Glued my shhets together (30mm) eps with a lamnate of 6oz glass. and popped the rocker in then - it held and the weight it added was next to nothing. Probably a fraction too much tail rocker so i will numb that down a little when i laminate the board, but on the whole fairly happy - will give the board a spackle first.
Would have been such an easier task with a planer but all i used was an old horse file (used for doing horses feet) and a few sheets of 60 and 120 grade pper and a piece of straigt edge. Pretty happy thus far with it - what you all think.
board is 5'8 by 21 1/2 by two and a bit......there is a single concave running to flat tail with the rails sanded a bit to allow the water to escape from the concave.
Straighten the right side of nose outline to match the left side.ps: I never shaped eps yet, but the right side or board looks off? Not sure but can u sand it out??
Just a question...did you use a template to cut the outline or simply measured the distances perpendicular to the stringer and cut out the outline that way?
I ask because I did exactly that on my first board...the results were less than (i'll be king to myself).... acceptible.
So if yes, then I'd advise to making a template. The board is 21 1/2 wide, so you still have some room (volume???) to play with.
Also, you never know, there might be a Sway's backyard guy or a pro-shaper living in your area and might be willing to lend you a template for a few days, if youre not sure how to make one yourself.
Good luck with it....you'll love the board once it hits the water.
Traced an existing my board to get the outline. And trued it up the best i could, it is fairly ok...
Will see how it goes - massive learning process - next board I will use a planner for and make a better set of racks. Wasnt happy with the ones I used.
But By far the planer sticks out as the key for a better board, the ability to keep everything squared up as I go. I hope the eps with a layer of glass in the middle works well as it is a method i found worked well. I think next time i will shape in my bottom cuve before setting the rocker though.
There wont be a next time until i can figure out how to keep mess to a minimim, dont have a shed, maybee a tent? sounds weird but important, no one wants foam balls running around everywhere....
Good effort. If I can add some constructive criticisem, It looks like far too much rocker and mainly in the centre of the board. I did something similiar but with no rocker out the tail with my second board which actually goes surprisingly well once you get used to it. I got rockers sorted now by using a long straight plank balanced and centred on the bottom of the board which you can measure the rocker down from, if that makes sense.
I layed a piece of 6oz glass in betweenmy sheets and weighted the board down onto a board to duplicate its rocker - it set perfectly. i should have taken my foam from the top instead of the bottom.....but the board has so much spring - i am going to spackle my rails and tidy up and then glass in some rails on either side (like parabolic carbon rails, but normal glass and re-set the rocker.)
pretty happy with it, but always second guessing it...should i bother glassing it, should i go order a custom.....nothing ventured nothing gained.
Ok, I think I know why you got so much rocker…if you weighed down your unglassed board with the deck against the bottom of the “template” board you prob got the replica of the rocker on the deck, instead of the bottom. This then enhanced the actual rocker to these proportions you have now.
So, glass the board, then immediately place it onto the deck of the “template” board and weight the bottom of your freshly glassed board to the deck rocker of the other board. This will make the board pretty flat…but it’ll be easyer to paddle, and possibly fast down the line
It’ll be messy…I can tell you that straight away.
Someone else might have a different/easier solution.
Sorted the problem by laying a few 3 inch by 5 foot strips on the deck where the stringer would be and a brought the rocker back down to about 2 1/2 inches at the nose and 1 inch at the tail. the tail has sanded down rails after the concave - so the rail almost steps up - not sure how that will go........error or invention.
But out of curisity if i set my rocker as i previously did with a sheet of 6 oz in between and am happy with my bottom curver as is how do i take the foam out of the deck? to get the volume out considering your rocker on deck is a different curve to your bottom rocker...surely there is some eps builders out there. or do i shape it all then pop the rocker in.
partially happy with how this one turned out but certainly can learn from the errors.
I not long ago did a 2inch by 22 inch by 5'10. I am by no means an expert on this and have envy on some of the wizards on here. Look at the EPS carbon mixer grasshopper did it is something i can only aspire to. But being a backyard hack my focus is to keep my clean up to a minimal (take as little foam as possible), simple boxy rails, simple bottom and a nice outline - specially when im only playing with 50mm of eps (fruitbox as you put it). My deck is flat i do not roll it but i did on my last do some very interesting glass work on the deck to make it very hard to compress or snap - all while trying to keep some flex.
So here is my pic of what i did - it may help - excuse the tech drawing it is microsoft paint. But the red is what i took from a sheet of 50mm eps. i would test bend and weight it down to double check my measurements and rocker on a board i was copying. Once i was happy - I I glassed a deck patch on the bottom and weighted it onto the board using a big piece of plastic over my laminated patch. My patch left enough room to profile bottom edge and things like that and if you weight the board down enough it takes on enough of concave from the rocker of the board you are matching. if you want to change your rocker any more you can in the final laminate. i found this the easiest method to get to different deck and bottom rockers. You can glue up two sheets but i found this to be less time consuming and less waste of cloth and epoxy.
Finsih it with a high grade sand paper and dont spackle - waste of time just in my books.
Im not preaching, or saying im an expert shaper but i have done one really fun board this way for a little over $120 australian. my thinking was i just wanted boards a little different, and a little left of field. And when the surf is pumping you pull out your professionally made boards that you fork out good money for a good product. Im off to mentawis soon and just about to put my order in for a few more customs but i also love my boards i have made.
not sure what the xperts will think of my blue print but it works for me.
Have you ever taken a surform to low density eps? No good.Instead of using an old board to bend your rockers you should make a rocker jig .Download aku shaper and learn how to use it.Design an outline you like and also a good profile(rocker/foil) and print the templates.align your templates and spray adhesive them to a sheet of 1/2" ply wood.Get a circular saw and cut your rocker template,then use it to mark out and cut another identical.Screw the ply wood to some 24" 2x4 's as if you were building a skateboard ramp,space them about 2" apart or so.Then lay a piece of masonite over the 2x4’s and attach it where needed.This is a version of a rocker table to give you an idea,disregard the vac bag and the aluminum table.Or you could just buy a blank hahaha.
Buy a blank....that would be so sensable....im pretty happy now ive corrected my rocker.
So true i have seen what a sureform (file) does to the eps. thank you for the PM regarding foam density. Having popped two layers of glass down the centre of the deck I have found it is really hard so perhaps i have 2 lb? How will i know? Anyway i think i am going to glass this board and just see how it all goes and what i can take away from the process. under the arm it feels great and having left enough room at the front i think in final glassing i will give her a little nose kick.
I read somewhere on swaylocks(so it has to be true right!) that you can weigh a cube of your foam and do the math to find out what density it is.It is good to know what your working with,too much heat and a board constructed from 1 pound eps that has no vent will blow up like a balloon and delaminate.All of my 1 pound eps boards have been very high maintenance,so I’ve moved on to better eps and also cut my blanks from large blocks with a hotwire,I’m so lazy I dont even use stringers,just a few extra layers of glass instead.I just want to surf,and shaping and repairing my own boards keeps me in the water better than waiting for repairs or settleing for what the shop has for sale.
