Hmm. Such terminology is beyond me.
What do you mean “what else?”. I’ve already given you several pointers that will shave at least 6 months off your progression. I’ve probably already overloaded you with additional elements to consider.
Here’s another noob-friendly tip: You can lay your rail bands out on your blank in (cheap) masking tape. You can take your time and lay these lines symmetrically on both sides of your blank before cutting them in. Just sand to the tape and when you pull the tape you’ll have a nice flat and well-formed panel. That’s not something a pro would waste their time with because they don’t need the crutch; but when you’re first starting out and trying to develop your own eye these little training wheel aids can come in handy.
Just remember to blow your blank off first. Dust on your blank will keep the tape from sticking.
Amen and no comment on those fin boxes.
Haha I wasnt referring to you mcding. You’ve been the most helpful dude in the world. Honestly couldnt have done any of this without you.
Right now I have a couple of shaped boards and the final one is pretty decent i think. My eye kind of got better from board to board but going back and fixing the first ones is a daunting task. Do you know how I could salvage the fish shaped one if it’s got epoxy sealant on it. I’d imagine that would wreck the planer do I think I’d be stuck sure foaming it to try and thin it out at that tail area.
I’ll take pictures of it for you before we glass it and get your input on it as well.
I highly doubt you have enough epoxy saturation to cause a problem with your planer. After all, they’re designed to plane wood. You can also take a sureform or even a #36 grit sanding block to it. Just go lightly at first to put some texture into the surface to give your tool something to grab before trying to take a lot of material off, otherwise you’re more likely to get into catching an edge and tearing the foam.
The main thing is to stick to using long strokes so you can get the more consistent lines.
Don’t you love how your laminating thread became a shaping thread? heheh - but its true, looking at those pics before i read others comments, the tail and nose were red flags. you are fortunate that gdaddy is so willing to help you out.
in terms of the tail, I can’t say you didn’t do this, but it helps to plane down to the thickness you want, essentially foil the rails, and then cut out your swallow tail, crescent tail, etc. aren’t you surfing in freshwater lakes and shit? maybe a thick ass tail is ok? I usually like to go down to at least 3/4" at T, sometimes less depending on the board. This is obviously relative to the overall foil. if the board is 6’ x 3 1/2 " thick in the center, maybe a 1" tail is ok. Again all relative to the boards foil.
To blend that stringer, maybe get yourself a rounded file, take the time and focus to not hit the foam, and then belnd out to the tips/corners. For laminating, I think most will place a patch on the “buttcrack” area. I’m not sure if there is a way to make relief cuts that will perfectly lam the swallow tail, without an additional patch.
While installing the fins in the foam takes less steps, and seems easier it opens you up for more issues and stress during lamination - as you have found.
For your question about getting the color the same on both sides - I know someone responded already but I was recently turned on to a great tip. lets say you have a full bucket with your color (maybe not as importnat with black) you want to pour off about 60/40 so 60% of the color for the bottom, and since you’re hopefully doing two layers of cloth on the deck, patch or not, you will add CLEAR resin to the 40%, and this will match the color much better by slightly diluting it. I was confused by this at first, but it makes a lot of sense.
glad you’re staying stoked and keep at it.
Thanks for the tips
I planed it down to thickness before this step I just didnt know how thin to actually go. The board is 3 inches thick in the center so its actually much thinner at the tail just a gargantuan beast
I see what you are saying I think. Basically that you are always going to have more resin on the deck caught up in cloth so it will be slightly lighter. Then on the bottom if you just laminated your one layer it would be darker so you are diluting it. I’ll try it if I ever go for color.
The fin boxes thing is a major issue in general. I dont have an actual install kit so I’m using a home made jig to install the futures and thought routing foam would be easier than trying to route through glass. I think I could do post glass installs on the next one I’d just need a carbide bit for the router.
Definitely been learning on the fly at all steps. Unfortunately I lose my shaping bay next thursday so I think this batch will be a learning experience and when I have my own setup I will hone alot of the errors.
I’m in a position now where If they arent glassed I cant transport them and no one else will finish them haha. But such is life. I’ll do what I can.
Our wakesurf turned out amazing though haha!
Buy some tools
Least helpful comment ever
Looking better. Keep going. The tapeline is much better and so are the foil and rails in the nose. The squared up rails in the tail of that thruster will work better if you round them out but leave the edge on the bottom. Rounded rail with edge is a good combo for hold+release. See pic below. It’s a mid-board profile but you can still use maybe half that much tuck in the tail.
For the inside corner on your fish you can wrap some sandpaper around a marker or a socket and run that forward and back over that corner to round it out. Don’t be afraid to run that top corner in another inch, either. .
For the tapeline you can pull on the tape to stretch it as you round those curves in the template. Another thing people sometimes do is use a razor to split the 7/8" tape into 2 narrower strips, then wrap the outer strip around the curve followed by the inner strip. A strip of 3/8" wide tape is more agile than 7/8" tape, if you catch what I mean here.
K will try all of those things.
With the fish you are suggesting digging the butcrack in even more towards the nose of the board right?
Honestly man thank you for all of your help. You are my sensei. Feel blessed to have such high quality tips
Meh, I’m just another backyard hack. There are guys here who are way more savvy about design and craftsmanship. I’m just passing along some of the basics I’ve picked up here over the years.
If you want to know how thin you can go with the tail the answer is “all the way”. If you want.
By the way, check out how he rounded the stringer and shaped the trailing panel aft of the deck.
ah now we’re talkin.
gdaddy - have you seen the boards -flex tails specifcally- that guy fantastic acid is doing?
https://www.fantasticacid.com/gallery
I’m keen to make a flextail with fiberglass soon. I just did a 6’10 disp hull and just went super thin in tail w the foam just to kinda test it out.
you could always spray the foam black