Hello all,
I am just wondering if there any Great Lakes Shapers on here. Im in Erie, PA. I am going to try my hand at shaping a 6’4" fish. I am just looking for some Info on Building a Fish for Lake Erie.
brrrr, not getting many replies might be a good sign. You won’t have much local competition as a builder fo shore, great idea though, you could start a revival. A movement perhaps. I spent many days in the water (“on” in winter) growing up in the great lakes region and would have enjoyed it more with a decent surfboard. If you have located a regular place where waves can be found, study the wave a bit and consider increased volume for the needed buoyancy.
Erie is probably the shallowest of the five and with you being in pa you possibly get the biggest waves. I remember head high swell in point peelee, was doh for me then.
Have any big sandbars?? Might want to think about kite surfing, would surely take off.
Hey.
I ride lake Erie/ Ontario and Huron…
I’m currently building : 2 @ 5’6" kite- fish boards as we speak, can’t reflect on a 6’4" fish for paddle surfing Erie, but that size should work well… My biggest is a 6’x20", but I’ve got kite power to fall back on…
I’ve been shaping windsurfers for years, but build only kite boards now…
If you don’t have the power of ocean swell, kite power is an exciting alternative…
Cheers Kiterider…
Where abouts are you from?? Im down in Erie, pa Having trouble finding materials. I found a place with 2Lbs. EPS in town. Where do you get all of your materials from?
I ride a 5-8,21 in. wide,2-3/4" thick mayo fish on the lake in cleveland.
If I was going to shape the same board it would be wider and thicker but not longer.
We need to involve more of these guy’s here.The lake is a frustrating situation of fresh water and gutless waves.
Good luck to you,shaping a few boards put me more in touch with riding.
Hey Dan,
I’m from Ontario Can.
I ride Lake Erie’s southern shore ,at a place called Long Beach, it has a good beach break, but a far better “island break” that hits a small limestone island about 1/2 a mile out, you could’nt paddle out there , but with a kite it takes two or three tacks and you’re in the good stuff…
I’ve been out in head high stuff when the wind is howling!!
Between the island and the point there is a sweet spot that gets hollow glassy walls when the wind shifts from southwest to west, this is nothing like ocean swells, but is pretty outstanding for wind driven waves…
On a non-windy day the place is as flat as a pancake… ")
We use Core-cell hard foam over our cores of 1# TO 1.5# EPS…
I buy my glass and hard foam from various local spots in Toronto, I buy my 1.5# eps at home depot, and hot wire it to shape then skin/glass on a vacuum table to ensure rocker…
I just picked up 10 sheets of bamboo veneer @1/40" thick, which I’ll use over 1/8" A500 Core-cell skins… this makes for a bomber kite-surfboard…
Cheers, and a very Merry X-Mas!
Kiterider…
Please try a kite with your fish or any surfboard for tha matter, Great Lake waves are a blast when you have a powerful kite lanching you into the face of a wind driven wave…
Mush is a real gas with a kite, you can, grind/slide the lip on the foam, and get very good air’s on the way back out!!
Cheers Kiterider…