I was planning on building a kayak to practice the Stich and Glue method of building. Buddy talked me into going for the HWS straight away. This was such a long process. Read up on old school boat building and designing methods and started lofting a half scale model. Decided it would work and bought the door skin from Home Depot. I think it was $7 for a sheet. The thing is, it was heavy to start with. Just the sheet was heavy. I thought it would be OK once the cutting started.
Sorry the pics have gaps between steps.
Cut the profile. (tail too thick)
Cut the crossection ribs.
On the rail I planed on casting two part foam, for ease of shaping. I should have made that a 90 degree angle but went with one of the chine angles. Next time 90.
I followed the Lis Fish pretty closely. This belly roll helped because more pieces ment more access to the ribs. Ended up drilling small holes in the skin and rib for a zip tie. Used TiteBond III for internal gluing. I was considering using GreatStuff. It will stick to anything and sets up real quick (but not too quick). Anyone try that?
This was a mess. I could not think of a way to control this process. I found 4 lbs. density two-part pour foam. Thinking that would be stronger. They say GreatStuff is 2lbs. density. Anyway, I used scraps of doorskin to build a dam lined with wax paper. Small batches and free pour.
Ended up sanding most of it by hand. Went really fast. Ended up with a decent down rail. Not that it was planned, but at least it started looking like a surfboard.
The pour foam was inconsistant to say the least. Filled it with lightweight spackle. Painted the foam rails. First time laminating with epoxy (RR). The thing was getting so heavy already. Never weighed it but guess about 10 lbs. at this point. Lam schedule was 4 oz. bottom, 4 oz. top w/ 4 oz. 3/4 deck patch. I wanted to see the strength difference between wood and Clark foam.
Kinda had a weird bobble in the nose area. Now for the vent.
Put the vent right over the stringer, otherwise it could fall right into the board.
Built up a valcano of resin for the vent. You can see it in some of the finished pics. You can see the zip tie holes too.
I had made some keel style fins from the same wood. They looked alright, sorry no pics of them. I should say, this was going to be a full scale model, the wood was so cheap. It came out better than I expected, and I should have had a different mind set toward all this work. I was way sloppier than I would have been with a standard blank.
First surf:
The thing weighed 10 - 12 lbs. Just way too much. Never had that “My New Board” excitement. Went down to our local beach break. Met some friends at the crowded spot. The waves were really good. Almost chest high and clean. This poor board barked all the way to the beach. I caught some nice open faces, did some turns, lippers and just never got it going. It didn’t catch waves the way other fish of similar sizes did for me. It floated just right, didn’t feel unbalanced or sloppy, just felt dead (weight). I ended up hitting my foot on the tail during a take off. I think the tail being way too thick had alot to do with it.
Second surf:
My 12 year old son rode the thing a couple of times. He liked it OK. He’s not really looking to do any big turns or move from the pocket much. I was never comfortable with him and all that weight in summer (tourist swimmers) surf.
A friend wanted a surfboard table. What timing. I was so bummed on this thing. So much time invested. But the last board built pays for the next 1 + 1/2 boards. Off it goes, and started reading about EPS and vacuum bagging. Hey, that 1# EPS is the next best thing to hollow. So maybe the next post…
I miss that board now. But I just know if I was riding something else, I would have be having tons of fun. It was a neat board and I got enough $ to fund the EPS start up costs, so I have think I’m ahead. Boards have to surf good first and foremost.
Let me know what you think of the board. I can see making another one, just need to get the weight way down. Any ideas?
The poor behaviour of your wooden fish is definitely nothing to do with it weighing 12 pounds, and has everything to do with its shape ! If you made an identical board at half the weight it would be just as much of a ‘dog’, or even worse. Specifically, the board has not enough nose rocker, so it will lack acceleration on takeoff (and at other times), also it has a bump or hip near the tail, which will prevent the rail line forward of the bump from being used effectively, this also makes the rails forward of the bump too parallel, also I think the widepoint should come forward. It could be a fin issue as well.
Regarding weight, there is really no such thing as ‘dead weight’ in surfing, because more weight always increases the force which drives the board. . . . . . weight can be an issue if it reduces buoyancy too much, but that isn’t the case with your board because you said it was buoyant enough already
From what I have seen it can be very tricky to get a clean shape with the standard HWS method, a lot of the HWS boards I have seen have horrible bumps in the planshape, probably because the rails are added afterwards.
PS Loooking more closely it seems that the apparent bump in the tail planshape is actually due to an upwards kink in the tail rocker. . . . . an even worse fault which will definitely make the board feel as dead as a dodo.
“This poor board barked all the way to the beach.” hahahahhhh. That’s the best description of a board that surfs poorly that I have EVER read !! beauty. and the table ?? oh man, hahahahhhhhh what can I say ?? speechless , for a change . Great entertainment , now maybe if you ever make another doggy hws board , you could turn that into a set of chairs , so you have a matching outdoor setting .
sell them to hollowood stars , for 10,000usa a piece ! some schmoe would probably buy them, just advertise them under “one off unique surfboard furniture” , or some title like that.
Thanks guys, I might not have a future in surfboards but it sounds like I could get a shiny pole and some lewd women, then everyone will be sportin’ wood. ha ha
Anyone think of a way to make these things lightweight? Seems D. Hess nailed it. I think the HWS guys are either OK with or like the weight. I thought I would be OK with it but now can’t wait to have “too light”. Looking at EPS/balsa comps, I wonder if you could make one of those hollow? hmmm…
Why does it have to be hollow? Have you ever felt how light 1lb. EPS is? Like a feather, no exaggeration. Most balsa comps and Daniel’s boards are 1 lb. eps core. Try that. Plus you get to “shape” your board . I have nothing but respect for the HWS guys, but having lofted sailboat moulds, I always figured you’d have to be close to an engineer to effectivelly draft out your desired shape before you begin setting up the HW structure, especially with regards to compound curves. I’m more of a sculptor than a engineer so I prefer to shape.
