Double 4 on top with an extra layer of reinforcing on rails around the back foot.
Singl 4 on bottom with a 4 fin patch , 450 grams resin 535 grams of resin
For the first time in a long time I had the perfect amount of resin in one go, both sides. Filler coats today.
Biggest issue is that the entropy brt resin is old, has been sitting in the shed for close to two years since I bought it. And the optical brighteners in it that usually transform the yellowish raw resin into the iridescent blue tinted resin on the board seem to have gone. So the board seems a little pre yellowed. But that’s actually kinda fitting.
The artwork is kinda like the wounded heart onnthe bottom.and a weird abstract representation of the landscape on the deck.
Got to do the filler coat today. I tried to do the resin edge and a resin dam on the tail at the same time as the bottom filler coat. Ended up with a huge resin dam and not enough on the edge hahha.
Meant that I had to clean up the dam cause it was like deadly weapon. Pulled out the belt sander and hammered down. Think I’ll sand it now and then try to do a resin edge after that.
For the first time I put some styrene and wax in the epoxy hot coat after reading some technical info bert Berger had posted on facebook.
Put just over 2% in the mix. With the wax onnthe top i don’t want to put a resin edge on till I sand it off. Anyway. See what happens
I have done the bulk of the sanding, my medium sanding pad has the worse wobble in it, it’s the biggest disapointment in my tools. I purchased it a few years ago from a reputable supplier and its been a constant issue, I thought at first it was my cheap sander polisher but I have since used it on other peoples machines and it does the same thing.
As you can see by the pic on the bottom it leves deep grooves, kinda like currugations… I have since attacked it with a sanding block and 80 grit to get them out. There is lots of weave visible but I dont care, I may just put another sealer coat or I might just hit it with a satin acrylic.
Well it’s done, I gave it a run in some 2-3 foot, rippy, very sloppy, wind effected waves, caught three, got a bit of a feel for it, paddles like a boss, comes off the bottom nicely. Haven’t put a tail pad on it to let me feel where my back foot is. I managed to get 2 or 3 half carves and one nice foam snap re-entry thing. Just enough to tease me as to what it might do in good waves.
I’m liking the feel in the hand of the rail combined with the smooth chine on the bottom edge.
Allows heaps of volume through the board and a subtle rail, and hopefully lets it handle the chop of wind effected conditions.
I ended up finishing it off with a significant amount of hand sanding to remove swirls and corrugations. Started with 80 grit a sanding block and then 120, 180, 240 then 600.
Then did a sealer coat with a spray can of satin acrylic. For the Aussies I used white knight, brand from Bunnings, I usually lie to use dura max by dulux but Noosa Bunnings doesn’t stock it.
Then after it dries a fin wet and rub down with 600, it came out pretty good. Cept for a few bubbles here and there, when I showed it ot my mate from factory surfboards he said the sanding job was so good he was never sanding a board for me again. Pretty chuffed on that, of course I then preceded to tell him all the thing wrong with it.
OH, AND FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE STUCK WITH IT SO FAR THIS IS THE KEEPER!!!
Using standard wax and styrene actually works a treat with epoxy filler coats. Many have said it shouldn’t be done but after reading a bit of stuff from bert berger (if you know, you know) and a message from Yorky. I got some and did a mix of around 2-3% and it was super successful. Even for a total novice with crappy equipment.
As far as doing what it’s designed for its definitely a winner. Second surf in soft slightly wind effected (8-10 kt side shore).
Gets in nice and early.
Lots of foam for a 5’ 8".
The heavy nose concave and the chined rail seem to negate any issue with the lack of rocker in the nose so far. There is a definitely a huge burst of speed of the first toe side rail pump. On the backhand (we are only talking two very poor quality waves.) It came around really nice and I got a really fun drive carve back into the pocket where speed was created through the cut back and not lost.
The extra nimble squirt when my back foot is over the fins is very noticeable, but you can be in front of the tail pad and get a more cruisy high line hippy drive (as in driven by the hips forward and not flower power) happening too.
There was one front side turn I tried to do under the super soft lip where the fins popped out and the board flew away from me, a combination of my bad technique and the lack of V in the tail. (I would have liked more V)
But I made it around several sections that surprised me and the people dropping in on me as I zoomed up beside them with a big smile on my face.
Trying to add some pics that show the bottom contours and the way the soft chined rail looks. It seems to help smooth out textured surface of the waves significantly.
In conclusion,
In surfing it you are not likely to get super tight pocket surfing due to the lack of rocker, but I didn’t make it for that, I wanted a fun small wave board to go fast in week waves and get flying when I take it to a point break. Winning.
Recycled everything is rad.
The aboriginal tribute artwork is well, appreciated but the few people I have shown it to.
Ok ladies and gents, this will.probs be the last post in this thread unless I get lucky and get some footage or some pics of the board getting ridden. If you read this, thanks, if you think I’m over thinking it, sorry, if you have any thoughts, share. An most of all if your a goofy foot up to 90 kg and live near me onnthe sunshine coast QLD give us a yell. Come take it for a spin.
I took it out yesterday morning in waves it was NOT designed for. 4 foot, od 5 footer, one and a half to double over head. Shifty unorganised wind swell beach break.
It handled itself very well.
Only limitation seemed to be a few drops where I got a bit off balance and had trouble angling ended up a bit too far out in front and didn’t hold speed off the bottom. This could be because of the extra width and foam in the tail or just the look driving the thing.
But it was very interesting. Very lifty and fast. Really fast.
Turns really sharp. When my back foot in right back. Like a sharpe rail gouge direction change. The break in the outline curve in the middle of the fin cluster creates a sharpe pivot point. Im really looking forward to trialing different fins.
But i also had a really nice wide drawn out cutback on one where I got out a fair way from the pocket. Held its speed really well.
Had a few more surfs on it and have a set of C drive fins in it.
Weirdly I bought a second hand set of C drive thrusters of someone I know through facebook and he sent me two rear fins and a side fin. He was super apologetic and posted me the extra side fin so I now have a set with the side fins for the front quads and two rear 50 50 foils for the rear quads.
Now the last few surfs have been in the kid of waves it was designed for 2-3 foot, with bit of texture.
Damn it goes. Get the feet on the spot and it goes, did I say it goes. Actually felt like I had an act. I got carving turns and a few back hand gouges and few semi vertical reo’s I didn’t really get a hard turn to of the vert turns but for a board with NO rocker it handles them very nice. There were a few moments where I kooked it but well and truly enough purple patches to get a massive smile on my face for every surf.
I would really love to get some footage or pics of it being surfed but alas, that hasn’t happened.
Great stuff Adam. I’ve also found that going shorter and wider than you’re used to can be an eye opening experience. Naturally you sacrifice some things, but the gains to be made are generally pretty fun.
So I got a cool sequence that shows how the water interacts with the low rocker, full board concave, and soft chine rail. There is alot of shots so reduced them in quality but maybe too much but you can still see it ok.
The shape of the nose works to keep the low rocker from pearling. If you look closely at this and the first two shots you can see it getting up and pushing the water out of the nose concave and out across the chine.
The next shot is WEIRD, looking at the water sheering off the full length of rail. As a still shot it looks really contradictory but its result of the nose being partially in the water in the shot before. The board is really accelerating at this point.
I skipped a few frames in the sequence as I kinda skipped a section I should have tried to do an off the top on but I was just going for Max speed and did two big pumps. You can see the whole leather of the board engaging with the wave. Then still lifts and squirts the water off the rear ofnthe board out through the fins.
You can see as rail engages in the cut back that even with my bad habits the asym tail and little break in the rail line at the middle of the quad set up zips its around really nice.
The fluoro rash shirt is because I was out in the water with the students in my schoolsmsurf academy. I don’t normally get to go in the water but we had an extra person in the beach this morn so I was screaming and cheering at the kids in the water and giving them tips and feedback. It was a great morning.
Great sequence photos Adam. Obviously surfs the full rail, but gets off the tail well. Contours would have to be a good setup and complement the rail line template for the board to do that. I could tell from your early posts and pics that you put a lot of thought into the bottom and its relationship to the tail. How easy is it to paddle into waves? With that low rocker and blunt nose, should catch waves easily.
Yeah mate its a wave catching machine. This kinda surf is made very fun especially as I’m getting a bit slower and less agile. I know 45 isn’t to bad but im less fit and have a few creaky achey knees and shoulder. Im pretty proud of this one.
Bit of course there are a few closed minded crew around that have given it a few weird looks.
