Surfboard for Dad

General Discussion
1

Hello all, just thought I would post on my latest project…I am hoping for some insight and ideas.

As you know, the holiday season is approaching, and I thought it would be great if I could make a surfboard for my dad as a Christmas gift. So I am prepared to blow my life savings and go all out for him.

For a little background, I am a college student in FL, but I grew up in Connecticut, which is where my dad is now. I have been away from home for about three years now, so I only see him about 1 month each year. My dad has always been my best friend, so this project is especially important to me. Also, he is a craftsmen in every sense of the word, having dabbled in everything from woodworking, to building furniture, cabinets, houses, motorcycles, racing/building nhra cars. He is part architect, part engineer, and is very hands - on and old school. I learned pretty much everything I know about craftsmenship from him, which is another reason why the outcome of this project is so important to me.

For some background on him, he is about 5’8, 175-180#, and 48 yrs old. He has never surfed, although he did spend summers in Florida growing up and can bodysurf better then anyone I have ever seen. He is athletic, but inexperienced in terms of actual surfing.

I am hoping to build him a board that is functional, because he is moving along with my mother to FLorida in 2 years once he retires, and I know he is looking forward to surfing with his children in his retirement(me, and my younger brother and sister, who both surf quite well!) Although, well function is important, the aesthetics of the board are just as important, as I want the craftsmenship to stand out and be something he can be proud of.

Due to the fact that I live in a two bedroom Apt. currently, there are some constraints to what I can build. I don’t have the room to do a longboard, as I shape on my porch, so anything over about 7’6" is too long.

What I was thinking was shaping a classic fish for him, but scaling it up to make it super beginner friendly. He is facinated by the classic fish template as well, really likes the look of them, so i think he would enjoy it. I was thinking about going about 6’4" x 22" x close to 3" thick. I am going to hand make some wood keel fins to glass on, which I know he will enjoy.

I want to glass with Volan (I can get 7.5 oz Volan from foam ez), do a resin swirl on the bottom with a nice cutlap, a nice pin line and a gloss and polish.

Any ideas, advice, brainstorms, stories, etc?

A few questions I have:

–Can you mix Volan and regular 6 oz? I was thinking that i could do a single Volan bottom, single inlay Volan top, and also a single 6 oz. on the top.

–I have to use/prefer RR Epoxy. No fumes to piss off my neighbors. How will a resin swirl go with the epoxy? I want to use tint, how much will I need to swirl just the bottom Volan? How much tint per oz. of epoxy?

–Any ideas on where to find nice hardwoods to foil the fins with?? Single 6 oz. over the fins, or double?

–Any Clark blank suggestions for a fat fish with low rocker? I figure the 6’9 A or Pavel’s new 6’8 P.

Thanks guys for everything, this project would never take shape without all of you on swaylocks.

Hopefully I will be able to post some pics of the process if you are interested.

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Sounds Good!

Normally people would warn you off long fishes but for an older guy whos just starting i think its fantastic! (for the record, Dave Rastavich rides a 6’9"? stretched fish really well, perhaps not so fishy turning but more like a singlefin)

Another idea is putting fin boxes in the board so you can make nice fins and he (being a craftsmen) can also experiment with making fins.

Atleast double six once over the fins.

Good on you! giving someone the ultimate gift to learn to surf.

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“How will a resin swirl go with the epoxy?”

…I want to know , too !

yes , please take photos of the process …I would be keen to see them !

And Josh’s suggestion of finboxes , so your dad can make fins for it* , too, is a good one , I reckon . That way , the same board can be used as a twin keel or a twin FIN …a 10" box will give you plenty of fore and aft movement to play around with .

ben

* Rolly [‘woodmaven’] , a cabinetmaker by trade , doesn’t surf yet , but he made me a BEAUTIFUL pair of wood twin fins , as a result of his reading up , me sending a sorta template idea to him , and …his obvious craftsmanship skills doing the rest ! …STOKED !!

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“How will a resin swirl go with the epoxy?”

One of the two resin swirls I did was with RR epoxy. Not great but turned out OK (picture attached). I wasn’t able to get the sharp definition between colors that I could get with poly resin.

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Josh and Chip, thanks for the responses…I really appreciate it, as this project is just so important to me. Josh, glad to see that you think the bigger fish is a good idea for him. I was a little concerned at first as well, being that bigger fishes tend to be so uncommon. I just thought it would be beneficial since he is an absolute beginner.

As per the idea of making it with finboxes…i like the suggestion, and I know that my dad would be totally stoked to make some fins. He is far better with wood working than I am…i really appreciate that suggestion. The only thing is aesthetically, nothing beats a glass on wood keel. Although, Chip, I believe you have foiled some wood fins for use in a box setup that were very nice looking…maybe some tips on that??

Wood Maven’s fins are beautiful, I emailed him once before. I was so tempted to order a set of keels, i even got Mom to fund them, haha. I decided not to order them, at least not for this board (I will be ordering a set in the future for a different project for sure) reason being, I want every part of this board to be my work. My dad hasn’t seen my evolution as a shaper, glasser, etc. because I started shaping after I left home, so I really want to show him the full extent of what I believe I am capable of…

Come to think of it, if I can keep this thread up to date with some pictures and details, along with everyone on sway’s thoughts and opinions, I might just print it out and give a copy to him with the board. He is always more interested in the thought process and design of something than anything else, so I think he would get a kick out of it. So if anyone wants to say hello to my father, go ahead and post!!

Rand, just saw your response. thanks for the pic, nice work!! Can I ask if that is tint or pigment?? Looks to be tint, but I very well could be wrong, haha. Can I also ask how much tint you used for that board?? About how much tint per oz. of RR? Thanks…

Thanks again for the responses, hopefully you all will continue to be generous, as always, with your thoughts and ideas!!

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thanks RandR .

Would it be possible to add the swirly bits just as the resin was going off , somehow , I wonder ?

I figure the “swirl” must move around a fair bit while the resin hardens …how long did that take to "set’', do you remember ? and what sort of temperature did you do it in ?

…I ask , because I’m thinking of doing one in epoxy on my mal , here in west oz , in our summer [which can hit 100 degrees some days , NO worries at all … and definately HOTTER than that , in Hicksy’s shed !! ]

cheers !

 ben
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Chip, I had that same question…I am in Florida, so its pretty hot here, and was thinking the same thing. RR runs out so viscous, maybe if you pre-heated and cranked the room temp up you could get the resin to set up a bit faster and get more definition…

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The swirl was somewhat of a combination of both tints and pigments. I had small amounts of leftover resin from previous boards that I had glassed. Sorry I can’t give you tint and pigment amounts, it was mainly add a little here and there to each color until I got a set of colors that seemed to compliment each other.

I could probably have gotten more swirl definition if I had applied more liberal amounts of resin and then pulled the resin off quicker (as you would do with the less expensive $$ poly resin). The problem with epoxy is that you don’t “work” it into the cloth, you have to let it “soak” into the cloth. Alternatively, I suppose I could use small amounts of pre-heated (for flow) swirled resin and pulled it off quickly and then followed that up with a “flood” color to soak the cloth. Not sure how badly the flood color would distort the swirled areas. May work OK if you can get the flood color off the board soon enough. Once the excess is pulled off the board the colors should be set.

I glassed this board in my garage during the summer so the temp was above 80 degrees. I used the fast hardener so it was ready to flip in about four hours. The temp stayed fairly constant while setting up so I didn’t run into many out gassing problems.

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Thanks Rand…I was just wondering about the amounts because I have to order tint soon. I can buy 2 oz. or 8 oz. per color…problem is the price triples, and money is tight. Although at the same time, I don’t want to not have enough, so I am not sure what to do. Thanks again.

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Quote:

Thanks Rand…I was just wondering about the amounts because I have to order tint soon. I can buy 2 oz. or 8 oz. per color…problem is the price triples, and money is tight. Although at the same time, I don’t want to not have enough, so I am not sure what to do. Thanks again.

Perhaps others that are more experienced than me will chime in but… IMHO the 2 oz of each color should be way more than enough for one board.

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Thanks a ton Rand! That is what I was hoping for!!

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I look forward to following the progress / process of this board … please post up some photos , if you have access to a camera .

cheers !

ben

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sbv,

Bigger fish work good, too. And they do ride fish like in my opinion. Fast, down the line speed machines. I ride between a 5-10 and a 6-6. Let me know if you want any board or fin templates. Mike

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Rooster, good to hear that a bigger fish is a fish nonetheless! Stoked to hear it. You’ve got a PM.

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Making a board for your father is a cool idea but I disagree with some of your ideas. Not a downer here just some thoughts to throw around.

48 year old beginner on a 6’4" fish does not work in my world. I suggest something egg shaped around 8’.

R and R has some cool templates that would work much better for an older surfer. I’m in my 40’s and surf 3-4 times a week but my reaction time is not what it use to be.

I know your work space is limited…

Why Volan cloth? I’ve never used it but my research on Swaylocks and elsewhere tells me that you spend alot of $$$ and gain almost nothing. If you are not going clear you won’t be able to see that it’s Volan.

Shipman has been making wood fins out of Birch plywood. Check the craft stores ,sometimes they have small pieces of birch that will work for fins.

I’m into art work and crazy resin stuff but often the simple designs are the best. Triple stringer or T band ,basic rail stripes, ect.

You mention Foam EZ. They have every thing you need ,But so does Fiberglass Hawaii.

Time to get to work and use the Resources and archives.

Have fun !!!

Surfed chest high Swamii’s today. Fun but that place can get to be like a Zoo!

Ray

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Stingray, thanks for your ideas. The reason I wanted to go with Volan was just to make it look more classic…I have never used it either, and I realize that performance wise it may not be the best choice. Just the look I am after. The deck of the board will be clear, by the way, the swirl will be bottom only. The reason I decided to go with the big fish is the limited workspace issue. I cannot go past like a 7’6" or so, and that is pushing it. I figure with the likely size of the board being sub 7 foot, that the fish was a good option. As far as Fiberglass Hawaii, I have heard good things about them, but can’t seem to find an online catalog to order from. I am fine with ordering over the phone, but I need to see a catalog and prices first. Any ideas?

Thanks for the ideas about where to find wood for the fins, I will check that out. Thanks again.

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What kind of stuff does your dad have around? I mean, some guys are into really clean art, furniture, cars, some like wood…and others like resin swirls.

My dad sounds a lot like yours and although he a pretty groovy guy, he’d be really turned off by a swirl. Make sure you’re making it for his taste & not yours…

I think a big fish is fine, even 7’. A lot of older guys around here ride them. Put a big ol’ dome in the deck so there’s volume under his chest but the rails are thin enough that its a little responsive. Make it flat flat flat and kick up the nose rocker late & strong.

Cutlaps are notoriously tough to time with epoxy. Volan makes it even harder. No point at all in using volan if you’re tinting & swirling.

I’d bet your dad would like a 1" wide balsa or t-band stringer under clear (or natural green volan) glass. Let him see your work. If you cover the board with a swirl, he won’t see the clean lines you shaped for him, if he hasn’t spent a lifetime holding surfboards…he’ll only see the colors.

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Benny, thanks for your advice. Glad to hear that a big ole’ fish will work, thats what I am hoping for. I’ll be sure and get a nice rail in there so it doesn’t turn like my grandmother in her wheelchair. The only thing that is gonna be tough, is that i don’t want to crown the deck excessively, because in just floating on a few of my and my siblings boards, he seems to hate the ones that are crowned more. So I am gonna try and keep the deck moderately flat, while still getting him a nice rail. It will be a challenge, but it should be alright. As far as the cutlaps with epoxy, I should be fine, i have done a number of them, and am able to time them pretty well as long as I control the temp. Your advice to lose the resin swirl is intriguing…I know that he would appreciate the resin work, but at the same time, you hit the nail right on the head. He is going to be more interested in what is underneath the flashy art stuff anyway, so maybe just a classic clear board, maybe still Volan, with a simple pin line would be nice…now you’ve really got me thinking! Thanks Benny!

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Howzit sbvfive, Fiberglass Hawaii doesn't do online sales as of yet, maybe in the future. The closest F.H.store to you is in Santa Barbara and shipping to FL might be costly. There should be suppliers closer to where you are. Now if you want the Volan look with out using Volan just add a tinge of green tint to the lamination resin and you will get the Volan look.Aloha,Kokua
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Kokua, thanks for the info on Fiberglass Hawaii…I was wondering about that. As far as the Volan goes, maybe just tinting the glass with a little green like you said is a better idea…I just wanted it for the look, so maybe its not worth it.

If I were to tint green to get a Volan look, how much tint should I use?? Just a super amall amount I would guess, just to give it that greenish hue…?

I have a poll for everyone here…in light of the issues with Volan and the lack of benefit of it, should I scrap the Volan idea? Volan or regular 6 oz…let me know your opinion.