US blanks 8-2A, “big boy” blank, and time on my hands due to being stranded away from my shaping room for large periods of time.
I drew up several different options, and ended up deciding on this one, 7’-2" x 23" x 3 1/2" approx. Bat tail, soft rails up front, flat to single to double with V, quad.
The things I wanted to incorporate: rail channels; step-rail, step-deck; concave deck in the chest for comfort and in the tail for turning leverage (influence: John Harris, used to post on here as Harry some time back); and my signature wood tail block / leash attachment. Maybe deck pad, I have been having some discomfort in my xiphoid area when paddling.
Planning on Gearbox fin plugs (sorry Mattwho I said they were connected to ProBox but my mistake, Probox is Larry Allison, Gearbox is Robin Mair, I don’t think they are connected).
I picked the name “Mi Gordita”, from a favorite Shakira song of mine by same title. The name means, roughly, “my little chunky girl”.
El Gordo had been used for a surfboard before, but Mi Gordita, not. I really wanted to find a name that hadn’t been used for a surfboard model already.
I also drew up a logo.
I couldn’t make my board too much like this one: it is way too small for me, stringerless, carbon reinforced, but nevertheless it served as the inspiration for Mi Gordita.
I really miss my wide fish twinny from bygone days, and this board seemed to capture that old skatey feeling really well, so I watched and took notes. Hopefully some of this will translate into a larger big-guy (old-guy) board.
2015 Fun Board Test: DMS from Tracks Magazine on Vimeo.
I cut 7" off the nose of the blank, and 5" off the tail, leaving me with 4" nose rocker, and 2" plus tail rocker. Which worked out well, as I wanted a flatter rocker for this shape, for easy paddling. This will be my shortest board, so I’m hedging my bets with flatter rocker and extra thickness / width / volume.
Man
Wipe out! (on the Gen diss)
At least I was diggin’ the shape in progress photos!!!
Very complex and chunky gal!
They kinda evolve or take on a life of their own.
I’ll bet you got your rope in a knot a couple a times!
Eh! “Hulk” is waxed up and in the bag…
I am shaping with surform and sandpaper. I like the quiet and pace of handshaping with a surform and sanding block. As a backyarder, it is an adavantage to progress slowly and deliberately.
I am shaping with surform and sandpaper, my usual m.o. Its not the sort of shape that would lend itself to power planer shaping anyway, too sculptural.
You show no faults with your results.
I shaped many in my Pops garage with a cheesegrader, surform and sand paper.
I have to say here, I fully understand the preference for power planer shaping by the pros. It is an ideal tool for removing foam quickly and with control. But what came as a surprise was the hostility directed at surform shaping.
They lie!
Maybe not a surform blade (mircroblade in surform) I love it takes the stringer down and with “the touch” a fine tune tool.
I also use a Fred tool.
Both Fred and surforms can be found in alot of “Older shapers” bag of tricks…
To my thinking, a power planer is way overkill for the material being shaped. Foam is so soft that a mere bump will dent it, you can break it with one hand. Power planers were designed for cutting wood, and that’s what I use them for in my day job. But shaping poly foam is so ridiculously easy, I don’t feel the need for the planer, other than to skim the hard shell. I like the quiet and pace of handshaping with a surform and sanding block. As a backyarder, it is an adavantage to progress slowly and deliberately.
Well I disagree…
The planer takes a long time to learn.
And it is not like you see in most videos
of Yater or Ole running up and down balls out!
The planer doesn’t lie…
That is why they are of value.
My style is coast (or turn it way down, eh, speed controller) and cut the fine stuff
the further into the shape you can use the planer is indicative of your skill.
Pro’s = time is money!
That said your doing fine Sonny!
Eh,
How’s dis???
Being “production minded” banding the hulk rails would have been time consuming
with the planer!
Good old backyard solutions!
LOL ;-{=
Huck, thanks for bringing the build back to the Bin and the heads-up.
I am looking forward to seeing where you take this.
Do you ever use a hand plane as part of your process on poly blanks? Sometimes I just like the quiet of the hot wire w/ EPS too.
Over and out for tonight.
You, sir, are a savage! lol, classic
Oh man, that is so cool! Hope you can get some beach shots, and a ride report!! Did Dustin have any reaction at all, or has he even seen it? Hope you get some waves to test it on soon. It is really an awesome looking board.
BTW, I told a guy at the beach recently that my WS was eight foot long, and he couldn’t believe it. Psychologically, the shape makes 'em think its a smaller board. That’s why its my secret weapon!
Yes, I use a small hand plane for taking the stringer down.
I generally plane down to somewhere near the required thickness, then use my sanding tool which curves to the shape of the rocker and rails, nice sharp piece of 40 grit, does it pretty fast, then back to the planer for bottom contours and rudimentary rail bands before finishing with sandpaper, more sanding and less planing than a lot of people, but just my style, I’d probably use the planer more if I had a modded skil 100… But I don’t so I have learnt to work with what I have.
Looks like you are going ahead thoroughly and cleanly Huck, looking good. My only slight reservation could be the fairly straight rail lines in the tail area, but I expect you have thought things through for the board to work well for you, your vee off the tail should help with turning.
The board I was riding today had a very straight rail line and it was turning just fine in anything a bit too sensitive… Put a rear fin in to calm it down, next time im thinking 5 fins!
Keep us updated, many like myself are not brave enough to show all and do a build thread, so respect to you. And thanks for sharing with us here in the depths of sways.
I’m guessing that your build thread is much more popular than it may appear, probably a lot if lurkers tuning in.
All the best
LTM
Hi LTM thanx, the pictures may make the rails look straighter than they are but to be honest, that’s just a feature of these wide tailed fishy type boards, so I’ll just roll with it. I originally was gonna go 24" wide to get more curve, but decided that might be too wide.
I have a bit more progress, but no pics yet.
looks sick man!
Q: is your back foot gonna fit on the top upper deck? hard to gauge lenght and setting on last photo
I’ll be following build 
TT - the deck bump ends at 10.5" up, or approx just behind the front fins of quad. This should work out good for me but won’t know til I ride it. I normally don’t have my foot that far back, but this is a different shape for me. Sometimes you just gotta take your best guess and go with it. I was thinking I didn’t want that extra foam any further back.
Hey Huck,
Yes I can now see that there is more curve in the rail line near the tail than I previously thought, before due to bad internet connection some of your pics were not loading, and some photos can play tricks and not show the real curves.
I found that trying to take photos of boards with my phone the boards always seem to come out distorted from the wider angle lens.
Looks like you are doing great, very clean work!
What kind of nose/tail rocker numbers are you going for?
Keep us posted
Thanks, I’m kinda experimenting with different approaches to the raised deck, as far as blending it all together. Don’t know if I’m gonna keep the “tail pad” shape in the back or not. I’ve still got enough meat there to play around a little more. Looking at the board, I could lose the whole raised deck thing, and not lose much volume. I might just blend it right out, or keep it but blend it enough to be more subtle, thats kinda the fun of shaping, making decisions on the fly and running with it.
I’m really trying to keep a lot of volume in the board, but it’ll be less than my 8’ Wing Squad. If it works, and I can paddle / catch waves like I’m hoping, I’m gonna be tickled pink to be riding a 7-2!! Won’t know 'til I paddle that sucker out and catch a few! Kids (anyone younger than 50 is a “kid” to me, lol) that ride shortboards take it for granted, but I’ve found at my age, I need more length / width / volume, but still crave that looser shortboard feeling sometimes.
Rocker: 4" plus in the nose, 2" plus in the tail, and not much of the plus, keeping it pretty ‘relaxed’ rocker-wise.
All sounds good.
Personally I’d blend it in, but go with your own gut feeling.
