Thanks for the additional comments and board stripping tips.
I ended up using the saber saw + carbide blade to cut the bottom out to the paper template outline after I traced it with a marker. This got me clean through the bottom glass and about 1.5" deep into the foam and squared off. A bunch of the top came off easy up to the rails. Then I scored the rail apex and the corners of the original diamond tail with a diamond burr on a rotary tool, worked well and was easy to control. The rest of the top and rails came off easy after that leaving a “muffin top” of foam. I trimmed those off with the hand saw and peeled the bottom. Now it just needs the little thruster center box removed and some foam scabbed in where the side boxes came out
The new outline is growing on me. The old glass had issues and I found a couple more dings and some damp foam under the wax so it feels doubly good to be reworking this. The old wax job was new this winter so I scrapped it off pre-strip and melted/molded it back down to put it on the revised board.
J, here’s a shot with one of my 8’ compsands. It has a similar outline and thickness. I like this board. The smaller board is 7’, but I reshaped the nose several years ago.
J I don’t remember exactly how the rails are. I’ll look at it tonight or this weekend. I know that it has a flat bottom with a slight concave under the nose (tear drop). I’m pretty sure the tail has a hard edge along the rail, not sure how the rest of the rail is, soft, tucked, or whatever. The rails are kinda chunky though. In hindsight the nose doesn’t have to be so wide and rounded. That board was based on a 9-4 high performance longboard. The 9-4 has almost round rails along the middle, like 50/50 round, and they are fairly thin. I used the basic rocker and outline, but shortened it to 8’. I kept the nose a little flatter than the 9-4 thinking I may be able to get on the nose. Boards I’ve made since then have narrower noses. I’ve had friends tell me that I have that board wired when I rode it, but it’s been sitting around for a while. I actually made that for my brother, but he didn’t like it. He likes more modern style boards.
I have a 4+1 setup on my longboard under head high it goes best as a single once it gets over head and starts to wall up a quad setup is much better.
I don’t like it as a 2+1 feels slow and sticky.
J, my 8’ balsa compsand has full down rails nose to tail. The top is pretty flat holding lots of volume and the rails are turned down. Best way to describe it is it’s got the kind of rails we used in the 70’s in Hawaii. Some may call it Brewer rails.
I think if I did this board again, I’d crown the top more and have a thinner rail with a tucked edge, and I wouldn’t have a big full nose. I don’t try to get hang time, so when I stand up on the nose it’s to make the board go faster or get past flatter sections of a wave, not to hang 5 or 10. I can say that when I get up on the nose the board will take off, so I have to get back again pretty quick.
Thanks again SC! The donor board was a barge. No crown, no bottom concaves, just a bunch of foam and a couple of bands down to a first attempt at a big-boy rail.
So far I got the patches trimmed and I pulled out the leash cup and vent as the low-VOC resin caused some exothermic foam damage. The fin plugs were done with epoxy and looked OK during the autopsy. I am thinking about mini-stringers for the Bahne box.
Now I need to get a handle on what Petec was talking about earlier, getting this to be a suitable shape for a +/- 230lb 6’-3" rider. Any ideas for the rail bands/apex lines would be appreciated, I am working in bit of vacuum with no other boards or builders close by.
Jrand, Try thinking about what type of waves and break you will be surfing most of the time. Then analyze your surfing style, how you prefer to turn the board, do you move around on the deck or plant the back foot and stay there. Once you have these answered you can nail down the board you want ie: rocker, rails, flat/domed deck, bellied entry etc. Also consult a couple of guys here like UncleD. He makes nice larger man boards as does Joe Blair and Ace from Ocean Bch. Ca. These guys have it wired. And Sharkcountry is a wealth of info too.
As for the fin set up, the quad with a center box would also be my vote. I’m your size and surf mostly point and reef breaks.
You want to stop, and think about replacing any patches you made with new patches using a foaming polyurethane (AKA gorrilla glue). It will make it easier to shape the board campared to using exoxy. I sometimes don’t bother gluing in patches, or just putting glue in the areas I know I won’t hit when I sand it down. Epoxy will be hard and the foam around it will get cut away while the epoxy just sits there. Careful work using a power sander might get you there, but one small mistake and you’ll gouge out a large chunk.
I’m a firm believer in boards made for specific locations. What I ride is not going to work all over the world. The places I ride on this small island are so different from the waves on the west side, the north side, and the east side. Boards for one side of the island can be very different from the boards made for the other side. Case in point the north shore of Oahu versus the south shore. Typical south shore waves are 1/2 as powerfull as the same sized north shore waves. When the swells are up the power increases, and north shore boards work well on the south side, but generally there’s a difference. The breaks from one side of each shore to the other are also very different. The bottom changes and the depth changes and waves can be so different in just a short distance.
A good surfer can ride anything, but if you spend most of the time compensating for the boards shortcomings, you’re not going to surfing your best. Over time, you will be worse off, and should have just bought good boards made for the spots you surf at. A good board can be magic and make you surf better than ever before.
Having said that, I prefer a down rail, or a tucked under rail. Down rails were what I surfed for a very long time, so I’m used to it. If I’m shaping down a thick flat board the rails will end up down rails anywhere between 80/20 and 90/10 (very eliptical curve). Other wise if you can bring the rail thickness down to about and inch and a half, a nice tucked under edge is the best (rounder curve with a hard edge along the bottom). At 230lbs I’d keep the thickness, and you’ll have better paddling. All of my favorite brand name boards have thinner rails.
Tblank, Sharkcountry-thanks for the thoughtful replies, I really appreciate it. I know my situation is not ideal but hopefully not impossible. It seems like the old board had enough foam but was also a collection of rookie design and construction mistakes. Hopefully I can gain some more ideas for this rework and be happy with the result.
Yes, I did use Gorilla Glue (the clear/white kind) to install the new foam chunks. I like the idea of stopping short with the glue. Have anyone ever used 3M foam adhesive in a spray can? The other comment was about how my various old plug installs looked in retrospect.
I worked on some LED side lights last night. Hopefully I will order my leash plug/vent and extra fin boxes today and have stuff here for the weekend.
