Greg, You recently mentioned “rail channels in the deck and power rods on the bottom.” What are you talking about? What are these and what is their purpose. I saw a picture of Bruce Irons with a board that looked like it had a inch wide shallow channel on the deck near the rails. Is this what you’re talking about? 
That’s exactly what i meant. Good picture of them too. Rail channels were invented by Sam Barker and I back in the 80’s. Originally we started putting those in so Sam could get a better grip on his board during ariels. We soon figured out that none of the boards done this way broke. So we started using them for strength. They work by putting a compound curve in an important area of the board. Cars body’s use the same kinds of channels and creases to stiffen parts. Everyone thinks those things are just there for style but they are a structural part of the cars body. Power rods were first done by Scott Bouchard by filling in the channels on the bottom of the board with carbon fiber.
I BET THE LAMINATOR ISN’T TO THRILLED ABOUT THOSE. I CAN SEE THEM COMING DOWN THE PIKE, BECAUSE CHRISTIAN FLETCHER IS USING THEM ALSO. BRUCE AND CHRISTIAN ARE GONNA COST ME SOME EXTRA SHAPING TIME WITH THE WIDE EYED AIR GROMS…OH WELL!!
How are they shaped into the blank? And then: best way to glass these? is resin (a little/lot) left in the channel? Thanks
I know what you mean. I’ve shaped a zillion of them but they do only take about 5 minutes and they do stop the board from breaking. At least as quickly. They aren’t hard to laminate at all. The cloth fits in real nice. Just got to make sure you don’t puddle in there.
Width, depth, etc? How do you shape them? regards, Håvard
Tom Curren has a few stringerless EPS / Epoxy boards with rail channels. They provide significant stiffness as Greg said, without really adding weight. In some cases they will also thin the rail without stealing all of a boards volume.
They are about 3/4 of and inch wide and about 3/8 of an inch deep. I made a tool by gluing a piece of 50 grit sandpaper to a 1" dowel about 3" long. I usually tape off the curve so I keep the channel curve smooth.
I’ve glass at less 200 of them (if not more) and they are easier than you think…Like greg said the cloth fits in nice…lam.the same as always…and of corse epoxy makes it alot easier…ET
I know all the kids are going to want those now. I had a nightmare last night that my next order was a six channel, triple wing, twinzer dovetail, with those deck/rail ditti’s. Actually i’m real tempted to make me one first! What a glutton for punishment…But what better design statement! Anybody for bringing back Phazer bottoms? NOT…
I had a guy ask me about dimples last week. Or how about hydro holes. Air suckers. Remember those. We could bring those back. Or hooked wings. I used to do a triple wing twin with hooked wings on the front set and channels coming off of the last two. Sander LOVED me.
Hey SurfTech can’t do those things. If we want to save the home-built surfboard then boards need to be as customized as can be. And customers need to know what is possible and order these customizations. Board improvements and artwork will beat out the KookTechs. Don’t complain about the extra work; it’s better than no work. Rob Olliges
Greg do you position the rail channels so that the lap onto the deck covers them? Or is it just the deck glass that gets in there.
Just the deck glass. In fact we always made sure that the lap was short enough to NOT reach it. And that the rail channels were out of the way. And there were no strings getting in there either. ET is right, that they are easier to glass in epoxy.