What I did with my $15 blank. (let the heckling commence)

General Discussion
1

So, I made this cheap blank, and finished it cheaply. when I get it wet in another week or so, I will have about $140 into it. Not too bad for an experiment. Got a free paper template from TE, kicked it around for a few months, finally decided to give it a go.

More pics at www.81x.com/shwuz/fatpenguin

I built this simply becuase I wanted to see what the fuss was all about, no other reason. Anybody who finds themselves in corpus christi, texas is welcome to drop me a line and take it out for an afternoon.

As for the artwork… Well, I can’t disagree that the shape is butt-ugly, so I figured I’d do my best to distract from the outline by painting on some butt-ugly art. Bonus points to the first person who can tell me the two artists I copied there.

For the fins, I only have it as far as a quad right now, but I am planning on adding another futures box in the center plus a couple of single FCS plugs forward and outboard of the main fins (twinzer or C-5 style). This board is handicapped already, so may as well give it as many options for fin setups as possible, hopefully to find something that works well.

One more thing. I know this is not everybody’s favorite subject, so I won’t be making any more threads for this board. I just wanted to mention it for the sake of sharing it with those who might be interested. I don’t plan on spending my free time trying to stuff it down anyone’s throat, and I’m not in any way affiliated with “the penguin guy”, so please don’t go there. I am simply a curious shaper who wants to try new things.

If I find the performance at all remarkable, I’ll put some good riders on it in some good waves in mexico this winter and get some video. Then you all can judge for yourselves.

For the record, this one will not be called a “fat” anything.

It is the Shwuzzard.

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Looks like M.C. Escher, and Frank Lloyd Wright (not sure about Frank, but it looks like some of his leaded glass). And I think it looks pretty good. Let us know how it surfs!

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Escher & Wright

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Interesting…

You’re both half right. A contemporary of Wright’s, but a graphic artist only, not a jack of all trades like the great FLW.

By the way, the Escher “reptiles” wound up being tougher than it looked.

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that would be escher and mondrian for $500.00, here on the swaylock’s wheel of fortune.

6

We have a winner!

Rod Roddy, tell Peter what he won!

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Whoa! Atleast someone is daring enough to actually build the penguin. Nice going! Lemme know how it works.

regards,

Håvard

8

Looks to me like you did a really nice job on a technically difficult shape!

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Welly welly nice! What glassing schudule are you going to use? It looks like multiple layers of 1" foam, is that right? Did you glue in the rocker when you stacked the panels or did you put it in with the stringer? What kine da glue?

IMHO, this is exactly what the $14-15 blanks are good for - experimenting, laughing, generally scrweing around with shapes you’d otherwise not buy…NICE!

10

Don’t be defensive, lots of us that love to see new designs. We wouldn’t have the current ones if people didn’t experiment. Take it a step further next time.

11

6 oz on bottom, 4+4+4 on deck, RR epoxy. It still seems soft to me, like I could feel it give under my heels when I stood on it in my livingroom, but no permanent dents, so I don’t know. I’m debating adding a deck patch as my last step if I have any epoxy left after I finish this and my other board. I’m pretty heavy-footed. How have you found the durability to be on these cheap blanks, Benny1?

Yep, three layers of one inch “sutherland’s” eps foam, bent into rocker. Elmer’s glue, which as I mentioned in another thread, I would not use again. I would probably also not try to bend the rocker into the layup, as it created some voids between the layers in the nose rocker I had to fix later. Pretty tough to clamp evenly on a curve like that. Big thumbs up on the 1" cedar stringer, though. I spent like 45 minutes digging through the wood pile at the home store to find the “perfect” piece, but it was worth it. light, easy to plane, and really nice looking under resin.

If for some odd reason I fall in love with this shape and decide I need another, I would make it from a clark blank… But I am glad I tried this method, gives it some real character.

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Fanquackingtastic…As fat penguins go, that is by far the quackiest I’ve ever seen. What I’m most impressed with are the quacking brass balls it took to put that quacky reverse concave between the fins…All kidding aside, you really did a nice job. Can’t wait for the test flight comments.

Quack

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Shwuz, wow. I am glad some one on here finally made one of those FP’s. looks like a work of art …if it doesn’t ride all that well just keep it in your livingroom as a sculpture… looks like ESP foam shapes up nicely… what the stringer made from?

14

S#!+, it would be so cool to see you just frickin’ flying down the line on a killer wave on that peice of…I’m not sure what to call it.

Excellent. If I saw you out in the water on that I’d beg you to try it.

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woohhhoo !! " PINGU " LIVES !! *

I want to ride it …

Shwuz, as I told you …the people here are way cooler than ‘that other forum’ you mentioned elsewhere.If you post it there, you’re a brave man [and hopefully VERY thick skinned, when it comes to dealing with whatever will be thrown your way.]

I’m STOKED you’ve finished it… [now I don’t have a ‘secret’ to keep any more. I’m sure Dave is stoked too !]

The most important thing is …as long as YOU are happy with it, eh ?

It’s certainly a ‘sculpture’, as commented. It even looks better than the one I saw in the Coffs Harbour surf museum !

… I hope you get to ride it at some empty perfect mexican point break, as a reward for your perseverance with it !

         " chippy "

  • [‘pingu’ is a claymation penguin in a kiddies T.V. programme [made in Poland [?] from menory] … see if it’s on dvd in the usa…you might like it!

    Well done , Jarrod…

    Keep up the experimenting, and the craftsmanship ! [I reckon ‘tfad’ might be worth ‘p.m.’-ing those shots to , and maybe ‘Dk’ as well, Shwuz.

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Hey Schwuz, good on ya cuz! Rhyme sort of intended. I’m sure even the cynics are interested to hear how it rides. Killer job on the artwork! Any tips/suggestions on doing the Escher artwork? Printed onto rice paper? Holy nightmare, Batman, if you sprayed it or penned it on… I guess you said it wasn’t as easy as it looks… Great job!

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Quote:

" Holy nightmare, Batman, if you sprayed it or penned it on …" .jpg"] waxfoot, you FUNNY, funny buggah ! [Marge, however, is clearly NOT amused !] …geez, you crack me up sometimes…you SURE you’re not an Aussie, Irish, Kiwi , or Scottish ? …you SURE got SOME kinda humour goin’ there, mate !! [keep it up!] …"Holey tight underwear’s KILLING me, batman [robin / chip] " [It will get you ARRESTED too, Robin!]

18

Good work Shwuz.

I think that most people here are curious about how it rides. If TE toned things down and had more people ride the board there probably never would have been that big mess that ensued.

You’re also doing what everyone has asked for all along, an independent 3rd party evaluation of the board and claims.

Keep us updated.

Kind Regards,

Matt.

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I was one of the ones screaming for a 3rd party eval, then someone responded in a somewhat caustic way, “why don’t you build the f**king thing?”

So I did. like I said, I’m not going to make any outrageous claims about performance or anything, just going to get some video in mexico this new years of some good riders checking it out… I bet it could make 30 mph down the line, though! j/k

As for the escher artwork, the trick is to find one of his prints online, save it to paint or whatever, then isolate one of the hexagons that makes up the basis of the design, cut that out. Draw on the hexagons in the locations you want them, fitted together, of course, then cut all of the legs, tails, etc into the perimeter of the hexagon and trace those onto the hexagons already drawn onto the blank. Then color in with alternating colors, and finally outline in black. Viola!

Umm… What were the other questions?? Oh yeah, the stringer was 1" cedar from homedepot. Spent 45 minutes finding the “perfect” plank. Came out pretty. :slight_smile:

Like I said before, I want lots of people to try this board out, so let me know if you’ll be in my neck of the woods. I know corpus christi, freekin’ texas is off the beaten track, but you never know.

and thanks for the support, everyone!!

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20

The board looks very complicated and very well done, not to mention beautiful. Was the template a complete set of plans? It would seem very important to the design to have all the features correct ( or build whatever and go ride it)

I came in post FP, but was always curious what it would be like and am looking forward to hearing the report. Worst case thats one unique wallhanger! Great job, Gil