Well, I’m now the proud owner of a 12’ Munoz softop. What I want to do next is install a handle so I can carry it. The Boardlady has some great instructions – see www.boardlady.com/handleinserts.htm – but it calls for a lot more than I’m capable of, starting with tools that I don’t own, such as a band saw and a router, etc. Does the single-skin construction of the softops really mandate encasing the handle inserts in Divinycell and then covering them with three layers of glass and so on? I mean, I don’t think the board’s all that heavy, that the handle is going to rip out so easily. But what do I know? Eva’s the expert, not me. But I thought I’d ask here and see if someone might have a quicker, downer-and-dirtier solution. Thanks!
Are they just to carry it, or for people to hang on to?
If you want rescue-type handles, or strap-down points for fishing gear or something, I’d just pot in a bunch or leash plugs and tie webbing between them.
If you want to carry it, I’d probably route out two slots on the bottom & refill them with a good amount of glass & epoxy. Two channels, each one as far down as your fingers can reach in from the other side with it under your arm. Won’t affect performance (and I use the word loosely) at all, and it would be a lot easier to tie in to the hard bottom than to the soft top with your new glass. You want to carry that thing with the foam skin against your body & kind of resting on your hip anyway, because it slides down less easy like that. Hopefully, you can picture what I’m talking about…
Why don’t you just carry it on your head, ala “Endless Summer” poster?
Surfifty: I would carry it that way but my head is too flat as it is.
Benny: I’m not going to be using it for haul people; at the same time, I don’t think I’m up for routing out the bottom in the manner you suggest; again, I have neither the skills nor the tools. Now, leash plugs up top, that might work. Do you think you need to go through all the fancy shenanigans that Eva recommends? Or do you think just carving out a hole for the leash plug is good enough, given how fairly light the board is?
I used to carry my big board on my head, but then I developed neck problems. If the strap is for carrying, there are other options. I would think that you would trip on the strap when trimming the board, but that is just me. I’ll try to get some pix up of my solution for carrying my 11ft munoz softop (oops, my dirty little secret is out…). While I can reach my arm around it to carry it, what I find to be easier is that I’ve got a wheel I strap onto the nose with a bungee, and then I put the fairly narrow tail of the board under my arm and drag it behind me. I’ve even dragged it as far as a mile off-road without too much trouble, except for the dumpy waves that greeted my arrival to the beach. It is especially bitchin’ when it is windy as you don’t get so torqued trying to hold on to your board!
–BCo
I’ll go for the “leashplug” solution, since if it goes wrong you only need to remove and do it “a la Boardlady”.
What I suggest is to drill a hole big enough to insert the leashplug, but with tapered walls so the base is larger than the top. Then fill 1/2 with epoxy resin+fibreglass and then push leashplug into the hole.
The tapered walls will create a resin cone, which will be less prone to popout than a resin cilyndre.
Something like this:
RED: EVA foam
DARK BLUE: fibreglass
ORANGE: PVC foam
GREY: EPS foam
BLACK: leashplug
CYAN: epoxy resin
There use to be a product called the Sling. It was a strap the looped around the nose and tail of your board and it would fit over your shoulder much like a letter carrier carries the mail. If you could find one or have a sailmaker/shoemaker make one for you it just may solve your problem. Considering your arm length plus the boards width, you may be creating more of a problem with the board hitting the ground if you opt to carry the board with the top handle.
Quote:
There use to be a product called the Sling. It was a strap the looped around the nose and tail of your board and it would fit over your shoulder much like a letter carrier carries the mail. If you could find one or have a sailmaker/shoemaker make one for you it just may solve your problem. Considering your arm length plus the boards width, you may be creating more of a problem with the board hitting the ground if you opt to carry the board with the top handle.
Yah, I have one of those, works “OK” for my 10 footer, but far from perfect. If my board had handles, I’d probably use them 80% of the time in preference to the sling. The two issues I have with my sling are related. First, the shoulder strap is too short to go over my head to the opposite shoulder, which is my preferred method of single-shoulder carry for anything. Since I have a “slope” shouldered build, the result is that the strap is constantly sliding and needing adjustment. Second issue is that when the strap slides, the whole sling tends to shift, then bind and form a single band of tension through the strap and around the board. So even though the part of the sling that contacts the board is probably about 16" wide, it then starts behaving as if there was only a single strap around the entire board, at the leading or trailing (depending on how it shifted and bound) edge. This creates a serious front-to-back imbalance, not a desirable trait when carrying a longboard. I don’t want to exaggerate this too much, it is a tendency, not an inevitability, and I do use it when I need to make a medium-length trip from the truck to the beach, and don’t want to make a second trip for towel, rash guard, wax, etc. But I wouldn’t use it for a walk of much over 1/4 mile, and it isn’t worth the effort to use for a really short walk.
-Samiam
whadda bout o’fish’l glue down surface mount leash string tachments/?
this $8.00 solution may be an alternative.
glue down with zap a gap and a little travelin’ music sammy and …
viola is thet yew?
…ambrose…
is zap a gap better than duck tape?
ducks hink so.
Thanks, all, for your suggestions. In the end, I handed the board over to my local genius repair guy and I think he’s pretty much hewing to the Board Lady’s ideas. I’ll post pix of the completed set up. Again, thanks!
Ok, but remind him to use ONLY epoxy resin!!!
How’d the install go? Here’s my wheelie dealie, sorry for the crappy pix. It’s good for long hauls with big boards (I routinely use mine for 1/2 mile trek).
