Hi all - I came into a vintage Hannon today (price was certainly right) - it’s seen better days, but I’m curious if anyone has any info (vintage, etc.) to piece together this old board’s history. She came from Providence RI, where someone had it hanging around with the intent to learn to surf with it, but never did.
There are no sigs or other markings that I can see. Looks like a triple stringer (one wide, possibly T-band in the middle & two smaller ones on each side). Small Hannon logo offset on deck and two small Hannon logos on underside. Hatchet (?) style glassed-in fin.
The deck is in reasonable shape for its age (one bubble delam that may or may not warrant attention - it’s pretty solid), but had a lot of old black wax that is a b!t@h to get off. The glass is THICK & HEAVY. The underside has one big old nasty repair and what appears to be a couple of spots of injection-type delam repair (one spot covering part of the port-side stringer aft). Someone added a leash plug as well (I’m assuming). Alot of rough sanding of old repairs all over as well. There are various spots where the cloth weave can be felt slighty (just the texture - not the actual cloth), including the fin. Oh, and she’s HEAVY - right around 38 lbs.
I’d love to get this tank in the water - if for nothing else to catch a wave or two, as I’m presuming this board hasn’t been ridden on a wave in a decade or two. Any advice on a plan of attack would be great. The big nasty repair has a couple cracks where it is married with the orig glass, so that’s probably where I’ll start. Should I open up a couple spots to see if she’s holding water (and what’s the best way to go about this)? I imagine 38 lbs is about 10 lbs overweight for a board of this vintage (is that correct)? I have intermediate ding repair skills, so I feel confident I could at least shore her up for a surf.
I used to have an old Hannon that was in similar condition to yours. It was really cool. Triple stringer with awesome t band center. But it was in rough shape. I decided to strip the glass. Bad idea. Way worse on the inside then I expected. Rotting stringers, gnarly water damage, etc… I wish I just left it alone and rode it every now and again when I felt like riding a big heavy board thats hard to ride. I ended up reshaping the blank into a shortboard and the foam was outgasinig like crazy. think thousand of bubbles in the hotcoat and gloss coat. Kind of a nightmare but the board surf ok even though it is still not water tight. I would do as little to that thing as you can and just keep admiring it and surfing it. The stringer configuration and tail block are awesome and John Hannon is one of the godfathers of east coast surfing. Nice find!
Thanks - this is the way I’m leaning as well. No diamond in the rough here, unfortunately, but she will ply the shoulder of a wave again (if I have anything to say about it). I’m most curious how it’ll feel in the water and underfoot.
good call. When I rode my old hannon, before I turned it into a frankenboard, it was an interesting experience. It was heavier, longer, and flatter than anything I had ridden before. It took some getting used to but ultimately I got some good rides on it and it was fun to expeience. If riding it leashless, which I reccomend, i wouldnt take it out at a crowded break unless you are used to riding similar boards. It will respond way different than a modern longboard. Have fun!!!
Is that possibly a pig shape? I would sand the whole thing down fix all the dings and hot coat/gloss coat that board, then ride it/sell it. That’s my kind of project. If you do go that route, plan on staring at the board for 4-8 months (possilby cursing your decision).
John Hannon was quite likely the very first guy to produce brand name surfboards on the East Coast. He was running ads in Surfer Mag as early as the Spring of 1962.
There are no markings on your board because NO ONE did that in the 60s except for a serial number and maybe the shaper’s intitals. Even initials were very rare.
38 lbs sounds absurdly heavy, even for a board that old. In 1962 the average hand shaped board was 26-30 lbs.
Monkstar gave you the best advice. Sand it down to the weave and recoat it. I would not put much time or money into it. It’s too beat up already to be worth anything.
