In 2019, a guy at the beach had a 9’6" SurfTech / SofTop longboard for sale, for $100.
I thought , I might be able to do something with that , and I had the $100 in my wallet. So it became my ‘Project’
I Don’t know what model it is, because there’s nothing matching it in the SurfTech catalog that I could see. It was a single fin, originally.
The tail was crushed and the fin was broken so I began there and tried it out…
Mediocre , but easy to catch waves on.
It originally had 50/50 rails in the tail and 60/40 further forward with the foam deck patch wrapping around the rails.
The first mod I did was to give it hard rails in about the back 2’…
Better, but just starting .
I hardened the rails by mixing microballoons with epoxy and then after it set up ,
Shaped it and glassed it.
I have had good luck with Twinzers on some waves around here that are frequently longboarded so I decided to roll the dice on that…
To Be Continued - I have to get something done B4 sunset
I used to have a Walden Magic, and it had a very distinctive bottom contour - kind of a chine or bevel, which I think I see in your pic. Also a distinct double barrel concave in the fin area. I would need better pics to say for sure.
Originally, mine had no chine.
The rails and bottom contour reminded me of one of the classic longboards from the mid 60s, like a Phil Edwards or a Velzy.
Belly from rail to rail with a slight V-ish contour.
The first thing I did was add a chine to the rails in the back 2’
My board might not be featured in the present SurfTech catalog.
I haven’t received any replies to my Emails
I started surfing when I was in my 30s and I’m just about 70 now
That meant I was a middle aged Kook.
I had to catch up unless I wanted to be like other middle aged kooks.
And I thought that learning to shape might enable me to get up to speed on board design.
So I opened a shop and I discovered that I could try out various designs and then sell them and not go broke…
But I haven’t surfed since about 2021 because the owner of the property where my shop was, sold the place, and moving ate up all my free time.
F.F. So there was a power failure and I wanted to cook and I made the mistake of using my board as a kitchen counter and set it across some sawhorses with a propane stove on it and I realized that the heat was goung down and delaminating my board… That was a couple yrs ago and I just repaired it last week.
So it had an 8" dia blister on the bottom and when I removed the glass, there was a crater of melted foam.
So I think that I feel motivated now to start getting to sleep early enough and hit the surf in the AM…
I got it patched and I’m documenting what I did to this to change it from a mediocre soft rail Single Fin cruiser to a carver.
I made one change at a time and went out for a session or two to take note of how it felt.
Repair -Diamond patch over the filled crater
6 oz E cloth with an additional round patch to prevent possible sand through.
Resin Research Epoxy with white pigment.
When I’m done I’d like it not to be an eyesore.
Documenting modifications in the next post, if anyone feels like following.
About 10 years ago, I used to buy old beat up longboards to strip and reshape. I got about 4 and they were always about $60 or less. One was a worn out 10’ softop and after the soft top covering was stripped off it turned out to be a Haut shape, I fixed it instead of stripping it down.
