I had a ball surfing it over the years until it met an untimely end in sizeable Bells Bowl a year or so ago- snapped clean in half. I was emotionally attached to it and couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. But I knew it would never be the same if I fixed it as per the usual method for snapped boards. So I decided something a little more involved was required. I stripped the glass completely and began a rebuild.
It now sports a mild asymmetric outline and rocker as well as a Chris Brock style tri plane hull bottom (two shallow, narrow concaves starting under the chest and finishing before the fins) and some Greg Griffin full length tucked edges (but a touch softer). I glassed it with 4oz top and bottom, painted it, and then added another 4oz on the bottom and two more 4oz layers on the deck.
Hopefully it will work as intended and I’ll get another 10 years out of it.
Looking great Rohan! Looking forward to the ride report.
My board #1 has also been stripped and reshaped…and then got a tail block after (yet another) handling accident.
thanks for posting, this inspires me! My first shaped foam board needs some serious TLC, I’ve been thinking of a makeover. Maybe just shy of stripping the glass, tho
RDM,
What glue did you use for your vertical strips of XPS?
Did you cut the rocker into each strip individually before gluing?
Do the multiple glue lines affect flex (and sanding)?
Re-make looks good. I like the color work too.
Hey Bill…
Rocker strips were cut individually before glueing with expanding polyurethane glue.
The multiple glue lines do affect the shaping. I found it easier to do all the shaping and ignore the small “ridge lines” created by the glues lines as you go. Then at the very end just go around with some sandpaper and a small block and clean them all up.
The original board was pretty stiff flex wise.
I think I photographed that board at your place eh ?
Sways has not been the same without your creativity !
GREAT job on reshaping mate !
Hayley and I will be in wonthaggi and Melbourne for five days in February… 17th to 22nd, tentatively ?
maybe we can catch up if you like ??
Hi Rohan, I think you’ve got the real spirit of Swaylocks going on there. It’s one thing to make your own board but it’s the mantra of every artisan or handyman to plan the resurrection of a beloved friend.
It’s great to see it worked out so well !
Rohan,
You mentioned that you painted it between the first and second 4-oz laminations. What did you use for painting?
Very nice resurrection – the Lazarus.
Cool! I just started rebuilding an old XPS board myself. I need to make several wall hanger boards for friends that don’t surf and I have several old never going to use again boards. So, I’m stripping the boards with enough foam to reshape something new.
This one was an experiment using a single 3" x 8’ x 24" thick slab of Blue Dow foam. One thing I noticed is that when I stripped the glass, it pulled off really clean. I can see the rough sanded foam like it was never glassed, but there are some small pockets where the resin did penetrate so when re-shaping and sanding, you have to be carefull.
Did you notice the glass coming off easily? With PU or EPS, I’d get a lot more tearing in the foam.
Another cool thing I’ve found is that the glass came off cleanly, so I’m going to make templates. They are very flexible and won’t get damaged by humidity or water like masonite board, and bend to heavy rockers better than plywood.
It was just acrylic art paint Bill. I resisted the urge to put enough layers to make it completely opaque. You can still see what’'s going on underneath - which I like.
Hi sharkcountry.
I found exactly the same thing. The glass came off really easily and cleanly. Hardly any foam chunks taken off with it - apart from the rails which sustained a little more damage.
RDM… I cut off the rails about an inch in, maybe less, because I knew that part would not come off clean. I planned on adding more rocker with rail bands and a rocker table, so I wanted a flat rail. I’ll add wood slices to build them back up. I also sanded the deck side rails a lot before cutting them to make sure I could get the glass off easy, but I don’t think I needed to do that.
I probably sanded with 60 grit or less. You can see the rough sanding marks. This definitely will have an impact of what foam I use going forward. I used up all the XPS I bought a while ago, and only have EPS now. I think this foam is much closer to Poly in the way it strips off. May be a better alternative than EPS because it has better water resistance, but you still need epoxy resin, so I don’t know if there’s any cost advantage.
I think 60 or 80 grit was the final sanding
I added the new centre strip to strengthen the rejoin as well as give me the extra width I needed to reshape the rails.
Nice, I love it. I have a pink foam home depot board I’m impressed with as well; and I’ll probably do it again. I’m curious. Can you explain what the double concave under the chest will do for the ride? I’m picturing it holding/lifting and not being very easy to go rail to rail in that area. Is this board primarily for turning on the tail? Great job by the way.
This is what I was after. I’m hoping for a bit of added lift to help liven up the softly rolled bottom feeling that this board used to have. It’s meant to be surfed from the tail and/or on the rail - no pumping required. The concaves aren’t too wide though and shouldn’t prevent rail to rail motion as/if required.
