James has been working on the panels for his new 8’1". This is the second board he has built, the first was a cedar 7’5". This 8’1" is built to the same design as his 7’5". The first photo shows the deck panel, which is made from a timber being marketed in New Zealand as ‘Pacific Red Cedar’. It is actually a lightweight tropical hardwood and is thus not a cedar at all. We got this wood from a trellis manufacturer who couldn’t use it because it was so bent and twisted. By carefully weighting and edge setting the planks James has managed to produce a flat panel. the deck panel is 3/8 of an inch thick.
The second picture is of panel two, which will lie just under the deck. This and and the other two internal panels are made of plantation grown redwood. Two identical panels like this are needed.
Picture three is of the tunnel fin panel which has been foiled from a piece of six inch plumbing pipe. it will be coated with layers of pigmented epoxy resin, faired and polished until it is as perfect as James can make it.
Roy
I suppose that James should be answering but he’s got biology to do and I won’t let him on my computer. It’s a while since I actually weighed a board and they can vary a lot, but the eight one should be about 16 pounds or so. It depends on the timber. For the shorter boards volume and buoyancy are the big factor. It’s possible to increase those by going thicker and/or wider without much extra weight. The bigger ones are in the 25 to 30 pound plus area.
There are two sets of oblique frames running in opposite directions, for strength. The boards have a parallel profile which means that they do not get strength from a truss- like tapered structure. The decks follow the bottom curve exactly. The longer boards can be very flexible and this means that there needs to be a structure which can resist the stresses which occur. I’m going to post the occasional picture as the board goes together.
Roy
Your beast looks interesting, a bit of the ‘Duke’ in there somewhere?
Good to hear James is also paying attention to his brainwork. His handy work shows!
A bit of the Duke? I feel honoured. I’ve had this shape in my head since I left school as I used to ride a Keyo mal in Sydney in the mid seventies. I recently moved to the northern suburbs of Perth and decided to build it. I wanted something I made myself and put all the elements into it that I’d thought about for over 20 years. It’s been a slow process but it’s going to be worth it.
PS. It’d better be, otherwise my 3 little girls will disown me as I’ve promised them a ride on it. I put a few more pics on the Glassing Hollow Wooden Surfboards thread.
Here’s the latest progress. The panel with the fore and aft stringers is the middle layer of the five layer sandwich, and lies in between the two layers with diagonal frames. All five panels are now complete, and are shown stacked in order ready for laminating. The pale coloured bottom panel is made from quarter inch thick plantation grown Monterey Pine (Pinus Radiata).
Roy
PS I have just noticed that James forgot to put blocking in for the fins, oops. This has to be done before laminating, otherwise we can’t set the fins in.
I was going to publish the entire board building process here but I have been accused of spamming, trolling, and saying exactly the same thing in every post. So I am not going to unless I am asked. Roy.
That’s sad Roy, I for one was interested in the process. This is about a young man learning from his father a very rare artform. And his father (understandably) is proud of his efforts.
Look at the title of the thread. Keep us up to date with James’ progress, problems, experiences please. What is it’s thickness of it now with the 5 layers put together?
James board is looking like a gem, must be a pretty special thing building a board with your son, good on ya.
I’m with Hicksy, I’m very interested in the building process. Next board I’m going to try using cloth rather than glass, I’m very interested in the concept of an almost organic board (epoxy aside).
BTW the wooden fish is finished, I’ll post it on the other thread, ready for some east coast waves later this week. Hopefully Virgin take good care of it in transit!
Here James is laminating the first two layers of the new board. First we have the deck (upside down) and then the first diagonal frame layer. Then the fin block for that layer goes in, and to help get an even squeeze we use the bottom panel under the bricks. This is not glued on, it is just to spread the load.
The epoxy resin took three days to cure, so James laid up two 5mm thick carbon fibre panels while he was waiting. One is for the front fin upstand. Here also is a picture of a pair of 7’5"s to the same design as the new 8’1". One is a western Red Cedar single fin, and the other is a Fijian Kauri/Redwood board with hybrid tunnel fin. The centre panel of the new board is now ready to be glued on to the project. R.S.
Hmmm bricks… Aren’t they lifesavers. I used pavers to keep the board flat and level while gluing and while I’m not doing anything with the board to prevent twisting.
Great to see a work of art in progress. James will be wrapped when it’s done.
the apparent gravity of the situation boggles the mechanically dependent mind…sood spread on the glue at this presure I’ll bet two layers o’ brix whats the dry time?before the next glue?.. ambrose… in awe at the bitchin brix
