IN DEFENSE OF HOW TO BUILD YOUR FIRST SURFBOARD
Well…as some here would say, “Surfersteve is stupid,” but in my defense, “at least I’m ugly!” Although I am generally not a fan of forums, and despite the criticisms, I like Swaylocks. It is the best of it’s kind, populated by many innovative, and helpful builders. Swaylocks seems to operate in the highest order of Internet tradition – open information…and, what is better; it is almost always done in a very pleasant and cooperative manner. A number of enjoyable hours have been spent here being amazed and instructed. Thanks to the introducers of novelty – you are a rare breed. I wish I could surf with you or watch you build a board.
Mostly, Swaylocks members have been kind to How to Build Your First Surfboard - thank you. Also, I want to thank those who have repeatedly attacked the site. It has a benefit not foreseen – the amounts of nuisance emails have lessened (frivolous browsers not building a board). So…please continue. You are helping me, and insuring that who ever follows your advice will do everything in a conventional manner. This need not be taken as a criticism, as most builders would prefer a replica of a conventional production board. And so…for most builders, the critics may be a better source than How to Build Your First Surfboard.
The book was intended for the one percenters – the few weirdo’s who want a guide to help them build simply and cheaply, with emphasis on eliminating the common mistakes of first time builders…for someone willing to substitute manual labor for power tools…for someone more interested in a functional surfboard than peer approval…for someone with a long attention span and a sense of commitment. For the one percenters, despite the criticisms, the surfersteve site may still have value, and so, if you need help, or want to recommend help, consider reading on.
As the title states, the book is for first time builders. It is written so a person anywhere in the world, with no knowledge of surfboards, with no other information, can build a functional surfboard. Over ten thousand emails suggest those who simply read carefully, practice, and follow the numbers, seem to never ruin their materials. This is mostly because the site has been edited so often, in response to so many emails. It seems no one else in the world has been exposed to the problems of the first time surfboard builder as much as the author. Maybe this exposure along with many years of supervising people on construction sites, gives the author a unique perspective.
Please allow a few suggestions to people wishing to help first time builders:
- Be very specific. Do not give too many options. First time builders want to know exactly (specifically) what to do. Example: 1-6oz. “E” cloth top and bottom with a 6oz. deck patch – minimum.
- Pick one favorite source as a referral (not necessarily surfersteve), preferably a site that specializes in first time building. Advising first timers to archive the forum often results in confusion – how can they know what to believe? Please, do not refer them to youtube or time edited sites where professional builders using power tools make it look deceptively easy.
- Write
your own guide for first time builders and make it available on
Swaylocks. Maybe this could be a compilation
of the most applicable posts.
It may be that many things in the book are of questionable
merit. Most of the criticism is of
items in the Misconceptions or Tips chapters, which are controversial,
opinionated, for general interest, and not in the how to body. This is expected, as the site directs
browsers there immediately – to MISCONCEPTIONS. It is interesting that the criticisms come from areas that will
take less than three minuets to get to – this is supposed to be the average
attention span in America now. The
SMALL WAVE DESIGN is attacked most.
This is curious, as many surfers are now wave riding SUPs that are
equally wide and thick. Many items in
the book that were criticized for being stupid nine years ago are now conventional
wisdom, such as; polystyrene foam and epoxy (forced into acceptance by
default). It seems it only takes a few
brave people to try something new, and post something positive somewhere, then
it quickly spreads, otherwise it remains untried, and is called weird. The book has a plethora of strange items
that will work well when tried, but the weirdo’s trying them tend to not care
what people think, tend to come from areas outside popularized surfing areas,
and tend not to frequent forums. Also, these items do not make money for
anyone.
What value would the book have if it agreed with everything else written?
Although it has been said that surfers are non-conformists, could it be we are stuck in a consensus trance? We are all copiers, and anyone who builds even a few inches outside conventional surfboard dimensions is soon negatively attacked.
How would we be surfing if Duke Kahanamuku taught us we had to surf standing on our heads?
When browsing the web for information on what a beginner needs to build a surfboard (including Swaylocks) the conventional wisdom (what comes up most often) is:
- Spend $60 on videos showing how professional builders make boards using power tools.
- Browse the Swaylocks Forum, or use advice by an author advocating mostly conventional production techniques.
The following are common surfboard production tools: Hitachi planner - $379., Milwaukee sander - $245., foam pad - $41. Ryobi router - $100.
This amount of expense should make any first time builder hesitate. Consider how many personal boards must be made to make it worthwhile. Although these items will make it more likely the builder will have a finished product close to a showroom board, it is also more likely to cause him to ruin his materials. It is hard to ruin a board with hand tools and/or a low speed drill, and How to Build Your First Surfboard is free, with email backup for users committed to it.
Browsing the Swaylocks Forum tends to result in confusion for the first time builder. Eventually he often decides that what is recommended most is most correct. Although what is recommended most may be most correct for production building, maybe something different is preferable for a beginner. This is apparent after reading numerous emails similar to the following: “I followed the advice on Swaylocks and now my resin hardened before I got the rails wrapped.”
How to Build Your First Surfboard is not meant to appeal to regular contributors of Swaylocks – you guys are far beyond it generally, however, please allow me to beat the following criticized ideas into the surfing consciousness, and allow you one more chance to argue about it:
- Build using more cloth and/or denser foam than used on conventional (custom production) boards – the custom board business is damaging their future sales by making disposable products.
- Disregard the flexibility debate. Consider the possibility that durability is more important – about 2 lbs. of extra resin and cloth is the difference between a disposable board and one that will last indefinitely.
- Consider the possibility of trying (just trying!) a wider and/or thicker board.
- Wonder if it may be true, that a surfboard need not have the tail depressed into the water in order to turn. Yes, it can be turned with the board relatively flat on the water with a twisting, (swiveling) motion. This allows for a very wide tail, with fins about 9” more forward, at about 70 degree rake (more upright and more narrow, with straight edges – a parallelogram) – allowing the rider to turn and plane from about a foot further forward, with relatively little loss of speed.
- Disregard the cosmetics – a surfboard need not appear as furniture, and the majority of surfers smear wax over it anyway.
- Be a
weirdo who drinks electric koolaid (the loveable John Mellor, pauluk,
Damon Pieri, Onuela, Mattress, and da5id brand) and consider the
possibility of trying the following:
- Try the simple math formulas for rocker and board size adjustments.
- Make you own fins from cheap cedar fence wood.
- Use a drill as foam shaping tool, router and sander.
- Try epoxy resins from uscomposites.com – especially the clear coat epoxy (thick, but works well), and the 635 slow (summer only) epoxy (both much cheaper than the excellent rr2000 or ss2000). Note: the manufacturers’ wholesale base product price for epoxy is much closer to polyester than the retail price usually reflects (the reformulators are thinning epoxy with cheap phenols - see their MSDS - and raising their price). While viewing any MSDS on epoxy hardener, note that it is not safe without ventilation or a respirator.
- Drill or puncture 1/8” – 3/16” holes, 1 –2” apart in blank, in damage prone areas (heel dent areas), and fill with dowels, or resin, to bond top and bottom laminates together.
- Make racks with slits cut in 5 gallon buckets, covered with pipe foam and masking tape.
- Use 30lb. roofing felt for templates (can be rolled up).
- #12 or #16 grit sanded traction finish – “Owee, my skin will disappear!”
You can help first time builders by constructively criticizing the book. Please send specific, constructive criticism (yes, please do) to steve@surfersteve.com, or leave it here (although it may not be seen for many months) – this will improve the book. Although some here have said it is, “laughably bad, littered with nonsense, unreasonable, not credible, off the wall, silly, lost, and worth what you paid for it (free)”, tens of thousands of builders, from New Guinea to Nova Scotia, have been thankful, despite its shortcomings, to have it when building their first surfboard. Please help improve it.
In conclusion, I thank my detractors, as you have now made me part of a wonderful thing - the Swaylocks family. Swaylocks is a great site – the best forum site I have seen. I respect and admire the inventive rascals on Swaylocks, but… is it beyond the realm of the first time builder?
