its been a while since ive contributed to this site, so here goes.
the following photos are of the 7’4" gun ive been working on for the last few months. thank you paul for the inspiration…
first up, i designed the board on aku and run it through hollow template maker for the full rib, stringer and outline.
i had it printed on sticky backed vynel (much like most stickers) then stuck all the rib and stringer templates strait onto the ceder. then cut em out.
laying it all up on a rocker table…
frame complete…
glueing up the decks… sorry bout the photo quality too. most of em are from my phone.
sticking down the bottom deck…
glueing down the top deck was quite a challenge. as there is so much deck roll plus rocker, the timber just didnt want to bend both ways. i ended up trashing the first deck cos it split so much. steam was the answer…
applying the cork rails…
squaring up the cork before shaping em…
onto the fin…
leftover resin in a cup makes a good leash loop…
the glassing begins…
leash loop and fin…
finally a couple of coats of automotive 2k clear, fit the air vent and she’s ready for a surf…
couple a questions for you, when you stuck your rail pieces to the frame were they cut parallel or did you have to cut them to suit the rocker, when i did mine i found i had to cut them to shape but obviously it would be much easier if they were parallel.
also how strong do you think the leash loop will be with a board of that weight? i wimped out and drilled a hole and made my own wooden leash plug which still looks nice but not as retro as a loop.
as the cork tiles are only 305 mm long, i just cut them according to the rail thickness to where there going. then just trim off the excess.
its amazing how strong those leash loops are. i put one on my 10 footer which weighs in at 20 kg’s! sometimes when i come off it stretches my leash another 10 foot…no probs…
hey shifty my cork rails were done same way but im asking about the piece of ply which connects to the end of the ribs. this rail band which runs nose to tail, is it parallel and if not how did you work out what shape to cut?
Shifty, that looks real nice. I have a stalled HWS project myself, some problems came up which I presently lack the elbow grease to address.
Questions…
What kind of wood and how thick on the deck and rails?
Why not balsa rails if not because it is so damn expensive?
What’s the white stuff you used to glue things together?
Tell us you glassing schedule, please.
Comments:
I’m a single fin rider myself, but would have inset a FU box.
The leash loop is easier (maybe) and better looking (certainly) if you use some rope over a pair of pencils. Pull the pencils out when the resin gels, then a little touch-up with the exacto, later some sanding after hot coat, presto.
hey shifty my cork rails were done same way but im asking about the piece of ply which connects to the end of the ribs. this rail band which runs nose to tail, is it parallel and if not how did you work out what shape to cut?
cheers
thats probably the most difficult part. i use the stringer to get the bottom curve. i trace that out on a peice of 3mm ply. then mark out where all the ribs are.then measure the thickness of each rib up. then i use a strip of 6mm by 6mm by 3mtr
pine to join up all the dots. thats your top line. also you need to extend it at both ends cos when you bend it, it shortens… you just have to play around with it.
i heard jensen has a formula for it on his cd. dont quote me on it though…
managed to get the board in the water today. perfect bells. rincon at 4 to 5 foot.
i had no idea this board was gunna surf so well. its quite fast and loose which was quite a suprise. i took off on one a little deep but managed to nail it across quite a long fast section before hooking it into the pocket.
i never spun it out which is what i was expecting to do on hard bottom turns. maybe when its a bit bigger…
surfed it again tonight on a 2 to 3 ft left. really perfect again. ( its good and getting better here at the moment.) cant tell you how much fun i had on the left. surfed till dark with one other guy out…
after puting about 70 hours over 3 months into this board, the satisfaction of having it surf this good is amazing…
the one i built can be found by searching for ‘30th birthday present’ it was built for my girlfriend but as she has been busy with her MA we have only got to take it out once in crappy conditions but it bodes well. she hands in her dissertation on weds then we get 4 days down the coast to celebrate so fingers crossed!
