NSP SUP 11" to pintail and quads conversion - shaping questions
I bought this beat up NSP 11" sup and had to dig out and fill 20 holes, and then the end was still very heavy. I found that a replacement rear finbox (single fin) had been held in place by some super-heavy spray foam and yanked it out. I put replacement foam in there. I then said what the heck I want a pintail like on a laird/pearson SUP so I merged in a pintail (actually the front of a broken surfboard). I then capped the top with another broken surfboard. i want to finish it up with some qcell and glass but I have an issue. the rocker line is different and I need to know - what is the best way to merge the 2 rocker lines? Build up the rail on the original board to be a bit wider, or shave down the new pintail portion? If I build it up - should this be with foam or qcell? I don’t want the board to get super heavy - but it’s not exactly a super light board in the first place. pics coming!
Anyone remember the story of that Stretch board that was broken in two, then repaired goofy and the rocker was all cockeyed - and it surfed great, and he ended up making it a “model” - mighta been a hoax, but it was a funny story, and there were pics too, but I can’t find them in the archives right now…
Note: I found a pair of old fins for thei board (shuttlebox?) and popped them in for now. My goal is to do a little more work, get the board sealed, and see how it surfs before putting tons of more effort into it. Also - I think I found a solution to how to merge the rocker lines of the 2 boards – in the pics you can see I’ve cut a section from the bottom rail of another board - and if I gorilla glue and/or epoxy this on – then the rocker line is joined and it looks “factory” (err well at least to the untrained eye).
moderator’s note: the pictures are way too big. Here are the links.
So I found out that this model is the NSP “elevenzero-sup”. I bought it from a Surf Stand in Waikiki for $100 – and when the guy found out I had kids, he threw in the Surftech Balboa (in the barkgroud) for free (that one was split on one side and is partially repaired already - will be project #3). I did suf-surp this board one time. I was learning and I made the mistake of coming up in front of the board - and it hit my face and caused me to bleed. Then I needed to get in quick. I saw a wave coming, jumped on the board, and it took me ALL THE WAY IN. I bought it on the spot. Per the prior owner, I should have just slopped MORE epoxy on it to cover up some of the (fresh) holes. But stupid me, I started picking at it, and opening up every soft (or ultra hard) spot - until the board looked like swiss cheese. Then I carefully shapped and stufffed light “beer cooler” foam in each hole, and covered it with qcell (Hawaii Fiberglass formula). That took a few months.Then I found the rear was too heavy and made the pintail conversion (details above). BTW I bought dowels and stuffed 4 of them in there to make sure the tail and body were connected, and then stuck both pieces togther and slopped qcell everywhere - and it’s been drying for a few more months. After fixing the rocker line, I will qcell lightly around the tail and per my neighbor( who used to build fishboards) - I should then go water-test it- to see how it surfs. If it surfs horrible I’ll have to remove the tail and try to reconstruct the original shape (I have about 50% of the pieces left). If it surfs good I will have to glass the whole back area (diamond pattern I think)? Then at some point spray paint the back white (I have rustoleum). and decide to put in the quad fin boxes or keep it with sidebites and put in a long center finbox. Still lots of work. I kind of got in deep over my head - but I have sure learned to appreciate what all goes into making and shapping a board - and why a good SUP is 1-2k or more brand new. Any tips / advice appreciated - it can only help as this board is in pretty bad shape right now. Thanks - Marvin.
Edit: Found a picture online of another NSP SUP that has the same lettering on it “elevensero-sup” so this must have been what it looked like origiinally.
Marvin, after you set the rocker, you need to reinforce it north and south of the break and proberly fill in any gaps. Then you need to fiberglass(with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin) the repair on the deck and bottom of the board. Sand smooth, paint and hope for the best.
What I just described is the very basic way and looking at you post you are skipping some of the basics.
Is your goal to have a huge volume surfboard to use? I believe you are enjoying the process which is very cool. But the money and time spent on the fix could get you a used board that is in surfable condition from the start.
Fixing snapped boards in my opinion is a super difficult skill to learn how to do correctly. The last thing I would hate to see is a improperly fixed board that snaps while in the water again and you get torn up on the sharp shards of board. You actually need to be careful and consider this especially if the kiddos are going to use it. I have seen lots of threads on this site of snapped board repairs and I think that would be very helpful to you.
Pic below of a repaired snapped board with all the basic steps I mentioned. Just needs sanding and a paint job.
Thanks for the advice. Yes one thing I’ve learned is that in the future, I’ll do the shaping with foam and glass over everything (e.g. entire tail) at the end - rather than assembling bits from various boards. I intend to fill the remaining holes / dips with foam first and then qcell to keep it light rather than just slopping qcell everywhere and merging the rail lines all in qcell, because for my first project (below), i used too much qcell and glass so that it actually got heavy:
Honestly, I am no longer enjoying this “project”. Its been 6+ monnths and i’ve gotten the board out to make progress sometimes, gotten depressed at the amount of work needed, and then just put it back and gone and rented a board and sup’d instead. When I joined the tail and this board - that was the worst ever. I had stuck dowels in each end and shoved them together - but the two pieces fitted together only by twisting a bit (since the dowels did not poke through the interior foam straight from each end) - and then I had to slop qcell everywhere and call my wife to hold the other end in place while I continued slopping qcell everywhere. So my original goal for this board was not to have a 'high volume" surf SUP necessarily, just a SUP that actually SURFS. In the project above, my Windsurfer-to-SUP board still does not properly ride a wave well - so I finally stopped working on that one, and resumed this one. In the meantime, my SUP surfing ability has increased to the point where I can ride a 10" x 30" board and don’t need an 11"x 31" or bigger board. And I’ve built enough credit it up with surftech to finally get a low-volume surf SUP. But I still want to finish this off and try it out - it may be great for really choppy days or huge waves, or maybe even some downwind runs where my windsurfer-sup would sit too low in the water - out there in the open ocean.
i am going to work on this today some more… try to get the rail line working, and glue foam in any holes/ low areas. then tommorow I can do light qcell and the next day water test it - and finally glass the whole rear end together. Again - any advice / tips appreciated. I know this is a pretty big SNAFU so far but hopefully I’ll learn from this and be better of for it in the future. thanks. marvin.
