. I didn’t want to pour concrete, since I wasn’t sure whether I’d ever do this again, so I filled them with dirt. Yeehaw!

3

Day two and three were more sanding, looking at contours and outlines, and freaking out about the rocker and rails. My thruster has 5" of nose rocker and 3"+ in the tail, so this looks so flat! I measured it, and it is above 3" in the front and 2-ish in the rear. I was going to do a flat to double to single concave, but now I’m thinking about a single to double. How much will the fin setup interact with the bottom contour? I imagine alot.

I cut the tail on day one, and should have waited. Fortunately, I haven’t done anything too damaging to it (yet).

4

So here are a few of the rails… I had a hard time taking pics, the lighting in the basement is poor, but it does add to the ambience (bring out the gimp!). Hopefully these will give a general impression.

5

alll i have to say is from the first picture of your nose you should probably pinch that a bit, i also surf the east coast and you can get away with slightly thinner rails esp. with all the other volume and surface area. everything looks really good especailly the out line, i personally would never put the thruster trailer i would go with lok box fin system and you can buy any of the beautiful fins for it.

p.s. i would put in 4 fin boxes.

6

I agree. Removable fins will be awsome for a first board as you can easy mess with fins to tune for a good first board.

Very nice board by the way. im liking the wings :slight_smile:

Chris

7

Go ahead & pour the concrete. :slight_smile: Your work is good enough that you’ll like the results…and you’ll be making more.

Get a 2’ sanding block to work those rails down. Start with it riding on the stringer (perpendicular) and most of the hand pressure over the rail. You’ll be able to take out a lot of that fat without ruining your (nice) outline or hard bottom rails. After doing that for a while, use it parallel to your rails to reshoot the bands on the top. 2’ is long enough to smooth out bumps & dips from the Jennie Craig process.

I agree with 4 fins for that baby. With those stings, a trailer just wouldn’t look right, but a nice quad setup would.

8

Whoa! the title of your post sounds like the kind of question my wife would ask and I’ve learned to be damn careful how I answer!

Like you I used the most primitive tools when I made my last two boards. However in the past I was lucky enough to have a few shaping lessons from Dennis Choate, who’s been shaping since the early 60’s. The one lesson that stuck in my head was “No short strokes!” He has burst into the shaping room while I was whittling away on a blank. He should me how, with few exceptions, your cuts should go all the way from the tail to the nose or vice versa.

I think this is especially true when using primitive tools. One tool you didn’t mention was a surform. Hope you got one.

Anyways your board looks great. You didn’t mention if it is your first. As far as your question, oh my god don’t let me say this- in the one photo where you see the nose, the rail looks pretty square. Maybe it’s just the photo.

Oh no…now it’s gonna be lfat for three weeks!

9

“36 years old and about 170lbs. I surf irregularly on the mid-Atlantic USA and . I spend much more time thinking about surfing rather than actually doing it. I’m a pretty mediocre surfer ride a 6’2” thruster "

perfect now you can spend more time typing about it than doing it. You will fit right in here . you’re even possibly about 10 yesars too young for here, but you’re about 20 years too old for that other forum, surfermag i think it’s called? not many here ride thrusters at your age but stick around and you’ll soon be talked into riding an egg or a longboard or a fish. Make it out of beer cooler foam, spackle , and epoxy. Work on a beer gut , get your weight up to around 200lbs and you’ll be the average 40 yer old swaylocks guy. Just be sure to stand in the carpark telling everyone how much you used to rip ‘back in the daze’.

cecil
10

" alll i have to say is from the first picture of your nose you should probably pinch that a bit, i also surf the east coast and you can get away with slightly thinner rails esp. with all the other volume and surface area. everything looks really good especailly the out line, i personally would never put the thruster trailer i would go with lok box fin system "

so when are we going to see a board made by design expert rider of waves I wonder ? any time within the next five years?

cecil

[I buy my boards , before you decide not to answer my queston]

11
Quote:
perfect now you can spend more time typing about it than doing it. You will fit right in here . you're even possibly about 10 yesars too young for here, but you're about 20 years too old for that other forum, surfermag i think it's called? not many here ride thrusters at your age but stick around and you'll soon be talked into riding an egg or a longboard or a fish. Make it out of beer cooler foam, spackle , and epoxy. Work on a beer gut , get your weight up to around 200lbs and you'll be the average 40 yer old swaylocks guy. 
cecil</blockquote></div>

Hey!

er

Nevermind.

12

hi insighter

Please ignore stubs !

…he’s just a rude bugger , who is frustrated because he’s had to surf in pooh-infested water lately .

You are welcome here really , mate !

cheers ,

ben

13

insighter: great work mate, i can’t believe it’s your first board. be careful, it gets addictive! i don’t think it will be your last.

14

Hey all,

Thanks for comments and feedback-- I took a few more shots of the nose since the posting, and have attached them here.

Quad setup it is, then!

Benny, llilibel, thanks for the advice on sanding; I can definitely use your suggestions. I don’t use a surform, mostly because I was worried about gouging EPS with one and was able to take down the foam with 36 grit paper. And thanks Rider and Chris for the comments about bringing the nose and rails down, as well as the fin setup.

I went out and bought some 9mm birch plywood, and plan on cutting out the fins in the next week.

Regarding boxes for fins, I like the lokboxes but I’m worried about setting them without a jig. I’ve thoroughly appreciated Lokboxes comments here, as well as other fin folks. Can I install the boxes without the jig? I’m not ready to drop the cash yet.

As an alternative, I’ve read a bit on the Proboxes and I like the price for the installation kit. Anyone out there use the Proboxes?

Cheers all,

15

I just looked into some old postings regarding the lokbox’s, and it appears that I can cut out the foam for the boxes. I think this is what I’ll do, then.

I was glad to see the posting on the “Swaylock’s Inspired decal”-- I’m planning on getting some rice paper and putting it to use.

A couple other questions:

I was thinking of making it 6 oz glass all over, 2 on top and 1 on the bottom. Resin Research with additive F, and maybe some of those cool tail plugs I saw posted a while back. Does this sound alright?

16

That sounds fine for glass if your foam is urethane or 2# or denser EPS. If its light EPS, add one more layer to each side…

Looks like you work carefully and methodically - I don’t think you’d have undue trouble with any fin box system, jigs or not.

Some things, you can just tell from people’s work :slight_smile:

17

DA! Put six fins on it. What the hell? You’ll be sellin’ it on “swaybay” anyway. How could you know whether something like this works? Unless you surf more often than you say you do or you have team riders. But just ask Benny. He knows. The surf is so “bitchin’” in Marin. Plenty of “world class” waves to test youre latest designs.

18
Quote:
DA! Put six fins on it. What the hell? You'll be sellin' it on "swaybay" anyway. How could you know whether something like this works? Unless you surf more often than you say you do or you have team riders. But just ask Benny. He knows. The surf is so "bitchin'" in Marin. Plenty of "world class" waves to test youre latest designs.

What’s your problem, McDing?

pm me if you have something to say - don’t screw up the guy’s thread just because you’ve been drinking and you have some kine beef.

19

Braddah! Benny Ha! Ha! You soo funny! But I was serious about the lack of quality waves in Marin AND the six fins! Oh and also the lack of teamriders for proper feedback. Hd McDing

20

Board looks good

Traditional fish have fat rails so don’t worry too much about it.

Did you look in the resources for tools? Lots of good ideas there.

Fin systems cost money. You said that you are making your own fins did you consider glassing them on ?

Lokbox ,futures, ofishl, probox,fcs ,all good systems. You can do it !!!

We don’t have basements in So Cal. Do you ever hit your head on those pipes?

Have a great day

Ray