I’m new to the forum but have found so much usefull information already, so thanks!
I’ve decided to make a board as I moved into a house with a work shop and the beach is right down the street. I really want a fun board for those crappy days and don’t care to buy one. With the thickness and width I’m going for I figured it would be a pretty easy board to start out with. I’ve included some pics below to give you an idea what I’m going for. I found as much info as I could on the forums, used most of it and just freehanded the rest.
Details:
XPS 30psi foam
Stringerless
7’10(ish)
22.5 wide
3 thick
Going for about a 3.75 inch nose rocker - Started the curve 18 inches back
Going for about a 2 inch tail rocker - Started the curve 24 inches back
10.5 inch fin box with 8 inch cutout fin
Glassing schedule - 6+6 E on top - 6+6 E on bottom
Going to use West Marine epoxy with a slow hardener
I shaped in some rocker with the tail thickness being .75 and the nose thickness being .50. The rocker right now is about 2 in the back and a little more than 2 in the front. I’m going to bend the rest of the rocker in when I glass the bottom like Surfer Steve does. I sanded the bottom and deck with 24 grit, the nose tail and rails are sanded with 40 grit to help with bonding the epoxy.
Let me know what you think and if I’m on the right track with my glassing schedule. I’m not worried about weight but want the board to last.
Thanks
Jay
1st - My original design and what I’m going for - Was planning to paint after I sand the lam coat.
Hey Jay, welcome to Swaylocks! I’m not familiar with the Surfer Steve method, but I know just the mention of that name is known to start dirt clod wars in this neighborhood (I would have shaped the rocker in, or put it in with a stringer, rather than try to rely on the glass holding the rocker shape).
6+6 top and bottom sounds like a strong glass job, have you considered using Resin Research epoxy? A lot of guys have good success with West systems, but I personally have had better results with Resin Research, I like the quicker setup time.
Looks like you got pretty much what you were after, post up some pics when its finished, and let us know how it rides!
Looks good for a first shape on a stringerless. Huck is right about the rocker issue. Not sure how you’re going to go about glassing the rocker in. Gene Cooper has a great little rocker table glassing rack that he uses for stringerless boards to glass in the rocker and keep the board from twisting. You could still cut the board, stringer it, and glue up a bit of a rocker and then clean up the shape too. I would also suggest not using West Marine epoxy since it’s not ideal for surfboards. Here’s our proprietary blend that many of the big labels use;
Thanks for the feedback guys. Unfortunately on the East Coast of Canada my choices for resin are slim to none. West System is the easiest to find and I’ve also seen MAS but I couldn’t even buy a gallon of it. The cost for a gallon of resin and the hardener from West is going to cost me $200. Its painful seeing the prices for resin in the States and all the options.
As for reinforcing the rails, again this board is going to end up costing me over $600 if I buy carbon tape, so I was just going try the staggered lapping which would give me a total of 24 ounces over the rails if I stick to my glassing schedule. I’m only bending in about an inch when I glass it so I’m really hoping it’ll work out.
At this point I’m just going to have to go for it and see what happens. I’ll post some pics as I get more completed.
Check Noah’s marine supply in toronto. They have an online store. I’m pretty sure I bought a gallon of MAS epoxy from them in the past. They have a few other brands as well. Shipping within Canada will not be outragious either.
Check the shipping cost from the US. At $200 for a gallon, you could probably get RR from the US. (I checked at greenlight surfboard supplies and 1.5gal of RR + shipping to Halifax is just about $200. )
So the board is finished. Quite the experience with most of it being positive. Glassing is definitely difficult and friggin messy but it went pretty well. I ended up using West System with no major issues. There is a slight yellow colour as people have said but it didn’t matter because I painted the finished product anyway. I used 2x6oz on the top and 2x6oz on the bottom both E cloth. No stringer. I sanded the board with 40 grit and left it like that before glassing and the epoxy seemed to adhere really well. After the hot coat I then painted and finished with krylon clear gloss which I’ve used before and provides a nice finish. I haven’t weighed it but I’d say its around 5 pounds or so. Feels good under the arm. Also, I have an 8 inch fin on it.
I took it out this morning on small clean waves and it was amazing. I still can’t believe it. It’s exactly what I was after. Really stable and paddles well. It didn’t pressure dent either which was nice. So we’ll see how it holds up throughout the winter and if it goes well I’ll probably make a fish next summer.
Thanks everyone on the board for the info. This site was key in making this board work.
The rocker came out to 3.5 in the front and 2.5 in the back. I had shaped the nose and tail and then bent the rest of it in while glassing but if I make another board I would shape it in off the start. It was actually easy to bend it while glassing but I’m sure its not a good way to do it. It didn’t pearl when I took it out so I guess its enough. Feels weird though after using my 7’2 hybrid with 6 inch nose rocker.
