Howdy all,
I’ve been reading a ton on this website the past few months. Man, what an abundant resource of knowledge and thank you in advance for your patience and help.
I’ve been surfing for several years, (I’m 19) and couldn’t help but think that making my own surfboard was the right thing to do. Especially after buying used boards for awhile and wathcing them fall apart right under my feet. I figure I can save a few bucks and still make a super fun board if I get the hang of it. Being a college student, there sure isn’t a whole lot of money around to fork over $400+ for a new board especially when you have the fun doing the DIY thing like I do.
Anyway here’s the start, I found an old 80s looking board sitting at the goodwill lot behind some markets where I live so I picked it up and brought it home. it was about 8.5 ft long 23 wide and just over 3 thick. It was badly damaged with rotting foam all over it. I dove into it and started taking the fiberglass off of it which to my newbie surprise ended up being a nightmare for the blank itself. Now, not only was it rotting all over it had chunks of the rail missing. Long story short, I’m now dealing with a board that is about 5’8 x 20 x 3. I’m not finished with it yet and would like to see what you all have to say about it. The rails towards the bottom of the board are not symetrical, as you can see in the photo one has a nice bow to it, while the other is a lot straighter due to a little mishap I had earlier on in the process. I would hate to think that the board is too far gone especially because i’ve put so much effort into it at this point. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do if anything, or if in your experience it doesn’t seem like too big of a deal if I should just keep on keeping on with it or what. I really am unsure at this point. I’m thinking I should just finish it out and surf it because I can’t see it being THAT big of a deal. It may not be great yet, but it is my first and it has come a real long way.
Here are the pictures, thank you again