So i picked up a 6’6 EPS blank from greenlight on Friday after noon. along with 2 6’8 blanks
printed out brian’s 6’6 fishcuit template and transfered it to some roofing felt. traced everything out and cut it. cleaned up everything and started on the bottom.
the bamboo laminated stringers are really tough to plane down.
so i put a pretty good v in the tail section and got about 1/8 deep single concave in the middle with the deepest point in between the feet.
jumped on a one of the rails and started shaping that. it becomes a hard edge about 2ft from the tail. blended real good. was very easy to do. the drywall sanding screen is great.
ive only been working on it for the weekend with about 4-8 hours into it. just have to finish the other rail and add a little more concave on the bottom. sand everything up.
ohh and i left the blank rocker and thickness as when i picked it up. so it should float ridiculously well. going to go with probox system in the 5 fin configuration. with i think 2 layers of 6oz on top and bottom.
on to the pictures. don’t have any of the concave or tail or the one finished rail. ill get some of those next weekend when i get to work on it again
one suggestion - your saw cuts in the third picture ought to look a lot more like the right side of the photo and a lot less like the left side of the photo. Take your time, cut neatly and keep the saw vertical… you will save a lot of time in the long run if you cut nicely in the first place than if you hack and then have to clean it up a ton.
Make sure you have a sharp planer or you will get very frustrated working on those stringers…
this is my first shape ever. but since there is a thread called first board. i thought id call this first fish.
i do need to work on my sawing haha. the rails aren’t real fat. they are big in the middle. once i get pictures ill post them up. i only get friday-sunday to work on the board.
well i do have a few questions to anyone who wants to answer.
i did the rails like you said, but i didn’t take much foam out of the middle so it is really thick. should i go back and trim some foam out of the middle to thin it out. at 6’3x21 with the original rocker and thickness that i got the blank in. i do want it to float but i don’t want to0 thick of rails. so i thought the more experienced shapers could give some suggestions
also for the other two blanks i have 2 pdf’s attached the regular thruster i made up and the other is from the aku shaper site.
the 2 boards are for head high + and on the east coast. need to be fast and handle well. any bottom suggestions along with rocker suggestions?
my parents along with my grandma think im doing great. they wonder why i don’t do the same good job in school haha
Looking good. I’d flip the nose rocker up instead of beaking it. Take the foam and stringer down so the tip is somewhere in the 3/8" - 1/2" range. Whatever looks good to you.
Looks like you ‘free handed’ the curves on the butt crack. Any pleasing curve you have makes a good template for that area. Another fin, a soup bowl, etc. What is your fin choice? If you’re going with keels there is tons of placement information in the archives or I will give you mine. Mike
Looking good mate, i bet you’re stoked to surf it?. If you want snappy, go quad, smooth flow, go keels. Mine are fibreglass and have a litle toe and cant, they go great. Yes, the keels get put further back. Check “twin fin placement” in the search, heaps of stuff there from experts mate.
Probox Larry can set you up for sure. The location of the keels depends on the depth of the crack and the distance between the tips for a more traditional set-ups. Mike
yeah i cant wait to surf it. ill have to wait till march or april cause i dont like surfing in frozen waters.
it was a huge learning experience from the shaping to the glassing. i made a few mistakes alonge the way.(like the huge swallow tail on the board, and some rookie glassing mistakes). i am glad i started with making the fish and not my performance shortboards, which are turning out alot better. i believe i am going to vac bag those boards to keep them light.
ill definately check out the archives when i get a chance.
i cant wait to continue refining my board making skills. this is one hobby i dont think im going to get tired of.
