Latest Creation's

nice…wood board…wood fins…fitted to futures…good stuff,its like a log cabin

i presume you have a straight edge silverback???

you always need a zero point…if designing on a computer when measuring from a straight line , somewhere along the rocker line the curve will come in contact with the straight line , thats generally regarded as the zero point , or apex of the rocker , usually the centre…

get your straight edge , find the exact centre , place it at the zero point or apex (usually the exact centre of the board), then you can measure anywhere along the line to find various measurements , to compare to another board or record for future plotting on a later board…

sometimes a shaper will move his zero point forward or back ,

merrick was a classic for that , his rocker apex was a few inches behind centre , so when balancing the straight edge at the centre of the board , it would drop down at the nose and up at the tail , giving the false impression of more tail rocker and less nose rocker…

they got the nick name false rockers…or trick rockers…

coz when guys would try to copy his boards they would get tricked into doing to much tail rocker and ending up with a pig…

if the centre of the straight edge moves forward or back , giving different tail and nose measurements it doesnt really matter , as long as when you copy a curve , you take measurements from a straight edge at various points along the curve , that will help you recreate the curve …

some guys just measure nose and tail and forget about everything in between …

you could have 2 boards both with 5" of nose rocker and 2" of tail …one could be like an ironing board with flipped ends, the other could be a clean arc, both will have the same nose and tail measurements , but every other point along the rocker will be different ,

all those points count if you want to recreate a curve…

as long as you place the centre of the straight edge on the center of the board you shouldnt have any problems ,

even if the apex is forward or back , you will pick that up with closer plot marks to recreate a curve more acurately…

computers have a bad habit of doing curve of best fit…i find to get the magic ones the cleanest curves arent always the best , you can still tweak here and there by hand ,

but at least with a computer curve you know what your starting with…

i was surprised to get responses on this board ??? i almost wasnt gonna post it , coz somehow when i look at it , it wasnt appealing to the eye , but its growing on me ,

i only posted it coz it was different to the norm…

i scanned and posted an old pic of a rocker profile , this is the minimum amount of points you should use when trying to copy a board …more around the centre if you suspect trick rockers…

regards

BERT

Thanks for your reply Bert - But doesn’t the position of the board on the racks have a dramatic effect as to where the “apex” appears to be - ie moving the board forward or back on the changes its position. Do you have a standard way of controlling for this?

Yep - strange how shapes that at first appear “ugly” get beautiful if you allow yourself to look at it enough.

if you find the centre of the straight edge and put in on the centre of the board, even if you tilt the board and the straight edge tips one way or the other ,all the measurements may change on one side , but they will also change by the same amount on the other side , if the straight edge tilts and you get an extra 1" of nose rocker , you lose an 1" of tail rocker…your reference point is the straight edge …you could stand the board vertically, place the straight edge against it , its still the same your referencing your curve against the straight…

how ever you do it , you just need to keep the same system for measuring an old board and then transfering those measurments to another…

use the same tools will help…

regards

BERT

well , heres the next cad off the rank …

having this guy as a customer really stokes me …hes a board builder , been shaping for 25 years , for the last 10 hes been getting boards from me , just for himself …he said " i wish i could make myself boards that go this good but i cant , so i have to get them from you"…

every now and then he sends me a problem customer , one that he cant quite nail it for …

hes a big guy to, mid 40s now ,6’-4" 220 lb or 100 k …

even tho we are the same size our styles are at the extreme ends of the scale …

this guy can seriously bust some spray and belt sections , but only when its powerful…

for some reason he never learnt to surf small waves so his and my small wave boards are real different…

he sent me very specific measurements …the board is 7’ x 22 3/8 x 2 3/4 ,nose 13 1/4 , tail 16 1/8…

he sent me an earlier version but i talked him into pulling the widest point back , he sent me another , i tried to get him to go a little curvier in the tail , but hes pretty sold on the clean outline look …

nose rocker is 5 3/4 , tail is 1 3/4 …

as you can see it carries the flat right into the nose then flips late , the tail is a long drawn curve that gently flattens at the rear…

i gave him some numbers and he sent a new rocker profile straight to the foam company , to go in to the sunova file…

its the magic carpet rocker , my own magic carpet was a series of stolen combo curves , blend of 8’ mal and a 6’-4" shorty with a tweaked nose , so i figure if he was gonna design a new rocker for his board it might as well be something i could use as well …

im not sure if this was a global thing , or just something done locally , but we had a board here in the early seventies called the persian slipper , a real shortboard , with a long flat tail with this funny looking late nose flip …

not sure if the name was based just on the looks (looks like a persian slipper ) or the fact it really slipped along in mush waves…

when i named the magic carpet it reminded me of the persian slipper , all you did was hop on and it went all by itself , so i thought there was a matching theme , so the name stuck straight away…

the concept of carrying the flat further forward is not only to help in real small waves when you find yourself standing further forward till you get some speed , but also it really helps heavy surfers , not weight heavy , but style heavy…

the guy who is getting this board never learnt the small wave pump, instead he jumps to his feet and lands like a giant , stands there and says giddy up boy ,

so he needs a board that will get some speed by itself with minimal rider input , its only after he has some speed that you see him connect a series of turns …

he spent the early years of his surfing in powerful waves , so he never had to learn to generate his own speed …

the bottom is flat , just a smidge of single concave out the end , more like a flat concave with just the rails lifting at the last minute , it gives the concave feel , but maximises planing area with the least amount of surface area in comparison…

i gave it the usual small wave rails , low with hard edges , super hard in the tail , tucked but hard in the nose …

fins are the twinny with the trailer , good small wave combo…

the pics are the board not quite done yet, still have to cut and polish , hes on to me tommorow , i know he will be standing over me while im finishing it , ready to run out the door , so i figure i better get the shots now …

i always like doing the different stuff , keeps the job interesting, plus when i get the tick of approval from this guy , it really gives me a boost…

enjoy…

regards

BERT

So Bert - your construction method - how does it go? Do you:

1 - get the block of shaped eps from foam co.

2 - build frame of balsa around eps, “gluing” it with epoxy resin

3 - shape rails

4- add deck balsa

5- hmmm… where does vacuum bagging come in?

Just been trying to catch some of them cats.

Bert, beautiful boards. Can you tell us about laying up the butcher block blanks? thx

the wood top and bottom is bagged on …its the only way you can pull a compound curve with wood …

the glass on the outside is bagged on as well ,

greg i also bag the blocks for the noses and tails …seperately ,then cut to shape with the jigsaw…i actually made a mistake on this one ,the rails were to short and didnt reach the tail…so i had to fit extra tail blocks to fix the rails…

i missed another creation today…8’ hybrid for an over weight office worker…

he picked it up a day early …i didnt get pics…

some more different ones this week tho…pics soon…

regards

BERT

actually i did have a few pics of this board ,he wanted a progress report , so i emailed him some pics as it was getting built…

this guy was 42 82 kilo, (should be low 70s )ocasional weekend warrior only,you know the deal ,wife,kids,car,the executive commitments…

the board is 8’ x 21 3/8 x 2 7/8 …nose around 15 , tail around 14 3/4…

he rode a friends 9’ ,to big,

rode another friends 7-6 , borderline paddle power…

so we decided on 8’, paddle power and a clean start was critical…hence the wider nose to get the board on top of the water early,the flatter rocker good for paddling and carrying into waves with minimal rider input…good for the dead weight kind of surfer…and the volume for float …all going to assist a clean start…

he said “once im in i can still swing a turn”…

so i pulled the widest point back , so it has more of a shortboard rear end …i took some volume out of the rails …i didnt go to wide over all , coz hes only 5’-8" and i didnt want him having trouble getting it on the rail …

its got a stock thruster set up ,for a variety of waves…flat bottom ,with a fairly flat rocker through the middle of the board…

overall this will be a user friendly shape for an average surfer , who only owns one board…

they come in all shapes and sizes…

regards

BERT

Thanks Bert

I’ve really enjoyed following this thread…very informative, it’s great to have the rider/conditions rundown. Beautiful boards as well

7/10

Sorry to be dim. When you say “bagged on” do you mean vacuum bagged? Can I do it with clamps? THere is a place in Miami that has good but short balsa. I was thinking I could give it a whirl. What do you shape with? Planner predominately? Hand plane?

I’ll tell you what, I’ll just fly over from the states, spend a week or two and sweep the floors and watch. Kidding.

Thanks for all the great info.

hi bert, your’s bord are amazing.

wich (de)pression you use for vacuum-bag?do you use a vacuostate?

and wich ticness do you use for vood layers?

cheers

yea greg vacumn bag…

clamps,?? yea they do work as long as you get a real even pressure, bagging means you can use the smallest amount of resin and get no voids and a good bond ,

zoidberg …

vacuostate???

how much pressure do i use ???

i dont use any standard stuff , if there is such a thing …ive made all my own vacumn equipment , had other stuff manufactured or engineered for me based on my needs ,

as far as pressure , anywhere from - 10 kpa through to - 300 kpa depending on what job your doing,

the thickness of wood , youll have to search for that one …ive mentioned it else where…

regards

BERT

shinny!!

Hey Bert

I ran into a bloke at Triggs the other day and he had one of your beautiful creations. I was stunned as to how light it was, especially after lugging my hollow down to the waters edge. There was not a mark on it, no yellowing, no dings, no nothing. I asked him if he had to wait long to get it and he said he bought it 2nd hand at Cordingley’s 3 years ago for $1200.

Your work is fantastic, and it’s holding it’s resale value very well.

cheers

Hicksy

yea , i cant believe it , the other day i saw a guy with a board , that i knew i had made for someone else , just a 6’-6" shorty ,i made the board and sold it to the original customer about 4 years back for 750.00 , this guy at the beach said he paid 900.00 for it 6 months back???

it had a few white glass grazes on the rail , i asked if he dinged it or brought it like that , he said it was like that when he got it …

i was shocked he paid so much , i said i could have made him a new one for that …

he says to me " this one was right there ready to go , i couldnt wait for a new one"

keeping there value is an understatement…

enviromentally friendly , renewable resources, recyclable, and built to last…

no wonder the the conventional industry is having trouble excepting the concept…

stoked to be here…

regards

BERT

heres one from last week , getting into the realm of stock dimensions , but a bit of a twist to the story,

the board is 6’-8" x 19 7/8 x 2 1/2 , 14 1/4 tail , nose is somewhere between 10 3/4 and 11 forgot to do final measure…

the guy is 21 years old , 84 kilo …

his story is he got one of my boards in england when he was 16 , obviously his parents were cashed up…

it was a 7’ hybrid mini mal style board ,good choice for a learner…then a few years back the family imigrates to australia …

he starts getting good at surfing and finds the limits with his hybrid …so he goes out and buys another board , just a stock 6’-6" x 19 polyester board…

as he had no experience with any surfboards except mine , he was stunned that his polyester board only lasted him a year , before it went brown , dented and dinged all over …at about the same time he saw another surfer in the water with a woody and asked him how he to had one all the way out here in australia , the other surfer told him that there made here…

so he goes back to surfing his woody , coz he reckons the 6’-6" by 19 was a bit of a struggle anyway …

one day on his way to the beach his and a friends board come off the roof , and go smashing down the road , both in covers , his got the tail dinged , but not another mark …his friends was totalled , even in the cover , 1 fin smashed out , the other cracked , nose snaped 6" down , assorted dings down one rail…

at that point he said im gonna get another one of these…

came in with a repair and a new board order…

he asked for a board that would take him to the next level…

i said the smallest performance board he could comfortably ride was 6’-6" x 19 3/8 x 2 1/2 , he told me about the 6’-6" he already had and didnt feel comfortable with the concept of a 6’-6" , so i sugested a performance board for a slightly bigger guy , that way it gave him a bit of a buffer zone for paddle and float , but would still have performance built into it , as we talked , i became more convinced it was a good way to go coz as he decribed his surfing and the fact he started at 16 , just that bit of a late start to really get performance wired before adulthood…

so the board is really a high performance board for a 90-95 kilo surfer…

it has the tail and rails thinned out , 2 1/8 tail rocker , 5 3/4 nose …

every time i picked this board up it would just melt into your hands , i know its one of those magic ones …i kinda had trouble handing it over …i think i got attatched to this one

regards

BERT

Hi Bert,

Nice stick! What’s the ideal conditions for it?

How do you maximize maneuverability with such mild tail rocker? Im assuming it’s primarily with fin placement and curvy outline…right? Most of my boards are in this size range and I notice tail rocker easily, or maybe I just think I do. Thanks in advance.

Yes good question. So Bert how do you get manueverability with low tail rocker? Mine at 6’6" average around 2 3/8 to 2 1/2 in the tail. Your entry looks moderate also, how does that factor in?

i think its a common misconception , that to loosen a board you add tail rocker…

like ive said before , to much tail rocker has been a logical evolution to deal with inadequate fin foils …

a little extra tail rocker gives back a measure of control , but also slows the board down …

you can keep the rockers fast , and get control back with good foils , outlines , and reducing rail volume …

then you have a board that covers more ground , and will perform in a broader range of conditions , not just sucky waves …

being able to generate your own speed and make more power than the wave provides is the key to performance…

that way it makes the rider seem as if he is doing the impossible…

plus you have to consider , my boards have a very different range and speed of flex , that is more a part of the equation than the measurements alone …

the curves suit the construction materials …

regards

BERT

beautiful boards. starting to see more balsa in the facs. here in fla.