AJ72,
Thank you for the sentiments. That’s Occy, the foam bandit right? Funny, just the other day I got the book Marley & Me and as I started to read through the book, it reminded me of your Savage Attack thread and of my Dalmatian Baloney, Harley’s best friend. Nothing is safe! When Baloney was younger anything was game, aluminum, glass, charcoal, chlorine tablets, etc… it’s amazing he is still alive. Now its just gophers, lizards, and what ever other critters he can find in the yard. I suppose he was meant to be a survivor, as he has brought great joy to my family. It seems the only thing he hasn’t gotten a hold of yet is a blank, but that’s not out of the question. I would like to thank you for originally posting your thread, as I would guess it brought a grin to more than one forum member’s face. BTW, Occy looks like a really cool dog and I bet you’re glad to have him. I just loved the picture of him with that foam eating grin on his face. Truly classic!
ChrisP,
Thank you for the kind words. I know what you mean, sometimes it’s hard to think about our good buddies leaving us or the ones that have already left, but just remember … “All Good Dogs Go to Heaven”
I like your Avatar, that little guy looks pretty cool too. One thing I have noticed about this site is that besides pictures of people’s boards or pictures of people riding their boards is that pictures of people’s dogs are a very common avatar. I think that is very telling of the relationship people share with their dogs and the quality of people on this BB. As AJ 72 mentions in this thread, unconditional love, and mans best friend. If you have had a bad day at the office or job site all it takes is to come home to that smiling grin and that wagging tail and your spirits are instantly lifted.
JohnM,
Thank you for sharing that great outlook on his spirit. That is exactly what I thought when I was putting down the lam that I drew of him, when I was glassing the board. It was kind of eerie as that lam really does look like a caricature version of him. Gone, but not forgotten and he will be right there with me on every ride.
…and Chip,
I know you haven’t chimed in on this thread but just to beat you to the punch…
(I PM’ed the guy probably about a year ago telling him I was going to post some pics of another board I was working on at the time and never got around to it so this one will have to do)
A little bit more about the board and how it goes…
The overall dims are 5’10” x 21 ½” x 2 ¾” with full volume all throughout the template. The nose is 17” and change, the tail 16” and change. The nose rocker is just south of 3” and the tail rocker is just north of 2”. The deck is very flat and the bottom is as well. The rails are full and it carries a hard edge about 18” up that tapers to soft up towards the nose. The board was shaped from a Bennett – 6’1” Hobie/ Terry Martin polyurethane blank with a 4x6x4 e-cloth Sylmar 249-A polyester resin glass schedule. The fins are black True Ames Hobie Fish honeycomb fiberglass twin keels with a 7 1/8” base and are 5 ¼” tall glassed with two 6oz and one 4oz patch each side.
The board is a blast! At 2 ¾” thick with low rocker the thing floats and paddles great. It has a flat bottom with a slight toe-in and a few degrees cant on the fins and absolutely flies down the line. It’s a little tricky putting it on a rail with all that volume, but I have plenty of shortys for that. The thing floats, glides, and rides great. The only thing I’m worried about is that it is going to be hard going back to my normal shortys after riding this board. I can stroke into waves so easy and the instant glide is a joy. I built it to surf down at the cliffs where I live and it is a great compliment to the waves there.
Regards, Tony.
