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Greetings Swaylockians!
For years I have wanted to shape and after a surf trip to Barbados fell
apart I finally found myself with some extra money to give it a go. I
posted a “first time shaper” thread about a year ago and looking back
at some of my more idiotic ideas its amazing how much I learned (and am still
learning) in such a short period of time. Here is a short story of some
of my misadventures and experiences…
My original plan was to use sheets of EPS insulation from Lowes. I got
some funny looks from the cashier when I explained was going to build a
surfboard with it (there arnt many shapers on the west coast of the Chesapeake) but she
wished me luck anyway. I strapped the board onto the roof and took of
down I-95 back to school. Now, a funny think happens when you drive 80mph
with a sheet of 2" foam on the roof. Air gets underneath it and
tires to lift it off the roof while the straps try to hold it down.
Eventually wind won the battle- the foam snapped right at the front strap and I
watched in my rear view mirror as my ‘blank’ bounced down the highway.Great start, huh?
After this first failure I posted in my local surf forum asking around for
some EPS blanks.I got several helpful responses
and one guy, lets call him ‘Dave’, offered to cut me a custom blank and show me
the ropes. I spent my spring break in
his shop cutting and sanding and shaping my first board.I cant thank him enough for all of his time,
patience and generosity so Dave, if your reading this- thanks for everything.
So here is the first board. It’s a 6’3” x 21 fish with a McKee quad fin
setup.
Deck
Bottom
Rocker
If these pics post correctly I'll describe the board in my next post
I cant edit out the junk on the top of the post or change the size of the pics so ill just have to live with it.
Anyway, I wanted a board that will work in typical east coast slopy conditions. I made her almost 3" thick, 21" wide, big boxy rails and a fat swallow tail. The bottom is airbrushed with red acrylic and the logo was glassed on rice paper. I was very happy with the way she turned out… up until the hot coat at least.
I hand painted the pinlines and, even though you can see it on the pictures, they didnt come out very well. I think I should have thined out the paint a bit more and added some calcium carbonate to flatten it out a bit. After that I decided to give it a gloss coat which turned into a catastropic failure. Not wanted to overstay my welcome at Daves I started working on my side yard in a 10x10 ez-up tent. I dont know how many of you are familiar with NC in August but it is HOT. Inside the tent was about 115* and the mosqitos and moths loved the bright lights inside. As i was gloss coating sweat kept dripping off my face onto the board and at least a dozen bugs decided to make it thier final resting place. The resin also seperated from the pinlines pretty bad. One of these days I might sand it all off and try again but its only cosmetic so im not too worried.
The worst part of the board is that it rides like crap. When i paddle it feels like I am towing a bucket behind me and I have a real hard time getting into the waves. I think this is because I have too much volume up front and it lifts the nose out of the water, forcing my weight back. Anyway once i do get up it rides alright but its so fustrating to get into the wave i dont surf it very often.
I did these both at the same time in my ‘shaping bay’ aka the tent on my side lawn. The night before i started shaping them I set the tent up only to find that I set it up on top of a sprinkler. Good thing I kept the blanks in my garage or else they would have been soaked. Sadly, my radio was in the tent and it did not survive.
So here is board #2. Its 6’6’’ x 19" x 2 1/2 2# EPS with a PVC stringer. I am really happy with the way that this one turned out but I havnt had a chance to ride it yet. Ill post a report as soon as I get a chance.
And finally board #3. This one is also 2# EPS with a PVC stringer, provided by Dave. My girlfriend was begging me to make her a board so we worked out a real nice pink and blue argyle like patern. It took me 11 hours and 3 rolls of take to do the paint job on this one but I am really stoked with the way it came out. Of couse a a few months later we broke up and now im stuck with a pink board.
The dims are 7’4’’ x 20.5 x 2 1/2. It has a single 8" dorsel fin on it right now but I think it might be a bit too much fin for a board this small. Ive never rode a single fin before so any input would be appreciated. I rode it once in clean-ish knee high waves and was very pleased with the way it rode. Very stable, fast, and turned pretty well too. I usually ride short boards so it took some getting used to but I was able to pull off a cheater 5 after a few rides. All in all, a fun board.
I neglected to talk about the tools and materials I used so I will do so now. All of the blanks are 2# EPS with PVC stringers custom cut with a hotwire to a very close tellorance. All the really needed to do was blend out the rails a bit and put in a concave. I shaped them mostly with basic hand tools. I bought one of these cheap army style sleeping mats from wallmart and glued sand paper onto 12’‘x4’’ strips. My ‘planer’ was a 8’’ 2x4 with 60grit sandpaper stapled on.
Resin- I used Greenroom Epoxy on all three boards. I dont really have anything to compare them too but IMHO they make a great product. When I stopped by the shop they were real nice, showed me around, and spent a good bit of time explaining how it worked and the do’s and dont’s of epoxy.
Glassing- I memory is a bit hazy on the glassing but I think all the boards have 4+4 scloth on the deck and 4s on the bottom. I know ecloth might be a bit overkill as far as price is concerned but when I bought the stuff I didnt know any better. I also have patches around the fins and maybe a deck patch on the 7’4’’ but, like i said, i dont really remember that well.
Fins- On the fish and the thruster I used probox fins. They were pretty easy to install and on my next board I plan to use them again. ProBox Larry and Brian from Greenlight were great about answering any questions. Those guys rock! The 7’4’’ has a single fin that Dave helped me install with a vacuum jig thingey.
So there it is- my first three boards. Please give me some feed back on them so I can improve my work. I really enjoyed working on these and am looking forward to starting board #4 this spring.
All I can say about your work is…excellent! I could’nt add any suggestions to improving your work. From shape to glassing and color scheme, you seem to have it all down. You can only get better with every board you do. Great work.
All I can say about your work is…excellent! I could’nt add any suggestions to improving your work. From shape to glassing and color scheme, you seem to have it all down. You can only get better with every board you do. Great work.
wow, those boards are really really nice man, that red quad fish looks like a blast to ride! as for shapers on the west side of the Chesapeake, i live in Annapolis! i get the same looks from people when i tell them im making a surboard, lol.
