Seventhwave Wetsuit NZ, Tom Owens and his brother Freddy recently had a crack at making their own version of the Mini-Simmons, cut down from an old 9’2" O’Donnell:
“This board was totally beat up—the amount of dings were overwhelming— so it was just not worth repairing. It was once a good quality longboard and quite a good noserider. We didn’t want it to go to waste.
First we took to it with a hand saw, cutting roughly 3 feet off the tail and trimming the rails to pull the tail in a touch. We rounded the corners and put some shape into the trimmed rails by hand, using sandpaper. Having no idea how it was going to ride we thought it would be a good idea to put the newly shaped rails to the test. With a lack of resin, cloth and rovings we got into the true spirit of backyard shaping/kiwi ingenuity and thought duct tape would do the trick for a while. After trying a few temporary fin combinations and many test sessions we settled with keel fins, with future fin boxes. We also fully glassed the rails and tidied up the outline.
The day had come, the waves had picked up. With the resin still curing, we both got some good waves, racing down the line and smashing it off the top, the board held together well and surpassed all expectations.
So if you have an old board lying around have a go a making something new. It’s so satisfying and fun turning a redundant piece of foam into a functional surf-craft.”
I wish I had the courage to cut down a 12ft Surftech Softop I have, I know it would make a perfect 8-9ft Mini-Simmons.
" So if you have an old board lying around have a go at making something new. It's so satisfying and fun , turning a redundant piece of foam into a functional surf-craft."
Very cool. We’ve seen a lot of guys get their start by re-shaping old boards. We’ve heard stories of guys striping down old Greg Noll boards, Dewey Webers, etc…those boards were worth some serious dough, before they modified them. On the flip side, it led to a career, lifestyle, and a bunch of great memories, so in the end it’s worth the original monetary loss.
I’ve recycled 2 boards now. Just finished the second one, (the green white and black) it came out at 4’ 8", I call it the “Bantam Fish.” The first one I recycled came out at 5’ 4" (the blue and white) more of a mini simmons shape. It is fun!!! Still waiting for a good day to test out the “Bantam Fish.” Check out my blog for more pix of the process… http://jamessamaha.blogspot.com/
Striped the glass off a pu windsurfer yesterday. Bottom glass came off in one piece. Deck tends to break up over the foot strap plugs
Also managed to pull three fu boxes out in one piece. Definitly a vote here for glass in the hole after I cut around the boxes and pulled them out the resin and glass more or less just peeled off.
Alright Tommorth, It came in @ 6’6”. The old board was 9’8” but like you said you lose foam at the back around the foot straps etc! That winsurf board looks in way better condition than the old one I found with the nose broken off. Im sure you’ll turn it into an awesome board! Interesting about the fin boxes, the one’s in this e.p.s were really fused in & took up more foam than I would have liked. I still have 2 old boards to strip down! Who said recycling sucks? Both e.p.s too though. Slanj.
