What should I do with the tail of this board?

General Discussion
1

My brother in law dropped this board in my lap after finding it in the dumpster at his apartment complex in Orange Country:

I would guess it has never even been waxed: clean, no pressure dents, … The dimensions on the stringer are 6’4" x 16 x 18 x 16 x 2.75 and clearly fishy. However, in a series of events, of which I have no knowledge, it has been shortened to a 5’8". Likewise, it appears to have had glassed on keels that were ground off. The tail end was cut off (nice and square) and is sealed with resin, but no glass and no re-shaping. The width of the board at the tail is now 12 7/8".

I suck and don’t regularly ride anything shorter than 7’4" so don’t have much intuition as to how so salvage this design. I have variously considered and had suggested:

  1. Knock the corner off, glass it, and see how it rides

  2. Shape a fish tail into the remaining foam, leave it 5’8" and re-fin

  3. Add material (foam and/ or balsa) to bring it back to 6’4", shape, glass and re-fin

Curious what the afishianados out there recommend.

Thanks

2

Diamond tail, Single fin

3

Interesting, I’d love to know the back story on that one!

That much tail cut off, it is all screwed up no matter what you do. All the rocker, foil, rails, etc… have been altered. My thoughts, cut a mellow fish tail into it, and put a go-zillion fin plugs in it (ala chipfish), and a center to try a bunch of different things.

4

Can I suggest treating it like a snapped board? Shape a new tail for it and glass it on.

5

um… junk.

send it to me.

\r

6

OK. after looking at the picture for a minute or two… someone suggested adding on… I’ll second that… Get maybe a three to four inch balsa block… Drill some holes for dowels… in the block and matching into the existing tail… rough up your connection area, dowels etc… plug it in, seal it up. As for tail config… … hard to say without seeing the rocker on it really… at least for me… Perhaps a squash but I’m thinking maybe a swallow, about 1.5 - 2 " deep(1.5) with 5.5 - 6.5 " (6)tip to tip.

or ah… yeah… send it to me.

good luck.

randy

are 6’4" x 16 x 18 x 16 x 2.75

7

Call the police in Orange County and make sure that the board is not stolen.

8

diamond tail with added balsa or other wood blocks.

singlefin or thruster or even bonzer3

9

nail it to huntington pier with the words

“good luck…”

or

“we found 'magic sam”

written in foot high letters on it ?

10

wow mysterious unriden board with tail chopped off??? don’t fine many of those.

How about one of those, resin and balsa, layered tail blocks like Austin does,

alternately, just for a laugh, find out who shaped it and go ask for a refund

11

I third the notion of scarfing a new tail to it. Use like materials so the weight of the tail is balanced with the nose. I’d forget the dowels though. Just glue it, glass it, fin it, and ride it.

If you cut it into a grom-sized shortboard, you may want to remove some off the bottom and add tail rocker.

The board is too narrow to be cut into a fish - especially for you, and it probably has too much rocker in the nose.

12

Glass a fin on the nose and surf it backwards. Or do as I would, chuck it back in the trash can. No wait…make a fish out of it. Yeah make a fish and surf it this Winter when it goes XXL!!! Just carve a big swallow tail in it…yeah, that’s the ticket.

13

Glass it’s ass and make a twin fin. Mike

14

back in the late 70s (I think, maybe it was 80 or 81) I found an old Caster single fin that had been (apparently) run over by a car, so that the rear of the board was crushed and/or missing. Pretty much everything behind the fin box. I cut off the mangled tail of the board with a hacksaw blade and it looked (slightly) better than the board you found (I rounded mine off) and glassed over the bare foam.

That board sucked.

Maybe you should use it as a sign in front of your house…

15

Lets see the profile.

16
Quote:

I third the notion of scarfing a new tail to it. Use like materials so the weight of the tail is balanced with the nose. I’d forget the dowels though. Just glue it, glass it, fin it, and ride it.

I agree.Then give it to an unfortunate grom so he may share the STOKE!

17

[okay , my attempt at a serious reply this time would be ]

if you wanted to see if it would float you at that length , go the ‘rooster’ suggestion .

Personally , with those original dimensions , if I was good at fixing snaps , I would add enough foam to take it back to the original dimensions and , hopefully , rocker.

Following the existing rail curve to its conclusion , or even more , it may end up as a nice rounded pin !

three fcs plugs for the back fin , so you can ride it as a single fin , and two fcs side plugs too , for the thruster setup.

Do you have a shot of the bottom of the board , too, please ? [I’d like to see how much [if any ] damage there is there …cheers !]

Of course , all of what I have just written will really depend on

a] how much you need a project ,

b] if you feel like fixing a snap / rebuilding the original outline

and

c] IF you would be prepared to ride a board in the 6’4 to 6’6 range , which may also perhaps be narrower than what you are used to riding ?? Depending on your size and weight , of course , but it COULD actually be good for your surfing if you decide/d to go ahead with what I have suggested …

hope this helps , mate ?

cheers

ben

…but , yes , I totally agree with ‘Stingray’ …

in fact , my gut feeling reaction when I read it had “had the fins removed , the tail cut off , and been placed in a dumper bin” was … the board looks in too good condition to NOT be a stolen new board …that’s what I reckon !

so report it , wait a while [there may even be a reward ? allowing you to buy a NEW blank , perhaps] and then , if no-one claims it , the fun begins for you …good luck with it , mate !

18

From the picture it looks like due to the missing rear, your wide point is pretty far back, this could affect the riding abilities considerably. Show us a foilshape and we can see if the rocker is too yakka to fish it, probably the case so scarfing the tail back on and going bonzer would be a good idea imho… Diamond tail single fin is a charming alternative though… big fin…

19

Thanks for the thoughts, I’ll check to make sure it isn’t stolen.

Assuming I get to keep it, I will probably go with the majority: add a balsa block and treat it like a break. I just gave 2 snapped LBs back to their owners: adding a tail to a board this short wil be easy by comparison.

I’ll post a profile this evening to help with finning suggestions.

Thanks,

Matt