Build Thread time!
So I am coming to the end of my board builds prior to the summer. Gonna take time off and enjoy family and some vacationing. But I couldn’t help myself and had to build this board before I stopped for a while! I saw Firewire’s greedy beaver and knew I wanted to make myself one for the summer and beyond. Granted I know there isn’t anything new or earth shattering about this board (I’ve just never made or ridden one). People have been making them forever… but I love the idea of merging a full plan shape with a quality rocker and performance-ish bottom contours… so here is my rendition!
Granted I am a bigger guy (6’2" 215Lbs) so I puffed up the dims a bit for our mushy summer conditions in Japan. I also wanted to rock some fabric inlay so this build ran the gamut for me.
Details-
Dims- 6’5" x 21.25" x 2.75" x N17.5" x T15.5" Vol 43.5 Ltrs.
Blank- PU Bennett 6’9"
Glass- RR Epoxy, Deck inlay, 6 E/4oz S-glass, bottom 6oz E
Rocker- Nose 4" Tail 2.25"
Fins- 5 fin FCS II
Bottom contours- Soft rolled entry, single under front foot fading into double pretty far up, into proper spiral vee in-between the front fins and quads continuing mild out the tail.
I still have a ways to go… I have to add the fin patches and lams to the bottom, hotcoat, pinlines, sealer coat, polish. Will update as I go. The plan is to try a wide range of fins and figure out what really drives this board to perform. Super stoked to get it done and hit the water. As always, thoughts and input welcome!
No I am not familiar with the flash light technique. Fill me in! I actually had a pretty clear line with my tape so it came out pretty clean. The only issue I had was that it was really warm outside and I almost didn’t get the fabric cut in time as the epoxy cured quickly. Got it done clean but by the end I was cutting pretty solid material!
One of the veterans here (John? Keith?) taught us how. In a fairly dark area, put a flashlight under the board to highlight the tape line then cut with the razor blade. Works great. I’ve used it many times and always impress myself with the results. Looks like you managed without, but you’d find it helpful next time.
All the best
really cool shape. I always like a fuller nosed board with pulled in tail around that length. They fill a large void in many quivers. I’d be interested in getting this template if you have the ability to share it.
Second the flashlight trick. Did it recently on some fabric and blue cutlap that could not be seen through at all. Hesitantly turned off the lights and chucked my iphone flashlight under it. Worked titties, but a bigger flashlight would be ideal.
Thanks guys. Appreciate the comments.
UPDATE- I put the fin patches on and bottom logos… yes I put a pineapple on the bottom (will post pics later)
FIN PATCHES: Thanks for the sways tip a few months back from someone (probably common sense to everyone else) I am now putting a very small patch of glass (size of the FCS II plug) down first then my football patches over that. So two layers of glass over the plugs. Wow, what a difference. Far less air bubbles and way more solid than the single football patches I was doing before… seems like common sense now but I’m a little slow on the uptake. Keep in mind I am doing post lamination installs due to resin tint glassing. I would love to hear how others are doing it to keep strong clean plug installs with color work.
Greg- Im going to give that flashlight trick a go soon. I have another fabric inlay coming up. Cheers for the tip!
Mr. MacD- Agreed on this plan shape filling a critical void in the quiver. I was not to keen on the mid ranges becasue most I have ridden have been total dogs But when you get onto a good one that performs it magic in the right conditions. That’s why I squished this one down but kept some volume in it. PM me for outline. I spent a lot of time on this design in AKU shaper with about 30+ revisions until I felt it was tuned in tight enough to actually shape by hand.
MiWie! What’s up man thanks for the input. Have you been riding stuff close to this design? Input/feedback?
Cant wait to get this one finished up. I am on to sanding down patches/laps and hotcoat/pinlines. I usually do resin tint pinlines but my last few have come out splotchy and just fair in appearance. Hoping to get a better run on this board. Right now I’m planning on white pinlines but may go with a darker color! Cheers.
I have built several boards with that kind of shape for me and some buddies. I really enjoy that shape.
(something in the ballpark of takayama scorpions, canvas MNR…mostly called Minigliders, MiniLogs, MiniNoseriders and so on)
Depending on the rider weight and the waves, i´ve built them in the range from 6.2 to 6.8.
Width is usually 21-22.5 inches. Volume somewhere from 40 (my 170lbs buddy) to max 50 liters (me, 220lbs, 5/6 winter wetsuit).
The boards for good waves (only on vacations, I´m landlocked) got pintails/rounded pintails/narrow swallowtails.
My “homespots” (3h drive) are mostly weak and crappy windswell, short period.
I put more area in the tail on those boards, I like diamond tails for that.
I love how versatile they are.
In small stuff they are fun because of the good glide and the good maneuverability. I mostly surf from the middle of the board then.
Easy to handle in the short period windswell, duckdiving is quite okay, they are good paddlers.
In bigger or better lined up stuff or waves with a little more power they are perfect early entry boards. They accalerate without puming easily with the weight forward, can handle big carves on the shoulder but also tight turns in the pocket when you step back on the tail.
If I could only take one board with me, I´d take my “mini-glider” (or whatever you´d call this kind of boards).
I noticed that when you did a free lap over your deck inlay and over the rails, that you cut the cloth at the bottom edge of the board starting before the fin boxes. This kept you from having a lap that went around the rails and only spanned part way across your boxes, thus causing your jig to sit unevenly on the bottom of the board when routing fin boxes. Is this a common practice? I have thought a lot about eliminating the lap in the tail so they do not lap over my fin boxes. I usually have no problem getting the tail section and the boxes nice and flat but this looks intriguing. Will need to give this a try.
Does anyone else do this?
I love looking at pictures of other people board building process. You can tell so much just seeing a few snap shots in to someones bay or glassing room.
What’s up guys!
Michael- great to hear from you and your input is awesome. Yeah I based mine on the Takayama Scorpion and the FireWire Greedy Beaver… along with a few other designs. I qued this one at 6’5" and 43Ltrs to give me the surface area and float I need. I totally agree about it being a go-to board! Can’t wait to get it in the water. No ride report yet. I just got it finished. I had a run in with cancer and spent the last two months knocking it out I just got my first couple of post surgery longboard sessions in! Stoked.
McD- brother I’m not sure how everyone else does it but I run my laps to a point where I want my edges to go hard and then cut them short to edge the tail. I don’t ever have issues with my jig laying flat unless I have crazy concaves going on that I have to brace for. I sand the edges down first, then do the post lam fin route. Lots of ways to skin dat cat.
Jim- thanks so much. Means a lot coming from you. I saw the Pineapple fabric in one of our local Japanese fabric places and HAD to snag it. So stoked on how it came out… BUT my pinlines are garbage! Ha ha. I’m still learning my way through the fine details of finishing. I did white resin pins and they kicked my butt! I think this is board #58 or so. I’m a totally newbie but I love shaping… I can’t hardly help myself sometimes.
Some really nice shots of the finished board.
Clean looking finplug installation. I like the foil and the rail profile.
I bet the pineaplle express will go really good.
Sad to hear about the cancer. Wishing you all the best and a full and fast recovery.
What a beautiful finished project you have there. Killed it!
So sorry to hear about your health issues. I’m sure I speak for everyone here when I say that we wish you luck! Sounds like you got a handle on it and hopefully that stays the case.
Thanks for getting back to us. All the best to you!!
Haven’t been on in quite some time. Work, recovery and trying to surf has taken my time. But, I finally got a few rides on the Pineapple Express! It goes really good and has the extra float in the chest that I needed.
So here is what I have found on this particular shape- You have to move yourself WAY forward paddling (obvious) with all of the forward width/vol in the nose. On a 6’5" that is new for me and took some getting used too for sure. With that being said nose rocker IMO becomes crucial since more of your weight is forward on that part of the curve while paddling into waves. I feel like I didn’t quite get my nose rocker spot on and it seems at times to push a bit of water. Otherwise this has become a daily driver and is a VERY stable board that fits very nicely in my quiver!
Monk,
It actually surfs very well off the tail. I can get right back on the pad and kick it around. It has a really big sweet spot for sure. Just have to get accustomed to being forward on it to paddle. Its only a 6’5" and Im 6’2" so it isn’t a crazy stretch just different than what Im used too. Stoked on it for sure.
(will post pics later)
But when you get onto a good one that performs it magic in the right conditions. That’s why I squished this one down but kept some volume in it. PM me for outline. I spent a lot of time on this design in AKU shaper with about 30+ revisions until I felt it was tuned in tight enough to actually shape by hand.
I just got my first couple of post surgery longboard sessions in! Stoked.
