Hi,
Summer’s here, and with it the 2 months flat period… so building a cruising SUP appeared to be a good idea and a way to test new technics as vacuum bagging and EPS/epoxy combo.
I’m not a fan of wave SUP… so the design is supposed to be a mix between “real” cruising SUP and allround SUP.
9’6" - 28" - 4.7" and ~ 150L. The size is limited by the car max load ^^, to 9’6" it is. The wide is not extreme too but it should be steady enough… I hope so. The shell will be 6 oz carbon + 5oz fiberglass bottom, 5 oz glass / 2mm cork / 5 oz glass top.
I get the blanks from a local building company who use 1.5 lb/ft3 as casing… way cheaper than online “surf” stores as u can imagine. Just had to glue (nice focus on the photo) the last 16" cause their max length was not enough…
First step: get the outline and the rocker done:
Then took it to the “shaping bay” where it barely fits to shape contours and rails:
Still need a bit of fine sanding so that everything is clean and straight but I’m quite happy with it. Shaping without stringer for reference is rly hard ! especially is the bottom concaves…
For the paddle, I wanted a wooden one: sexier, easier to build and cheaper. It is mostly build from scrap : cost me 5$ for a pine batten and an oak batten… the rest is bamboo scraps from my parents floor, unidentified redwood from my grandpa, and a stump of Juniper tree (Juniperus oxycedrus) that I picked up in the bush.
Get the bamboo down to 1/5" thick and 1.2" wide, same for oak and pine battens then glued everybody together on a large plank with holds every 5" to get the 10° angle at the end of the shaft. Because I used “regular” white glue, and I had top pull hard to get everything fit the holds, I was not sure it would hold well once dry but well, it worked perfectly fine ! Glued the redwood and bamboo to do the vane:
During the drying period, I made the handle from the Juniper stump:
I know, cones are not perfectly simetrycal but I got it right (or just a bit better) during the handle sanding.
Handplane, a power-sander and after 3-4 hours here’s my little paddle:
Here I am so far: nearly finished shape and paddle, found a little fridge pump as a vacuum pump… laminating prep’ is coming soon.
Z.