This coming weekend I will shape and glass my first board. My game plan is to shape a single fin off the Channel Islands MSF model. I am thinking around 6’1. I am going to Morocco with a few buddies next month, so I am shaping this board with those point breaks in mind. The problem is, I really don’t know anything about single fins. Have ridden a few, but clueless when it comes to shaping them.
Things I am unsure of:
-Dimensions?
-The best rails for the board based on the conditions (tucked edge to hard edge?)
-The bottom- Rolled? Concave? Vee? Clueless.
Please guys, I need help. Wanted to bounce ideas off of everyone on the site this week and get a plan of action for this coming weekend. I will post pictures through the whole process from start to finish. Hopefully that will prevent me from making any major mistakes moving forward in the process.
I’m sure you’ll get tons of design advice from other folks on this forum. My only piece of advice would be to give yourself longer than one weekend. If you’re using UV resin you can probably glass it all in one weekend, but don’t rush shaping your first board. Take your time. And when you think you have it all shaped, come back to it several hours later and look at it again. There’s always stuff you’ll find when you look at it a second and third time. And if there’s anyone in your area that has shaping and glassing experience, bring them in to help you.
Abit of topic, but i am having heaps of fun on a 6ft pin-tail egg with flyers, flat throughh to a slight vee, tucker under edge with a super sharp edge behind the flyers. 9inch single fin with some side-bites
Glassing is pretty mechanical, just follow the plan. But shaping is an art, take your time or you’ll regret it.
If you don’t have a friend to help you through it, get some videos and watch them several times. Watch the shapers hands as he manipulates the shaper controls especially… Pay attention to the corner trimming and laps on glassing, done right they are a no-brainer, done wrong you’ll hate life for a while.