I picked up this board a couple of weeks ago. I have no idea what the model is. Anyone out there have any ideas? Has an off-set fin box, the fin was broken, and I made my own interpretation of what it might have looked like. There are a few dings. The bottom opaque gloss is crackled and I’m thinking of sanding and re-glossing. Using the board as a rider. Does anyone have any ideas on how to re-gloss the bottom?
to remedy the “cracked opaque bottom gloss” you refer to, my suggestion is to grind it all down smooth and re-gloss. However, it’s a trial to get opaque finish coat, usually enough pigment can’t be added to get saturation/opacity. Here, I would suggest using an epoxy paint, either sprayed or brushed, such as you’d get from a boat store, or simply Krylon. But you have to really sand it smooth, say to 220 grit, to get a good finish, since the paint is not a filler for small imperfections the way a resin finish coat can be.
Surfy------------I know a litle about these boards and can give you some info. I’m glad you posted pics. I can’t tell for sure from the pics, but most of the boards were not solid opaques, but deep tints. Common colors were green and blue. The blue was especially used on a model known as the “Blue Machine”. A Bob Cooper design heavily influenced by McTavishs’ early V-bottom shortboards. That is if you can call an 8-footer a short board. Since MP pioneered the fin-box and molded fin with their W.A.V.E. set fin and box, that is more than likely the set-up you have in this board. At least it appears so from the picture. I could not tell if your fin is an original without actually seeing it. The take on the box being set off to the right of the stringer is simple. The industry just hadn’t figured out how to rout a box into a center stringered board at this stage of inovation. These boards came out of the MP skunkworks in Saticoy and were primarily designed for the pointbreaks of Ventura/Santa Barbara counties. All righthanders. So the sales gimick was that the boxes were offset for local surf conditions, but reality is that they were offset to ease the manufacturing process. I don’t know the length of your board, but if it’s over 9’, it is proably one of their last few longboards. That would put the date of that board around '65-'68 . I would opt for sanding the snot out of that board. Take it down to the original hotcoat. re-hotcoat and gloss. McDing
This just in from Thane Pope. The board was one of the first MP’s ever made. Shaped and glassed in early '64. The fin box was hand layed fiberglass and utilizes the “wonder bolt”. The box was offset because Karl thought that the tail would snap if the stringer was cut. Im just going to patch the dings for now so that I can ride it and perhaps in the future I’ll re-hot coat and gloss. I believe in riding what I own. Thanks for the replies and keep them coming.
That board looks like a Snub ,a model just before the Penatrator and the Blue Machine early MP made at the front st shop in ventura,Saticoy was later.Thanes right on the wonder bolt my Penatrator has the same setup.The V-bottoms were a bit later around 67-68 when Mctavish did the MP Trackers.The off set fin was Coopers thing I think.Yater was routing the fins in the Yaterspoons in 65 between the split stringers so they had it figured out by then, Copper was the glasser at Yaters.Fix it ride it!!
Kirks right on the info. I had a “snub” in ‘65 . I don’t know if it was made at Front st. Ventura, but that is where I bought it(used). It had the early box routed between the two stringers in the foam. The fin was white polypropelene or maybe lexan. They were pretty flexible until they got old, then became brittle. I bought that board used for about $60. The stringers were about 4 or 5 inches apart. Rennys’ Y stinger made the finbox rout a piece of cake. I later like everyone else at that time bought a “penetrator”. That shop on Front st wasn’t MP for very long(2 or 3 yrs.?) We used to hang out in there after surf. Hey kirk did you ever know Dale Herds? (Arnson?). And here is one I’ve been meaning to ask you before. Whatever happened to Tom Hale? McDing
McDing -
I own a couple of longboards, a Yater and an Owl. Each has an offset, routed glass-on fin. One has the fin on the left, the other on the right. I’ve always wondered about the “right point only” theory but since both boards are from that region and the offsets are opposite, I figured maybe it was to maintain the integrity of the stringer.
Hey John ,I always argue with Yater about this fin set up and he always burns me in front of a bunch of people and says its because they didnt want to brake the tails in front of the box . This is after I have givin my full story about Copper and this guy and that guy and yada yada.Then he gives me look like ,you frickin gremmie you were always late to work, pick up the bar tab and shut up.
I still wanna know. What happened to Tom Hale and Dale Herds? I figure if anyone can answer that, it’s gotta be you or John. Come on give me a break. I have heard rumors, but no solid info. Give it up! McDing
Kirk------ I was thinking that I may have asked you about someone or something along these lines before and didn’t get an answer then either. So what is the problem? Too stuck-up your butt to give me an answer? McDing
McDing you must drink to much coffee ,mellow out ,I was out of town . Tom Hale ,I talk to him at a opening in Ventura surf museum 10yrs ago or so and he shapes a bit for freinds is fit but has moved I cant remember where,nice guy good shaper.I dont know about Dale he used to come in and get boards from Yater up until I left in 82 and was living at La Conchita and did a fiction story for the Journel a while back that was good,I will look it up later. Pezman puts a note in the back that tells about who wrote what. Renny might know more on Hale Ill ask.Later KP
Kirk ----no problem, I’m mellow. I have been wondering about these two for years. Thanks. Tom shaped some of the nicest longboards I’ve ever seen and was a great guy. Dale used to put up with our gremmie s#!t after surf at MP . My little crew really looked up to him. We were all kook/hodads who would have given anything to be as cool as Dale Herd. Someone had told me they thought Tom was up north(cal). I maybe in SB in a week or two . If you here anything else on these two I would appreciate it, I would like to look them up while I am in Cal. By the way I think I bought a board from you once at the Yater shop. About '73, a rounded pin, single fin, right off the rack. 7’2", green tint deck,great board. I lived in Pismo for years, but never bought JGs. Used to really piss him off every time I came back from SB with a new Yater. McDing
McDing -
Just so you don’t think I was ignoring you… I’m totally out of the loop. As far as I know, have never seen either of those guys.
Today I had the great pleasure of meeting Karl Pope for the very first time. It was a real treat for me to see the old Hollow WAVE boards and his newer Hollow Carbon Stealth Bisects. If I had the dough (I gotta get a real job), I’d have ordered one on the spot. In my opinion, absolute cutting edge material technology combined with the refined expert design and shaping skills of Yater. Did I mention made in USA?
PS - The first board I owned was a 7’ 10" M-P “Deese Original.” It had a pronounced vee in the nose and a wide diamond tail. It was the only one I ever saw.
McDing I talked to Yater and he knows a freind who keeps up with Tom and I know him also Ill ask next time I see him. Also will look up that thing on Dale this weekend.Aloha KP
Thanks guys. Didn’t mean to be sarcastic… I have just wondered about these two for a long time. Both were formative in my early gremmie thinking on the whole surf lifestyle. I’m on the coast until Oct’04 then back to the islands. There are a few things I want to do before I return. I hope to get by Bob Duncans’ as well. I’m envious of guys (like yourselves) who got in on that early SB/Ventura scene. I was kind of a gremmie outsider. Never thought I was good enough to surf Rincon, always stayed down at the Cliffhouse, Marys and Tanks. We would stray up there once in awhile just to watch the show and get inspired. Anyway, Thanks again.McDing
