Thanks for this great thread, its the threads like these that have me wanting to try a compsand when I get the time and space. I have my vacbag setup that I’ve used for veneered longboard skateboards, but I don’t think I’ll have time till I graduate for a real board. But your thread has given me some courage to definately give it a try next year once I’m not constantly locked in this prison of a school. Thank you,
Jeff
I’m still not quite sure what exactly a compsand is, or vac bagging, but that is a beautiful looking board!!, congrats mate!
Classic saga Widow Maker,
Nice board!
Your pain and stoke sound very familiar.
I used to justify my board building as a way to save $$$.
Now I can admit I just like to have surfboard drama to think about at work.
The learning curve gets easier but the first time is the most fun.
My advice for compsands,
After GG gluing on the first rail balsa strip CA glue(supper glue at hobby store the thick gap filler type) DAKLAW style,CA dots with wood glue stripes for the rails.
Get balsa at local hobby store CA glue the ends and then cut a strait edge and tape together.
Buy a vacuum shut off switch $20 @(JOE WOOD WORKER.COM) & vacuum bag $15 for 12ft(same place you got the vent), much better stretch.
Way to work through your boo-booos.
You have what it takes to end up with 20+ surf boards in your garage like me.HEEEE HEEE
Ian
wilmington must be an “interesting” place …
“the boys” [los turdos]…need I say more ?!
nick the knife , with his unfinished fish
you , with Darth Vader for a son , “happy trees” for a transformer dealer ,
and
roof racks in the back of your truck ?? …
I’m glad to read , in the midst of all that weirdness [WHY can’t you guys be normal , like us wozzies ??] , that your board goes great !
A very fun thread , nice piccies [for this photo addict] , and well written and punctuated 10/10 , widow …you can have the weekend off now !
cheers
Ben
Hey AKA, Where ya at, who dat? My buddy Steve still kicks out an occasional Widow Maker.
Widow Maker Surfboards is an inside joke for our wives btw, but works on many levels.
Also, just wanted to show the rattle can finish. It’s so-so.
WM
And here are the scabs I put in.
End…
WM
Its Kalani
Steve’s gone triathaloning or something, haven’t surfed with him in a while…
Good to hear from you again, the wonders of swaylocks…
Head high big for you? Thats funny…
This is the BEST balsa/EPS thread I’ve seen yet. Really has that home-brew look, simple and effective.
Hint on pinlines… all tape will bleed, some more than others, unless it’s on a real smooth surface. Even then it will bleed some. Scotch 233 used to be the best, now their green tape seems to be pretty good, but whatever you use, the trick is to seal it with a bit of clear something-or-other, before the pigmented material goes on. For poly resin pins, I use a bit of UV lam resin, smeared on thinly with my finger. Make sure it’s on the tape edges, no worries about coating the entire area to be pinned. Once it sets (five minutes or less with UV poly and direct sunlight) you can brush out the actual pin resin, the pull the tape as soon as the brush-out is done. I usually don’t sand a narrow pin prior to finish coating, and have never had any fisheye or other problems with it. Compatible materials!
Posca freehand probably works well for some folks, but my hand isn’t nearly steady enough. Maybe the trimming jig that came up recently could work, it deserves to be tested in that application a bit.
Epoxy seems to be very sensitive to contamination of any sort, even though it looks clean, wiped and all that. Apparently just the nature of the material.
This thread is the love-child of MacGyver and Tom Wegener 
Just awesome stuff – inventive solutions all around. Thanks much for posting this!
Nice Job, I knew you were ingenious, but WOW. Way to work through all the issues you ran into. I look forward to riding it in a couple weeks, Don’t know how long the swell gods take to respond out there so maybe time to start the swell dance. I was kind of bummed for you to hear in the post that head high was on the large size. HA Ha.
Definitely neato pics and the story to go along with it. Well done. Did you press the concaves in the bottom in or did you shape it in? I’m wondering if it could be shaped in and not crush too much in the bag.
Hey Schroeder,
I shaped the concaves into the bottom (and deck for that matter), I had the deck offcut (rocker bed), laid the blank on that and shaped pretty much normal. Just had to account for the missing 1/2" that would become the rails. I was a little nervous with the bag so kept it down to 7-8 hg.
WM
Looks like enough foam in that deck offcut for a board for your assistant.
Getting such an early start for him could lead to something huge in the vacuum composite technology field when he grows up. They aren’t teaching that sort of stuff in school. Plus, it’s gotta be way more fun learning the ropes with dad making cool stuff like surfboards.