The problem that I have with this whole “Spring” challenge is that I can never fit a project into a single season of the year. I have had this one project taking up space in my garage since last July. This competition has given me an excuse to finally go ahead and finish already.
Here’s the blank that I purchased last summer.
I was originally inspired by a board that I saw in the Pearson Arrow shop. Just a few feet away in the next rack was this blank. I looked at the rocker on the finished board and then at the blank, and noticed that they were pretty similar. The outline was also pretty close. I swear that I only took four measurements of the shaped blank. I wanted something similar, but I didn’t want a direct copy. I started by drawing a rough outline on the foam. Next I transfered a few measurement points to a sheet of masonite and drew a curve through each point using another template as a french curve.
Here is the finished temple.
After cutting out the outline I put it in a safe spot and proceeded to work on other project. It sat and it sat for many months. Finally… in February, I brought it back out from its hiding place. I put it on my shaping stands and went to town on it with my Hitachi planer. It was kind of a manic moment and I didn’t take any pictures that day. It took me about six hours to fully shape and sand the bottom, the deck, and the rails. When it was all done I was pretty happy with the final shape. I gave it a very light single concave that blends to flat towards the tail.
Here is the current view of the board (below). I did an epoxy resinswirl. As some of you know, I have had mixed results working with color on my previous boards. And… yes, I know that epoxy resinswirls look like crap. I shouldn’t have even attempted it in the first place. But… I really like the way this one turned out.
At this point my next step will be to sand and then hotcoat the board. I am thinking about doing a five fin Greg Griffin style fin configuration. My plan is to make some plywood fins and glass them onto the bottom. I haven’t even started on the fins yet, so it will be several weekends before I complete this project. I promise to take a lot of pictures of the fin construction process.
Here are the fin templates that I was thinking about using. I’m looking for a little bit of feedback since I have never actually ridden a board with a Griffin style 5 fin setup. Do these look about the right sizes? Doe you have any suggestions on placement location?
The board dimentions are as follows:
Length: 5’ 10",
Width at midpoint: 22.5 ",
width 1’ from tail 18.5"
width 1’ from nose 19.25"
width of tail between corners: 13.5"
Based upon my previous discussions with Bill T., the tail section of my board will surf pretty much the same as if I had cut a fishy wedge into it. He called it a broom tail fish. Under this assumption I assume that the fins will go in the same places as if this were a fish tail. Is my reasoning correct here?
Board looks great! I have been going down the nugg path and they are a blast.
If you are going for the Griff-5 fin there are a few things that you have to do. First off very thick glass or normal g10 is a must for stiff fins-drive. Fin placement has to be perfect to get the lift in the tail 1/8 + or _ is a bummer= you need fin cups. If you can make it up to SF I have some g10 and templates for you if you want.
Step 1: I spray glued (Super 77) my fin template prints to some masonite.
Step 2: After cutting the masonite with a bandsaw I sanded the curves smooth with my special curvinator. The curvinator is an old wooden clock with a strip of 60 grit sandpaper spay glued to the outside edge.
Step 3: Trace out the templates on a piece of marine grade plywood, and then roughly cut everything out on a bandsaw.
Step 4: Stack all the pieces on top of one another with the masonite template on the top. Bind each piece to the other using spray glue. Let dry for a few minutes, and then trim the stack so that it is as close as possible to the shape of the masonite. Cutting it really close will make the next step on the router table much easier. You don’t want to have to remove a lot of material with the router.
Step 5: I used a flush trim bit and a router table to smooth the edge to match the template.
Step 6: I used a heat gun to loosen the spray glue and pry the fins apart from one another.
Step 7: Now I am ready to start foiling (to be continued…)
I used an image template that GG posted a while back. I resized the image to create the different templates for the front and back fins. I’ll look through the archives and try to find the original image link.
Thanks Ian. I just might take you up on the offer to help me out with the fin placement when I am done foiling. I am not necessarily looking for an exact copy of GGs setup. After all, my tail shape is totally different from anything that I have seen on his boards. I mainly just want to make it work given the fins that I have created.
On the one hand, I am proud of how the fins came out. On the other it bothers me that the contour lines on the right and left fins are not symmetrical at all. I now look back on my first fin picture from above and I can see how bad the foil looked. I put it back into the vice and continued sanding it until it more closesly resembled the foil images that Hans showed in his Fin Foil program (http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/finfoil-v04-released-now-you-can-edit-vertical-thickness-profile)
Even with the extra work, I was still not able to get my fins to come out symmetrical. You can see the differences more clearly when I arrange the fins base-to-base.
I spent a lot of time hand sanding these to get them to their current state. I have a lot of respect for people that foil fins by hand. It is really tough to do it well.
Remember me? I saw your first efforts at making fins. Rest assured, you’re quantum leaps beyond where you started. Those most recent efforts, while not perfect, (though they are not far off) are on par with many of the commercial fins produced. The best fin foiling I’ve seen, posted here on Swaylocks, was done by Greg Griffin. Hand foiled G-10’s, they displayed beautifully perfect contour lines. A most impressive display of his skill. You should be pleased with the progress you’ve made.
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