OK. Another thing I’m learning about is the difficulty of working without a center stringer on a stringerless eps blank. I think I’ll order my next one with a glue line (oh wait, I already have my next one- Ken at Segway delivered me 2 blanks for the price of one- $30. Outstanding deal- I can’t say enough about Segway).
First, my bottom skin shifted slightly in the bag, so the centerline of the panel was not perfectly in line with the center of the blank (which I had drawn with a Sharpie)- about 1/8" off at the nose. When I was laying out my side runners (back runners 1-1/2" in from rail) the distances back to the centerline of the panel were 1/8" different. That should be because of the panel being off, right? Only now I can’t verify that because the blank is totally hidden. And I can’t remember which way
Then when I pulled the tape from the center box, it too was 1/8" out of line with respect to that center join of the panel. Well, I’m thinking since the panel is slightly off, and since everything else is slightly off, then everything’s right on. Right?
None of this is anything you can detect visually, so I guess (?) it doesn’t matter. We had a saying at the boat builder, when trying to fair hulls, rudders, and what not, after awhile you just couldn’t see the bumps any more. “At a certain point you gotta just say, ‘Fuck it.’” At which point the colleaugue would answer, “Fuck it.” And you were done. Until the boss came around and pointed out a hole or bump.
I had the same issues (centerline) with my parabolic/perimeter stringered experiments. I just took measurements as square to the ghost “centerline” as I could get 'em, drew a light at or near the middle of the blank for guidance and set my fins accordingly. I think you’ll be fine. Besides, that’s such a bitchen looking board, it’s got to ride good! Very nice!
Can’t believe I took so long to check in on this thread.
This thing looks awesome Jeff. Great work. Don’t worry about “speed”…when it comes to something like this…take your time; you’ll probably surf it for a long, LONG time.
In regards to your concern about thickness in a composite board; to some extent it’ll depend on what kind of shape you’re in. I’ve met Christian…dude is pumped up. Guarantee he could paddle circles around me on a board smaller than mine, even though he outweighs me by 5# or so. Dims looks great though, and come on; we’ve ALL surfed boards that were a bit to big or a bit too small…and we’ll probably continue to do so.
So funny some of the build issues you’ve had, as I had almost all of them. The solution I found to the “lifted skin” along the rail line was to cut reliefs in the wood, running parallel to the stringerline, to create a bunch of tiny little flaps that didn’t resist the compound curvature as much. I know…too latw now; your solution looks fine.
I also ran into the shifted skin issue you’re experiencing. My easiest fix was a high tension thread, running from the nose of the board, along the centreline to the midpoint on the tail. I based all my measurements from that line rather than the “apparent” stringerline provided by the joint in the middle of the board. Like you said; if it looks good enough, it’s probably good enough.
Really kick ass project…bet you’ve caught the bug now…show will come together…somehow my buddies that are artists always manage to pull it off…even if they don’t get to sleep much for a while…
Beautiful project. I prefer the company of a bonzer any day. I have been reading these threads for years and always thought I would start with something simple like 7’ egg, but now I think I would like my first failure to be great (aka bonzer). Can’t wait to hear how things go after the sanding.
I don’t know if the guys at Moonlight Glassing have special tools or techniques, but like I said before, the bonzer is labor intensive compared to a standard thruster. Then again compsand construction is way, way more labor intensive than regular surf board building. I don’t think you’ll see compsand bonzers lining the walls of your local surf shop anytime soon.
This board is looking great! Dig the bottom contours and tapered rails. Just curious, since I don’t know anything about paulownia, what is the weight of this wood? Is it comparable to balsa? It sure has a beautiful look when glassed.
My guess is that it’s just a bit heavier, but not much adn it depends on the density. I had pieces that were very white with little grain taht felt heavier and the really figured pieces seemed pretty light. Feels a lot stronger though. I probably should have gone thinner with the wood.
HI KK. My decision to go with paulownia owes a lot to some pics of your boards I saw a while back. In fact my swallow template resembles yours too.
This morning I went to sand the hot coat and I found this (see pic)- a string of white “boogers.” Never happened to me before. I hope they’ll sand out OK. Anybody ever see this? I suspect it has something to do with the wax in the additive F.
Photos up. It works. I finally learned how to do that. Thanks to Marabout Slim. Now I’m going to be like Chipfish!
The board is done. I was waiting on the center fin to post photos. Lucky for sways there was no surf or I would have waxed it up and then who knows when I would have posted pics.
Big thanks to the Campbell Brothers for inspiration, not just for board design but for their life philosophy- PEACE!
Onuela, Silly, Benny get special thanks for real tech advice and general encouragement. Thanks guys.
Now what’ll I make next year? Onuela’s got me thinking. Wood fore sure, but what wood?..
I’ll give a ride reportwhen I can, but it might not be any time soon. No waves on the radar and I leave next week for Italy to meet up with my wife and daughter.
OT. I started the thread saying when the cats away the mice will play. Well I learned that the play can’t really fill the void. I miss my wife and daughter. And when my wife told me my 3 year old daughter was saying, “I miss my daddy” and “I want to sleep in my own bed” and was seeming homesick and even a little depressed it tore my heart. So I’ll happily leave the bonzer on the racks until I get back.
wow… what a beautiful thing you’ve made. Not only is it fantastically crafted, it looks like it will work great too. That’s one of the most bitchen compsands I’ve seen.
