Turning the corner with the completion of the “Born again Brewer gun” , I was looking for a new challenge to partake. I had the pleasure of meeting Neal Norris (owner and shaper from Wailuku Maui Valley Isle Surfboards at La Jolla Shores last weekend. I told him about my next project that I was brain-storming Whale-of-a-fish and that I had special ordered a blank with those ideas incorporated. The basic guidelines that I was looking for is:
- A fish big enough for a 250 lb person
- Around 8-0
- I wanted to bring flared stringers out to each end of the fish tail
- Stringers are redwood with blue glue
- Added 2 ea. ½ blue foam strips to each side of the center stringer (to add to the art and working width)
- Looking at a Quad fin configuration
Neal talked with me and shared some pointers that he uses with his Koi (fish) surfboards (http://www.valleyislesurfboards.com).
Gotta love ya Keith, he suggested that I call it Boston (as in Boston Whaler) ha ha.
Now to find a good template or at least a general direction toward one. I plan to bring it down to the Halloween Shape-A-Thon at Keith’s (depends on the kitchen pass).
The blank was received with a 1/4 in. wide, 1 in. deep and 1 1/2 in. long gouge on the bottom near the flared stringer. I was thinking of the foam plug/resin idea to fix the gouge.
<>Attached are a couple of pic’s of the ordered blank.
JohnF