OK, after months of working on my inflatable boat, I took it in to have the transom reattached and the guy said he’d love to take my money (>$1000), but he wouldn’t do it. Then he showed me to the dumpster. So that project is done.
Next project is gettin’ down to business on my hopefully knee paddleable shorter board, the Thing (thanks to Benny1, Janklow, and others for input in the design process). It is going to be 8’ x 25.5 x 4 1/8". Got the blank from Ken at Segway (who also insisted on buying me breakfast when delivering it to me!!!), and it sat in my rafters taunting me until yesterday.
First I made a printout template (didn’t feel like going to Kinkos for the poster print method):
I’m thinking single, or twin keels with no toe. Not sure what kind of single, yet. Soft rails all the way to the tail, so not my Harbour HP fin. Maybe the Spitfire wingless keel? Also not sure what kind of fin boxes for the twins. I PMd Larry, but haven’t heard back from him yet. I was thinking probox, though.
Had a couple hours yesterday, and then a couple today. I worked fast and furious (need to get some sweatbands for next time). You’ll see that, as in the design, the deck is mighty flat.
Rocker shot, now with wooden rocker measuring device.
The blank has several areas where there is pitting, likely from EPS beads ripping out instead of sanding. Guess I was too fast, and too furious in my sanding. This is 3# EPS…so I know I don’t need to do spackle/fill, but I’m thinking it might be a good idea. I’m less worried about weight (right now it weighs only 9lbs, and as long as it ways < 28lbs when finished, it will be lighter than my other boards). Thoughts?
Now I just need some glass, and some resin. Oh, and fin boxes. Oh, and a leash plug. Maybe some rice paper. And balsa for a knee paddling patch. Just a couple things.
OK, I’ve ordered just about everything, now I need some help on fin placement. Specifically, not sure where to put the twin boxes. Everything I’ve found, so far, on placement of keel boxes is for swallow tails. The fins I’m hoping to have will be ~7.5" at the base. Maybe do ~ 7.5 from the tail, 1" from the rail for the trailing edge of the fins?
I am Very interested in this thread as I am contemplating a very similar project for my old man. You have drug me out of lurking status and into posting status. Good luck and please keep posting untill the project’s completed.
Sweet! I definitely will keep you posted. Should be glassing it this weekend if I can get everything in order by then, so I hope to know within the next week or two how well it works.
Attached is the template I was thinking about for the keels. Anyone have any suggestions where to put them? (left myself wide open there…oops, did it again!)
Fins will be symmetrically foiled, no toe in, and Probox, so cant and forward backward will be somewhat adjustable. So in answer to your question, straight, yes. How far from the 9" wide tail…suggestions welcome?!
Update on my progress: got materials later than expected, so a slow grunting start to glassing. Sealed her up, sanded her down (pain cause I added too much goop), epoxied on some logos (this time, no fabric inlay, but logos and rice paper…baby steps), and now it is glassing time. Gotta say, I love the Resin Research Epoxy! That stuff is really pretty nice to work with (though I’m scared of getting sensitized). Still getting used to it, but I love the viscosity. So much easier (in my opinion) than even UV polyester. Clock is ticking, once you mix, but it is fairly forgiving if you dump it all out.
Logos giving thanks, since thanks are due (thanks for sways logo pcinsc):
Naming of the beast:
Shot from the nose during lamination:
I’ll take some pix of the knee paddling balsa patch I’m going to put on.
Progress report: 2x 4oz on bottom, 1x4 oz on top, and glued on the deck patch:
First foray into balsa, and it isn’t all bad. Hopefully this will hope prolong the life of this board in the face of knee paddling. I precoated with epoxy, then glued it down, filled in with epoxy, then put roving around the edge to give a transition to the deck (thanks for the roving, Keen!!!). Next, I’ll even it out by sanding it down a smidge, sand the edges, two more layers of 4 oz or so, then hot coat, fin boxes, and a leash plug.
Thanks again for the rovings! They were key in getting a good transition between the wood and the deck of the board.
Iconoclastic,
I didn’t figure on it looking like anything special, but I really like how it turned out.
Project update:
OK, hotcoated last night with only one moth attending the party. My girlfriend is leaving town for a week, and even though I didn’t have time to put the finbox in, I decided to do the sea trials today so she could attend. My biggest fear was that I would throw it in the water, jump on it, and sink it to the point of not being able to knee paddle it. I did a lot of research, but there is no way to know until trying it out. So we took it to the beach today without fins, I waxed it up a smidge (not too much, cause I need to do more sanding), and took it out for a fin free jam session.
Here’s the board, and me for scale:
Here’s me knee paddling it!!! It worked!!!
It moves pretty well, kneel patch is in the right spot, it is super stable, and while I didn’t paddle for any waves other than imaginary ones (no fin, no leash, no wax, no way), I am pretty sure it will work for that, too. As for the fin, I got this fin from Solo and Larry. I’ll throw a box int it tomorrow/tomorrow night:
Thanks again to everybody for making this thing possible. I am super stoked.
