So my friend gave me a fish he had started making. He pretty much finished the board except for the hotcoat; he laid the fiberglass and installed some twin fins. But then he moved and didn’t want it anymore so gave it to me.
But the board just seems kind of off to me when I look at it. The outline looks funny to me and I think it’s too long, too thick, and quite heavy. I think there are some spots where it doesn’t seem blended in well and what appears to be a kink where the nose rocker starts.
So I’m thinking about lopping off the nose, stripping the fiberglass, and reshaping it.
Dims are about 6’4 x 21” x 2 5/8” with a single concave running from about the front foot all the way back out the tail.
I probably won’t try and change too much. Take it down to 5’10, smooth out the rough spots, fine tune it a little bit.
Do what you need to do to finish the board as is. Sell it!! Buy an unshaped good quality blank and start from scratch. You could get a decent “Second” from U S Blanks and you would be so much better off. Even if you only got $200 for that green banana you would have enough to get a blank and most of what you need to glass it. What’s up with this new Swaylocks forum anyway? Seems like most people who ask questions here are only interested in peeling the glass off of an existing board and trying to shape it down (way down) into some dream board with all the bells and whistles. OR trying to determine all those righteous design features that make soft tops and Costco Wave Slayers ride like they are gifted with AI. I left out those who are looking for some place to get a Bro deal on a 12 pack of Softies. What ever happened to buying a blank and shaping a Real surfboard???
I really don’t mean to be unkind, but how likely is it that someone would pay $200 for a lumpy backyard shape? (I mean, because I’ve got some lumpy backyard shapes of my own I need to get rid of! lol)
I live in Taiwan. For me to get a blank and have it shipped here would cost more than double the price of the blank. So for a $100 blank shipping could cost me $100 - $150.
Sure, I would love to work with a real blank but I have a family to take care of and I can’t justify spending the cash at the detriment of my family.
And as to finishing the board and selling it. What do you know about the secondhand market for surfboards in Taiwan?
Taiwanese buy big name brands, FireWire, Channel Island. But even then trying to sell a shortboard on the second hand market is difficult. There are too many short boards on the market with not enough people buying. They all want the new model from the top brands.
So all that to say what’s wrong with me wanting to take a partially finished board someone gave to me for free and make it into something I would enjoy riding more? It doesn’t cost me much more than my time and the price of glassing.
I’m not trying to make a “dream board” or give it “all the bells and whistles”. I’ve made one board from a trashed longboard someone gave to me. So I’m very aware of my limitations when it comes to making a board. So will the board turn out better? I don’t know, maybe. But if on the off chance I turn it into something I would enjoy riding more then I think it’s a risk worth taking. It’s better than finishing a board I probably won’t like and to never ride it or be unable to sell it.
But if you want to donate a blank to me then I would be happy to accept. But I’m making do with what I have.
I mean ok maybe it was a bit blunt lol but a little venting is needed from time to time and it was kinda funny. And for the record he has given more than a few blanks away to newbie shapers just bcuz they were sincerely trying to learn.
So the take away is that yes you can do it but its a lot of work and whether you’ll even have a chance at a decent board is iffy bcuz you don’t know how clean the glass will come off until you strip it and it may take chunks of foam with it.
No one wants your family to go hungry cuz you bought a blank but if you surf there’s a good chance you bought a surfboard and a blank should cost less than a surfboard, generally speaking.
Anyway step one is to strip the glass off cuz you can’t shape a laminated board you gotta get down to foam in order to shape so once you have it stripped down to shapeable foam then post a pic and you can get some shaping ideas.
I just figured I’d make a post for this board just in the off chance someone else finds themselves in the same position of wanting to reshape a board but maybe doesn’t have access to a blank.
I was actually looking forward to trying to clean it up a bit even though it will be a lot of work. I figure it’s kind of a shit board now the worst that could happen is it remains a shit board afterwards and I lose some time.
I’ll probably strip the fiberglass the same as the first time, seemed to work ok on my first board outside of where the board had been repaired and the channels. And since this board is fresh I was thinking I wouldn’t have as much foam getting torn out since it hasnt been repaired and doesn’t have channels.
Plan is to take an electric sander to the rails and peeling off the fiberglass from there. Board has a lot foam from deck to rails so should give me some leeway. But like you said just need to see how it goes.
And maybe it wasn’t intended that way but taking a dig at people less fortunate than yourself seems kind of like a shitty thing to do me.
So what I want to reshape a board to try and make it something I might enjoy surfing and try learning how to shape even if it’s not ideal.
Might as well just be honest and say shaping is not for poor people.
Clicked the wrong reply arrow. This post was meant for the OP (not Huck).
Yep. Sways is an independent DIY community — the best place to come to find alternatives to Standard Operating Procedure. As a public consultant, I used to tell my clients, “First, use what you already have in the barn.”
I cut down and re-shaped the first surfboard I ever made (original board was 21” X 7’6”, from a Clark PU blank) — that was after I did several longboard cutdowns for high school friends of friends. Turned out much better than the original — my friends and I referred to the original as “The Blue Goose.”
You will lose some width stripping the glass. You can minimize that by grinding the rail apexes until you just touch/kiss the foam. (A bit tedious, but you could use a Dremel tool to do that.) Then peel the glass. If possible, peel up, gently, from the rail apex first until you get to the deck. Then peel lengthwise from end to end. To minimize pulling foam chunks out, peel slowly/gently. I have heard some suggest heating the glass skin (hair dryer?) immediately before peeling (maybe as you pull?) — I’ve never tried that. Once peeled, you have cleared a big hurdle. (I’ve never peeled glass from an EPS blank though — could be more of a challenge not to pull out the foam beads.)
You will have limited rocker options — think short board type with flatter rocker (more like a Fish or mini-Simmons).
Experimenting is half the fun. You will learn a lot.
Good luck and keep the DIY faith.
$200?
My take on the OP’s first post is that the board was “given” to him.
Back in the day, as a high school student with no income, I would have gladly accepted a freebie to cutdown and re-shape — good practice/experience. Friends of friends actually paid me to cutdown and re-shape old longboards — some were a challenge but valuable shaping/glassing lessons.
Fix it and ride it! You might like it. Taiwan (based on what others who have visited there have told me) is a fairly advanced Surf Industry and culture. Your country makes some of the best wetsuits in the world. I would be willing to bet someone there or across the”Strait” distributes foam. The way you are explaining the used market there; sounds like you could get $200 for anything as long as it wasn’t a shortboard CI or FireWire. In your case I would save the money you would spend on glass and resin and spend it on my family. The surfboard building habit is chronic and eats up money better spent elsewhere. The time in labor spent on this project might be better spent on a second job that would contribute income to your family. Not to mention that every hour spent on this project is an hour away from your family. There are lots of guys around this forum who strip old surfboards and they have access to $50 Seconds from US Blanks. Ride it! Pay the shipping and I’ll send you a blank. No charge. Which brings to mind the question; where did your friend acquire the blank for this “green machine”? Not taking a “dig” at you. Just trying to encourage you to do what’s right. Honestly I am willing to bet you that your standard of living in Taiwan compared to mine here in Oregon (living on Social Security) makes you look like a wealthy person. Take care of your family. Exspensive hobbies take food out of there mouths. Shaping is not for poor people, it will make you poor.
Sorry, I got a little triggered. Just been a tough couple of months, feel like every time we’re about to get ahead something comes up to push us further back. Like trying to climb up a mountain of sand, every step forward has your feet sliding back. But that to say I have much to be thankful for and I remind myself that everyday.
We do have quite a few factories but they don’t sell locally anymore. Apparently there used to be one where you could get foam but they stopped that. I’m guessing exporting abroad makes them more money so they don’t want to cut into their profits.
There are maybe six shapers on island and outside of one who makes his own blanks from big blocks of eps they all order from abroad. I’ve only found one who’s willing to sell you blanks if he has the stock available but again you’re also having to cover what he paid for shipping. A 7ft blank was $220+. But he’s let me come in to use his materials and space for glassing and since he buys in bulk it cuts down on the cost for me.
I know it’s a pretty stupid hobby from a money point of view. But I love surfing and using different boards. I used to work at a surf shop and got to use whatever boards they had on hand so I never had to buy any. Then I moved down south and all I had was a longboard I scrimped and saved to buy for my wife’s birthday. I have a hard time justifying to myself spending the cash on a board when it could be used to make my family’s life better.
So I found an old longboard destined for the trash someone would give to me and turned it into a weird double ender egg, twin fins one side and twingle fin the other. Voila, two boards in one. Probably not a good board but I got to design it within the limits of a reshape and make it with my own hands. I turned trash and something ugly into a board I get to enjoy riding for the cost of glassing, some fin boxes, and some simple tools. I had a great experience that I loved and I learned a lot.
And now I have some free foam that I can potentially fine tune from an ugly clunker into something I could enjoy riding and learn a little something in the process and spending very little. To me that is a valuable exchange.
Haha that was my post back when I was working on my first board! Couldn’t find access to an air compressor so went with sanding the rails and peeling the glass off.
Thanks stoneburner! I think the only part I’m wondering/ worried about is the fin boxes and fish buttcrack. I’m not sure if the glass will be a little trickier peeling off around those parts without tearing foam out.
My plan is to keep the fin boxes installed and the tail intact as much as possible. My first board I cut out the finbox and tail so I didn’t really need to worry about it.
But my plan for this one is more fine tuning than a complete reshape. Keeping it a fish but just shortening it, thinning it a bit, and smoothing out the kinks.
Tail tips and butt-crack may be thicker.
You might try thinning the fiberglass in that area (especially the rails) by sanding down to where you can see glass fiber — like a burn through.
It may help to use Sharkcountry’s heating trick (my previous link) while peeling the glass there.
Probably have to thin the glass around the fin boxes too. If you can thin the FG around the boxes enough, you might be able to make razor cuts down to the foam around the edges of the boxes.
Wax it up and try it out. Who knows, it maybe a fun surfboard. If not, give it to some kid starting out and be a hero…then save up, buy a blank, and build your own.
My response is totally personal and based on my xperience and comfort level.
For me, stripping is a bit of a pita. I have never figured a way to efficiently and effectively strip a recently glassed board or any board for that matter.
No disrespect to the shaper who shaped the board, but it is a bit off for my taste and criteria.
That said, i would probably hot coat it, sand it and give it a shot in the water. You may never know,it might be a decent ride.
I have ridden boards that look appealing where function should follow, but falls short of functioning as good as it looms.
So perhaps, it may end up that an unappealing board may function.
If it doesnt function, you could then try viable techniques to effeciently and effectively stip it off the glass.
If you are able to strip it, I think you may be able to shape some sort of Mini Simmons.
I would not try to force a shape that might not be withing the foam. From the looks of it, you might be fairly limited to a shape range.
If you want to keep the boxes and the tail shape, sand the glass down as close as you can get to the foam. Try to avoid sanding through. If you get the glass thin enough, it will come off easier and not pull as much foam. It will be a lot of work, and itchy.
