Well, its basically done. Whew… All that’s left to do is sand/polish this sucker tomorrow. Don’t know how long I will be able to let it fully “cure” before I surf it (or if it even matters that much).
Thank you to all who had some input and gave me advice along the way. Couldn’t and wouldn’t have done it if there was no Swaylocks. This was definitely a first for me…from the shaping, to the glassing, all the way up to the glossing.
The board is…
5’7"
15" nose
20", 2" up from center
15.5" tail
Crack 8" wide/4" up
Self designed fins…7.5" in up/5 deg. cant/toe in 1/4"
Single concave to vee
Designed for the waves here which usually provide plenty of power.
Damn I learned a lot. I can’t WAIT to make the next one.
Would LOVE some feedback on what you all think. I’m not 100% happy with the shape of the rails…but its too late for that now…and I learned what to do for next time. I have no idea if she will go…but I have my fingers crossed. The only thing that I am disappointed about cosmetically is that my posca pinline bled in the gloss coat. Any idea why? I used Kokua’s mix recipe for the gloss and sanded the pinline a little and everything. Thankfully it doesn’t really look all that bad…it almost makes the pin line look 3D. I think it will look pretty good once its polished. I just hope it rides as nice.
Once again, thank you to all who helped me personally on this board. See ya in the water!!
here’s my bleeding pinline…any ideas? It was dry…but I wet down the board before I glossed…maybe didn’t give it enought time to redry…could have been worse though
man that looks pretty amazing… you should be proud… shaped, cutlaps, pinlines, gloss/polish all on the first go is impressive… the fins look great, is that the baltic birtch from Woodcraft? good week to finish a board, you’ll get lots of testing in…
Your board looks great. Fins, too. It’ll fly. To get that beveled look in the butt crack use a round surform if you prefer. There’s nothing better than riding a board you built with your own hands. Well, maybe one other thing. Mike
Thanks for the words of encouragement. I thought it looked pretty nice, so its good to hear it from other people as well. If I can get it polished today…it might be in the water later this afternoon. Cure shmure.
As for the glassing, its 6oz on the bottom, 4 and 6 on top of a Clark 6’2" C blank. Cut laps on both sides. I should have tried a freelap with the layer of clear 6oz on the top. Maybe next time. Fins are 2 layers 6 oz on the foiled edge and 6 and 4 oz on the inside edge.
The colors are both mixtures of tint’s and opaques. I don’t know if that is a good idea or not, but I had an idea of the color I wanted in my head and I just tried to match it. Came out close enough for me.
Hardest part was getting the stringer down in the crack, and getting the cloth to evenly wrap the tips when laminating (and the whole laminating process with regular poly resin). Seemes like I had some pinholes in the bottom from not letting the resin soak in long enough? I had to fill 'em with a little extra squegeed hotcoat. Next time I am going to spend some more time turing the rails when I shape it. These feel a little too round for me, but who knows how it will work. I might get more ideas when I ride it. I liked glossing (aside from the bleed) and foiling the fins. Sanding the hotcoat was probably the step I could do without.
Anyone have any ideas about the pinline and why it bled? Too late for this board, but I don’t want it to happen to me again.
Again, thanks for the feedback. Hopefully I will get to ride her today.
Oneula, I did get the message about July 2nd. I might be off island at that time, but if not, I’ll be there. Hope there’s waves for you/us either way. Don’t worry I’ll watch out for the mokes. But you know, when I see 'em, I’ll just confuse them with my haole boy pidgeon. Plus, its only a 5’7" and wont float most of the big bruddahs.
You have every reason to be proud of your FIRST BOARD!! It is absolutely outstanding, and on a par with many “professionally” constructed boards. (are you sure you haven’t done this before?) Well done.
Actually the fins are “Finlandic Birch” from Woodcraft. The baltic birch didn’t have such contrasting colors. I thought the dark/light layers would look real nice when foiled. You should have seen the first attempt with City Mill ply. Thanks again for letting me watch you glass your board. I might be calling you some day for use of the Future router.
Did you get it good this last SE swell? Not too windy either!
