Twisted / Warped composite board

General Discussion
1

Hi, Every year for the last 8 years I make myself a couple of new boards and now I am making a 8’6" mini mal. At the moment i have shaped the polystyrene, vacuum bagged 1 x 4oz and 3mm corecell(t400) on the bottom and the deck. I took it out of the bag and noticed that it didnt sit properly on my stands it rocked a bit, so I flipped it over and checked out the bottom with a couple of bits of wood and to my horror it has twised in the vacuum bag! One side/rail is just over 1/4" higer than the other.

I’m trying to twist it back now, Ive got it tied down with tie downs and weighted with heaps of bricks.

I just wonder if it doesn’t twist back to normal should I continue and finish it or start again?

Any ideas on how the twist would affect how it paddles? gets up and going ? and how it will turn? will one side feel stiffer and the other looser?

Any one out there had any experiences surfing a twisted board?

Mainbreak.

 

2

I can’t comment on surfing the twisted board, but you might have success untwisting it by heating it ( either w blowdryer or better outside in hot day) and then twisting it. Need to get it pretty warm so PU starts to soften. 

3

Goes great left...not so good right.....or maybe vise versa?

My buddy had a Billy Hamilton 8'2" gun purchased used at Tropical Rush.  He's pretty impulse guy (read A.D.D.)   So he gets this board and was surfing in pretty regularly at pipe and other goofy foot spots....he loves it. 

 I show up and start looking at it..it's got a twist that about 3/4 to 1 inch in it.    It fits great in lefts.....But it sucks going right.  it's the perfect pipe, jockos, Changes, Silvas etc board.   Sucks at Sunset and Lanias etc.

 

So now hes all freaked out because it's got a twist in it...he doesn't want it anymore. Go figure. it goes from majic to dog in his eyes.  I'm thinking it's the ADD talking again.

 

So just test it out...maybe you made a real special board for that perfect point break?

4

‘‘will one side feel stiffer and the other looser?’’

Asymmetricial rocker! Could be a good thing if the twist is going your way.

5

"I think a lot of really good boards need some wacky component to work against: some straight spot or some weird little kink or bump  that kind of lets you work against it.  Some of the best boards I've ever ridden were boards with aberrations or twists..." - Dave Parmenter

"In the seventies, Terry Martin was shaping a board for my wife and told the story of the time that Joey Hamasaki brought in her favorite battered old magic board for reference.  Terry warned her that the old board had a twist in it and had probably changed shape over the years.  She took the new board but came back in a couple of weeks asking for the same shape but this time with the twist." - surf-shot

"Asymmetrical rocker profiles: aberration, or customization? ;-)  All of my boards seem to get a "right point twist", especially my longboards with the starboard side of the nose rising a bit higher than the port side when sitting on the floor." - Lockedin

"...most fun board i have ever ridden was a board i shaped out of a 10 year old blank mold. everything about it was silly and stupid. but fun.  and i have also made a bunch of asymmetrical templates. accidentally hahaha" - scboy4382

6

Shes still in the shed still tied up and weighed down, I wish I could do it in the car but it wont all fit, Im going to give it my best shot to untwist it. After reading your comments I’ve been thinking I’ll have assymetrical rail rockers, they seem to have the same overall curve except near the front part of the board one rail is lower than the other. So it may just affect my paddling depending on which way I’m going. I guess the performance is going to hit or miss hopefully it will be a super freak.

7

Is the top skin on yet?  If not make sure that its straight when the skin goes on and it will hold the shape correctly.

 

bill

8

I have taken the twist out of two or three old  longboards, one was a triple stringer that had at least a three inch twist. I used Rich Harbours’ method with two by fours at both ends and lots of sand bags hanging off of them. It took four days but the twist in that board is long gone.

 

9

Yep it’s got a layer of 4oz over the EPS and a layer of 3mm corecell on this on both deck and bottom.

I checked it today and my method hasn’t worked. I’m going to borrow a mates old station wagon and try the 2x4 method in a hot car.

10

keep trying to untwist with a bit of heat to soften the foam.

you'll make some progress.

corecell is moldable (i.e twistable)

and the 4oz glass apparantly is not providing much resistance

(a bad thing that allowed the twist and a good thing now that you want to remove it)

once the final layer of glass top/bttom is set, so will the final shape

......just as breid19 has offered.

you're using a rocker table, right?

no worries,

-bill

 

 

11

I used to put my boards in the vac bag then put them on my rocker jig and the weigh it down. Then I watched this windsurfer making video(he puts it in the bag right towards the end) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjg626r7RS8&feature=channel_video_title  (

No. 04 Part 2 - Nelson Factory Windsurfing Custom Boards)

and I thought he's a pro and does this all the time, his method looked like a good idea so I made up a jig like his and tried it out, WRONG!! I reckon all his boards must twist as well.
12

Some feedback. I put the board in a car on a 3o degree celcius put the heater on and got the temp to 50c clamped on some wood and twisted the board, it took some of the twist out except for about 1/8"

I vacuum bagged on the outside skin on and then twisted and weighed the board down again while the epoxy was still softish, I left the board weighed down for 5 days, it’s now untwisted.