The Sinker- a build thread

General Discussion
1

As of late it seems most of the step by step threads are first time builds.  All the pro and semi pro guys don’t bother. Been there done that.  But I remember when I first came to Swaylocks the threads I liked best were the build threads (this one in particular was unforgettable-Journey Of A Quad | Swaylock’s Surfboard Design Forum .  I’ve documented my work here, including the epic fails.  So here I go again, with lots of pics- for Chipfins, although I’m doing this mostly for the newbies.  There seem to be a lot these days.  

Disclaimer- I’m not an expert builder. I probably built 50 boards in highschool (the 1970’s).  I started again with epoxy when my umpteenth board delammed under my knees after a season. I went to a surfshop to look at Surftechs.  Some guy overheard me talking to the sales guy and took me aside and said, “Check out Swaylocks.  There’s alot of information about epoxy there.  You can do a custom epoxy.”  Don’t know who that guy was but I wish I could thank him.

Now I vac bag. This is my 8th vacuum bagged project.  Once I read Bert Berger’s thread (  Vacumn forming & Sandwich construction | Swaylock’s Surfboard Design Forum )  I was hooked.  I haven’t been interested in “normal” construction since.  Also, I love wood.  I know there maybe technically better, more high performance materials out there (I think of and tip my hat to CJ whose boards always blow me away with their light weight and high strength).  Maybe it’s my Japanese roots but I can’t imagine abandoning wood any time soon.

 

This board is meant to replace one of my epic fails.  Some of you might remember the “delam specials.”  I made two boards, my first attempt at Greg Loehr’s “Timberflex” method (another pivotal thread- I’d recommend all newbies read it, but it’s now 86 pages long!- WMD Compsand | Swaylock’s Surfboard Design Forum . Something went amiss and neither I nor anyone I consulted with could come up with the culprit, but the hotcoat just flaked off as I sanded-

 

and then the lam layers started separating-

 

None of the possible explanations given me could explain why the layers of cloth of the fins Iaid up at the time just separated like they were on wax paper-

One of the boards was in the trash heap after three surfs. This one-

 

The other, a 7-1 bonzer5, has held together.

 

It has air bubbles (actually delams) all over the rails.  But it is one of those magic boards when it’s overhead so I want to remake it with a few modifications.

 

The other inspiration for this board was a piece of wood-

I buy my veneer from www.certainlywood.com because they are the only online vendor which has photos of the actual flitches you will purchase.  All the others have generic species photos.  So I saw this wood and it (the piece on the right) screamed “SURFBOARD!”  So I bought the wood and am ready to build another board.

2

[quote="$1"]

I buy my veneer from www.certainlywood.com because they are the only online vendor which has photos of the actual flitches you will purchase.  All the others have generic species photos.  So I saw this wood and it (the piece on the right) screamed "SURFBOARD!"  So I bought the wood and am ready to build another board.

[/quote]

hahaha - that's classic, this wood was destined for a surfboard!  love it.  looking forward to this one.

3

Hi Jeff -

I certainly remember the thread about bonding issues you were having.  I don't know if I suggested the possibility that you had somehow received some coated peel-ply fiberglass... I saw the photo of the fin plies and can't help but wonder?

http://www.airtechonline.com/catalog/pr_cat/re_fa/02_re_fa.pdf

4

Im still relatively new here on swaylocks- but i do enjoy every build thread that we are blessed with. I will be watching this one!!!

 

 

5

I thought it was narrowed down to Tyler sabotaging you?

Looking forward to this build.

6

I Haven’t done anything on the board recently.  Waiting on materials (epoxy).  I have my blank and have worked on an outline in AKU, just a simple, clean round pin-

7

really looking forward to this build. all the newbies on here (including me) could greatly benefit from a detailed build thread like this!

8

Ok.  So I’m back to work on the Sinker.

Taping up a AKU template, not the greatest method.  I hate that there is 1/2" on either side of the paper that you have to overlap-

 

Cutting out the paper AKU template.  Thus begins the “Creeping Error.”  That is- you cut a little outside the line of the template.  Then you draw the line on the blank a little outside the line of the paper template.  Then you cut the blank out a little outside the drawn line…  I was made aware of this phenomenon by a wood worker . You have to go and constantly monitor your desired DESIGNED dimensions.  If you don’t the board will end up a 1/4" wider than desired

 

 

Skinning the blank.  Yes, I use a surform because I shape in the bedroom of our condo and the power planer whines too loud. Three cheers for surform shapers! I know there is a better way but that way is not really available to me.  My shaping experience is dealing with a series of known handicaps.

 

One of the problems with stringerless blanks-  Where’s the center???  Maybe next time I will order a glue line

 

I used a chalk line to mark the center line.  I snapped it twice and got two different lines.  There’s got to be a better way!

 

Templating.

 

Cutting outline.  Error creeping along steadily.  I did clean up the outline obviously.

 

One of my favorite tools.  Before doing any bottom contour work this makes sure the bottom is dead flat. 36 grit sanding block.

[IMG]http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r31/llilibel03/sandblock.jpg[/IMG]

More to come...
 
9

Lookin’ good Jeff!

And I thought I was working in confined space!

You definitely make due. Good job!

10

I like your idea of the big sanding block. I also allways struggle with the missing line on stringerless blanks and the AKUshaper outlines.

11

I switched from Aku to Boardcad to make templates because Boardcad has gridlines when you print out the templates. Makes lining up the sheets much more accurate.

12

i have templates that are cut from a piece of masonite with a factory straight edge. mark your center on nose and tail and then clamp the template to the blank and run a pencil down the factory straight edge.

after shaping (and scrubing off the centerline), i take a piece of tape and run it from nose to tail and then lay the template with factory edge on the tape and run another center line. mark the fins and then pull the tape.

this works for me. may or may not be helpful to you?

13

I don’t have a large format printer so I print in BoardCAD.  Then I lay out some butcher paper, mist it with spray adhesive and lay the sheets down flat on it, aligning the bottom line of the pages with the edge of the butcher paper.  I use a 24" wide roll of the butcher paper and fold it in half before I lay the template pages out on the seam.   That way I’m cutting out a symetrical full template.   I cut the template line on pages out before I lay them down on the butcher paper and then I tape the edge down with cheap masking tape, keeping most of the tape on the inside of the line.   That way when I cut I get an edge I can trace around.  It seems to come out really clean that way - no drama.  For one-off templates that I won’t be using again this is a lot faster than doing masonite, and arguably a little more accurate, particularly for symmetry.    Process takes about 10 minutes from CAD program to full template.  

 

On stringerless blanks I use a square and mark my centerline on the blank at both ends and the middle with a razor prior to any templating.  I cut through the ends and bury the blade a bit in the middle so that even after planing and sanding the line is still there.  Then I use a line of masking tape to line up the marks.  After templating I mark both ends again with little 1/4" cuts.  Obviously they disapper once I laminate.  No errors and no chalk residue.  

 

For veneers, I use masking tape and the butcher paper to “build” my templates for the veneers.  I lay a line of tape down as if for a lap line, mist the paper with some spray adhesive and lay it down flat (no wrinkles) on the blank.  Trim to the inside of the tape and then use another line of tape to connect to the lap line on the blank.  Peel it all off in one piece and re-lay it flat on my veneer.  That way the veneer cleanly matches on both sides what I actually shaped.  No screwing around.  

 

14

I might have to try BoardCad.  Is it free?  I’m a cheapskate.  I used to make masonite and luan templates but I realized I never make the same board twice.  I only make one or two boards  year so I don’t do repeats.

I’m pretty much done shaping now.  A little fine tuning still to do today, then the fun starts.

Adding rocker-

 

Checking rocker-

Just right!

 

Adding a touch of vee (1/8")-

 

Laying out fins.  It’s always kind of fun doing this.  I love drafting and the bonzer set up is just alittle more complex than most.

 

 

The fin layout determines the concave placement. Adding concaves.  In the past I worked from the nose to the tail thinking that is the way water flows.  This time, after having seen video snippets of Malcolm working on the concaves, I did it tail to nose. 

Adding the single.  I saw in the aforementioned video that Malcolm actually has precise marks for the flare of the single.  I just guessed.

 

Concaves more or less finished.  The hump in the middle looks uneven but it’s just my lopsided lighting.  If you flip the board around the other side’s hump will look bigger.  My bad lighting is another of my aforementioned handicaps. The "flutes also look extreme but by the time you get the runners glassed in they almost disappear.

 

Starting the rail bands-

 

 

 

 

15

Lookin’ good Jeff…

Check out this thread:

http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/which-software-will-work-me

I picked up a couple of those Lexmark Z611 cheap. One off of Craigslist and one off of Ebay.

I don’t know how it works for printing outlines but, printing rockers was super easy.

I wish I still had both of them, I gave one away, otherwise, I’d send it to you.

16

thanks chris.  How’s your cork board???

17

I was just looking at it today. I am waiting for microspheres to seal the bottom before I glass.

There was a mix up in shipping but hopefully I can do that ASAP. I just found out that the TapPlastics in my town has microspheres in stock. I think I’ll just go pick some up.

18

Well, the shaping is pretty much done.

 

When checking the shape I saw that there was just the slightest hint of a beak and I thought it looked kind of cool so I left it-

 

So far everything is pretty standard fare, but now comes the fun stuff…

19

OK now comes the counterinuitive part.  I make my rails of balsa.  So I have to scribe back and cut off a section  of rail.  I put 1/16" balsa on before bagging on the skins in an attempt to hold the rocker when bagging the skins.  After bagging the skins I’ll add another two 3/16" layers ( I taper the 3/8" down to less than 3/16" at the nose and tail).  Then I shape the rail…again.  scribing the cutline-

 

scribing the rail pieces-

 

coating the rail pieces-

 

Rail pieces taped down-

20

Looks great, can’t wait to see the veneer.