Two months ago I purchased a Harbour board at an estate sale in Berkley, CA. The seller told me that his grandpa was a life long surfer and that he was the original owner of this board. I took it out a few times and had a blast but the thing is a heavy beast. Shorter sessions but super easy wave catching machine. I measured it and It’s a 9’8" ,22 1/4 width, fin replaced with fin box and the nose is caved in. According to Rich Harbour, “The unique dents are more than likely foam shrinkage from heat. For a while, Walker foam had some problems with their foam formula.” I cannot find any specs on the board , no shaper signature , nothing! Underneath the Harbour logo it indicates the model followed by a serial #. It is a Banana model , 2038 . I’ve already tried and contacted Harbour but never received a reply. I also posted in their Harbour forum. Can someone here please provide me with some insight on this particular board? Year, etc… I would love to get some history behind this beauty. Thank you in advance.
Harbour used to have a S/N lookup on their site, but seems to not be there anymore. I would try again with them; someone may still have access to the numbers. I ordered a new Harbour Banana model in late '64. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the S/N. The model was introduced in '63 and was available maybe until late '65. Mine had a glass-on fiberglass D-style fin. The red and white color job on your board looks like it was added later in its history. Boards at the time did sometimes have color panels, but that design looks suspect; probably intended to cover some damage. I can’t tell much from the pics, but basically '64-'65 vintage. Can you tell if the tail block is wood or glass/resin? Glass would be a little later. Boards of that era did not usually indicate shaper. The Banana model was a very successful design and it has re-appeared in various forms in the Harbour catalog over the years.
it does look like it had a glassed on fin but was restored with a fin box. I also think that it might have been restored in the past, it does have a wooden tail block. It’s definitely a tank. Thanks for your information; narrowing down a year helps.
I agree with tsimpson. The color panels on it are not period correct at all. Most likely added to cover a lot of ugly. There is no signature on the board because nobody signed Harbour shapes. The Banana Model was the shape associated with Rich Chew in the mid 60s.
I’m surprised Rich Harbour has not replied to you. He is one of the few who kept good records of his boards and was always helpful in looking up a serial number to ID when a board was made, and often which shop sold it.
Adding a modern finbox to a mid 60s board that had a glassed on fin is the opposite of being “restored”. It’s actually a bad idea.
Harbour used the Waveset fin sytem, beginning around 1967. He then adapted to newer systems as they came along. The box in your board did not exist until 1970.
yeah, I pretty much knew that it was not in it’s original state from the start. If you notice the back end of the fin box it does look like a small piece of the glassed fin stayed on. I am assuming that the person did not want to remove it and have to fill it when he replaced it with the fin box. The paint used is unlike anything that I have seen on a board. It almost feels like some heavy duty lead infested house paint. I took it out 3 times and had a good time, albeit tiring on the arms.
I’m willing to bet that paint is some sort of marine paint. That’s what the guy used on my 68 G & S. If I had your board, I would sand all that paint off. Just knowing what lies beneath (good and bad) would drive me nuts.
Hey Monkstar1, would sanding it off make the board a little lighter? What good would sanding the paint off do? I did think about it but felt awkward asking if I should.
It might make it lighter but just barely. Sanding it off wouldn’t ‘do any good’ and honestly it probably will show the dings underneath. But for me personally, I love seeing how the board looked ‘back in the day’, dings and all. Plus, there might be a small chance you find another distinguishing mark on the deck, but it’s doubtful.
Edit: the only other reason you might want to sand off the paint is to expose smaller dings that need to be fixed.
We see many of these old Harbours around here that people like to take out at Seal Beach. I zoomed in on one of your pics and it looks like the white is resin. The red may be paint. You would do this old board justice by sanding off all the crap and see what you have. It will also make it lighter. The nose damage is typical along with the balsa rot that came with these stringers. (That’s what the order card meant by “stick”) Normal stringers were redwood and this was an old school option. If you are good at fiberglassing & repair, you can cut out the old balsa and replace it. If anything, seal the nose up as these will continue to rot down the stringer. The original fin was not really a fin but more of a “skeg” as we called them, basically a slab of fiberglass cut out with rounded front and rear edges with no real foil. They were yellow for the period of 63-65 in stock boards with other colors special order. I am the proud owner of a 1964/65 Trestle Special that my dad bought me (second owner) in 1967. It was the last longboard I owned until I shaped one in the 80’s. I cringe to think about how many classics we stripped and cut down back then during the shortboard revolution. Rich was one of the guys that taught me about shaping back in the day. He is still one of my heros and his boards are special.
