Sanding the Stubby

I got through the 40-80-120 sanding today.

Those voids between laps that I was discussing in one of the previous posts were present - I think two are big enough that they need to be filled.  Tomorrow I'll drill out a hole for the leash plug - when I do that, I'll fill the voids.  I may try to wake up early and knock this out so I can grind it when I get home.

If I can get that done, I'll go through the 180-320-400 sanding.  I'm not going to coat the vinyl decal with epoxy, I'll just stick it on after the 400 sanding then spray the whole board with polyurethane - that should seal the decal onto the board - same effect I was going for with the epoxy.  Or maybe this will drag out to Sunday... (like if I decide to add a thin coat of epoxy to seal the voids and re-encapsulate the innegra that got inadvertently exposed while I was sanding - we'll see which way I go).

Marlon Painting His Board

And Marlon and I finally got around to painting his board.  He wants a "water reflection in a pool" effect.

Got to tape off the deck first, and cover the stringer (optional but he wanted to).

Here he is spraying the paint on, and the finished product.

The next steps here include posca pen lines to get the desired effect, draw in the logos (I've encouraged him to come up with his own and not use my logo for his board) and dimensions, spray urethane over everything (two separate efforts), then outfit the board by cleaning up the boxes, inserting the set screws, installing the leash tether and waxing up the board.

Fill Coat on the Top Deck

When I got home, I got to grinding the laps from the top deck lamination.  Lesson learned - the front laps closest to the nose don't need the second cut to shorten the overlap.  Since I've been doing this recently in rapid succession, I've noticed do this produces a gap in the laminate that has to be addressed during rough sanding.  Oh well - next time.

After that I grinded the finboxes down.  I went ahead and set the dual single fins in just to get a preview - WOW!  I am excited for the possibilities of this board!  There were some air bubbles in the finboxes and I went ahead and opened them up with the Dremel so the fill coat epoxy can get in those spaces.

Then I taped off the rail and epoxied the top deck.  I used 5.6 ounces and got the whole board covered.  The next steps include rough sanding (40-80) the top-bottom-rails, drilling a hole for the leash plug, setting the leash plug; grinding the leash plug down, sanding (120-180) everything down, applying the logo stickers (did not laminate this time and I don't want to spray paint this one), getting a light coat of epoxy over the vinyl stickers (top and bottom so two separate runs); sand the cover coat down (120-180), sand the whole board to 320-400, write in the dimensions, spray on a coat of urethane (again separate coats for top and bottom), then outfit the board - place the leash tether, clean up the finboxes, and get a coat of wax on it.  Considering all these remaining steps, I figure I have at least three more days of work, both mornings before going to work and in the evening after I get home.

Glassing the Top Deck

This afternoon, I got home from work a little later than normal, but I changed real quick into garage clothes and got to work on the Stubby.  I grinded the laps as flat as I could get them, and blew the dust off the board.  I then cut the fabric for the top deck - I used a full coverage Innegra layer (actually finished up the 4 yd roll I got), then a 6 oz patch where my feet will hit, and lastly another layer of 6 oz to cover nose to tail.  This is a little heavy, but it's in all the right places and I prefer my boards to be built to take it.

I had Marlon teach Noe how to mix the epoxy and after I just kept rolling the epoxy on.  Pretty uneventful - until the last minute where I thought I'd fill a transition and ended up jacking up the laminate where I'd always be looking at it while paddling.  I was able to fix it (everything is fixable) so the universe is in balance.

I checked on it to make sure there weren't any dry spots on the laminate, and that there weren't any air bubbles.  Tomorrow I'll grind the laps down where they wrap on to the bottom deck, then get a fill coat on to the top deck of the board first thing in the morning.  When I get home, I grind open the finboxes and address any voids in the laminate, followed by the fill coat.  That will lead into the leash plug install later tomorrow night, or first thing Thursday morning, followed by sanding.  Did I mention I hate glassing???

I'll keep plugging away at this board - hopefully there will be waves somewhere this weekend and this thing will be ready to ride.

Glassing the Bottom Deck

Yesterday the kids and I got the bottom deck laminated.  I started by cutting out the fabric - full coverage of innegra and full coverage of 6 ounce cloth.  I folded back the cloth and set the fin boxes.  Then I dragged the kids out and hand Marlon mixing epoxy and Noe working the fin boxes to prevent air bubbles from developing.

Of the two decks, the bottom is always harder because of the fin boxes and the epoxy doesn't have a hard edge to grab on (like the top deck laps do grabbing onto the cured but still rough bottom deck).

The other issue with laminating the bottom deck is the laps often do lift - and that leaves air bubbles under the glass - especially on the tail and nose.  I went back before the epoxy fully cured and pushed down the bubbles (even though they really don't have any where to go since the epoxy has saturated the glass).  This is the first time I'm using innegra, and it is also the first time I'm using resin tint.  Why not - better to keep learning.

Did I mention I hate glassing???

Self-imposed Rework and Some Progress

I set the reinforcement blocks in the new 4'10" - but forgot to defuse the epoxy with fibers.  So instead of moving this project ahead, I'm setback a few days.  I'm going to have to dig out the melted EPS areas, splice in a fresh chunk(s) of EPS and then sand back to the intended shape.  Luckily the damage is somewhat the same shape as the blocks so it won't be too bad (I'll keep telling myself that to make me feel better about this botched job).  Any ways - doing things right sometimes means doing them again.  No pictures of this because I'll just get more pissed.

I did not want to end the day on a bad note so I reset the Futures Longboard Box Template for the 8" boxes, then I cut out the three in the Stubby.  Those did not go without drama (and I'll have to add some filler to one and a half of the three boxes), but I'll take a small victory today.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll tape a trim line on the top deck, cut out the bottom deck laminates (carbon patch over the finboxes is done, I'll use patch of innegra and a top coat of 6 ounce fiberglass), set these boxes with epoxy and get a tinted coat of green on.  This point between shaping and glassing is where the shaped blank is pretty vulnerable - garage dings, layers of dust, bugs and other things can add irritations to an already unfun period (did I mention I hate glassing).

Dawn Patrol - 4/26/2020

I woke up and figured I should get a session in before the wind picked up and the crowds thickened.  Marlon wanted to sleep in so I went solo.  The tide was a the small high at 0.5'.  There was a slight breeze on the water and the swell was down a tad from yesterday - still rideable, but I sat further inside to make sure I didn't lose any opportunities.  I caught a bunch and they were all long.  On most rides I was also able to carve some big rebounding turns (change direction 180).  And to add to the goodness of this session, I was able to pump back out three times (one of which was a botched 2 for 1).  The GL180 has made a big difference in my foiling.

Somewhere along the session I got a reef poke on my left foot.  I didn't think anything of it and kept on foiling.  I checked on the poke during a lull and it seemed as if some skin got sliced off.  It didn't seem to be bleeding so I stayed out.  I kept checking on it and at some point it looked like it was bleeding - I took the next wave in.  I cleaned it up when I got home - it didn't look too bad.  I hope this bill is paid up for a bit.

Afternoon Work on the Next Boards

I worked on the new 4'10" foil board yesterday afternoon.  I used the big router to try and open up the slot for the starboard track block.  After a couple of passes, I finished it up with some sandpaper.  After dialing that in, I went ahead and trimmed up some carbon and fiberglass for the bottom of the two openings.  I was postured to pour epoxy, but got a little lazy.

I moved on to the other board and marked out the three fin boxes and also sanded the stubby with 120 and 180 grit sandpaper.

I thought about cutting in the boxes, but I wanted to think about the center box some more - what is in the picture is an 8" box.  I need to bring some potential fins down to line them up - but for a 5'11" board, I'm thinking the 8" box is all I'll need.  8" boxes will be fine for the two dually tracks.

When I do pour epoxy next, it'll be for the reinforcement blocks in the foil board first, then filling some shaping voids in the bottom deck of the stubby.  Then I'll cut in all the finboxes in both boards and then proceed into glassing.

Early Morning Surf - 4/25/2020

Marlon and I hit Pine Trees pretty early - not dawn patrol early, but still early enough to beat the crowds and the wind.  It was glassy, a dropping tide (0.5') and a small, inconsistent swell.  Marlon caught several, but there was a pretty long lull in the middle of the session.

I brought the same gear I've had out the last several foil sessions and was able to get several long rides, but if it was a hair bigger I would have gotten a lot more.  On one wave, the board did something weird - the foil breached and the board pitched down and rolled to port.  Of course I kept moving forward and my right knee grazed the board.  I looked around for a ding and didn't find one.  I did find it while waiting for another wave - it was right by the logo on the top deck.  If the hit was just an inch to the right, it would have been over the divynicell patch and it should have been nothing.  The deck skin did not break so this will just be a cool scar.  And best of all, NO PARKING TICKET today!

Contemplating the Stubby

Instead of plunging head first into the last two sandings, I spent this afternoon contemplating the nose and tail.  I broke out the board ruler and measured, sanded, measured, sanded and stood back to take a look.

I got it to be mostly symmetrical (I know what I said earlier - but I did say I'd finish this board first before diverging into the realm of total asymmetry) - close enough that the glassing will make up for any differences.

I measured the thickness as it currently stands - 2 5/8".  A little thinner than I was hoping for - not sure at what point it dipped down beneath 2 7/8" - likely while I was cutting with the planer.  Glassing will put a little more thickness back onto the board.  As I am writing all this, I'm also researching the fin placement.  Tomorrow I will sand down the board with 120 and 180, then mark the finboxes and cut them out.  Depending on the rest of the day, I may try and laminate the bottom deck (but will likely wait until Sunday and laminate both this board and the new 4'10").

Stubby Rough Sanding

I dialed in the shape a bit more yesterday - dragon skin on the rails and 60 grit screen all over.

I'm thinking about changing the tail shape.  Right now this should pivot at the corners, but looking at the fin setup I want to put on the board, it might be better to round out the tail.  I need to think about this.  Today I can get the higher grit sanding done, make any adjustments to the tail and cut in the fin boxes - two dual singlefin slots and a third right down the middle so I can use this as a singlefin also.  The current dimensions are hovering at 20" wide and just under 2 3/4" thick.  The argument for keeping the tail as is would be the shorter length - at 5'10"+ I should be able to manhandle the board through any situation - and with the straighter rail line the board will have more speed - hmmm - I need to think about this...

Final Sanding on Marlon's Board and The Stubby Taking Shape

I got home a little later than normal this evening - so surfing was not really an option.  Instead, I broke out the shaping rack and Marlon finished the 180 grit sanding.  He says he wants to paint the board, so the rest is up to him.  I told him to rinse the board with water to remove all the sanded particles - next I'll take him to Home Depot so he can get his paint.

I brought out the Stubby (not sure this name will stick - will have to think some more about this) and used the planer to set in rough rail bands.  After that I used to surform to even out the top and bottom decks.  I was running out of daylight so I called it quits after that.  I did take a good look at the overall board - I keep thinking I want to narrow out the nose so catching bigger waves will not be as difficult, but I'll probably just trim it down as I shape the rails and keep it mostly fuller.  This could actually be a longboard shape just greatly truncated in length.

Now that this board is getting its rough shape, I think I'll be more diligent about working on it - I can do the bottom rail tucked under cut and fair in the rails with dragon skin tomorrow.

Evening Session - 4/21/2020

There was supposed to be a little bump up on the south shore this evening, so Marlon and I went to check it out.  We hit Lots and it was an upcoming high tide at 1.2'.  There was zero wind.  And.... there was a bump up in the swell - chest to head high on the sets, waist to shoulder on the in betweens.  Marlon brought his longboard and was killing it - he was picking up a lot of the set waves at the peak and riding them all the way in.  I could not compete with the longboards (or the pretty intense crowd) as I brought the Pigfish for a second session.

This board flies going front side - as it should because it is a fish - long straighter rail line, harder, thinner rail mid board back, keeping some of that bite all the way up to the nose - it's the simple recipe for speed.

Going backside is a different story.  I may have made the rail a little too thick.  Or I may not have the right fins in the heel side.  Long story short is the board is loosey-goosey going left.  I will probably go another session with these Ryan Lovelace Quads in - but I may swap them out for a twinzer fin for more bite.  That said, cutting back from going front side, you bleed all that speed instantly in a non-binding heel side rail with loose fins - I had one turn just like this on a chest high wave - if I thought about it a little bit more, I think I could have done a 360... I still need to get the feel for this board before I can start doing things like that on instinct - that is what makes shaping your own boards so exciting - finding out what works and dialing in towards an optimized solution.

I think one early take away is asymmetrics work - and they work well.  I have a long way to in this experiment, but I'm sure it will be fun.  I have a Stubby dual single fin currently on the rack, but after that board, I think I'll just be shaping asymmetric surfboards from now on.  

Got Lots of Work on the Boards Done and an Evening Session - 4/20/2020

I didn't take pictures this morning, but I placed a patch on the pigfish, got the 5'2" finbox area smoothed out, and filled the voids on Marlon's finboxes.  After about 3 hours the epoxy had hardened and I set out to grind down yesterday's and today's work.  So I pretty much finished the work required on the pigfish and the 5'2" and I can rotate those back into service.  And I'll turn over the last sanding to Marlon for his board.  He did say he wants to paint it before placing clear coat on it - it's all his now. 

The afternoon snuck up on me and I asked La if she would drop Marlon and I off at the beach.  The tide was sitting at around 1.4'.  There was an onshore breeze (since the trades have backed off - this was afternoon convection).  And the waves were stomach high and fairly consistent.  Every 20 minutes or so a chest high set would pull through.  For a Monday afternoon, there were a bunch of people in the water.  I got some long rides - negotiate the takeoff, line up the section that had the best potential for running.  I did have two inexplicable breaches - I was just cruising along and splat - just like that.  My last wave was a long runner  but I wrenched out two tight back to back turns right before the shore landing - nice feeling.  I think I could have done better on the Iwa today - I could have used the extra lift in the flat sections (or at least it would have been a good time to figure out the differences between the HA wing and the low speed lift wing.  I've been using the GL180 for several sessions now.  I probably should mix things up again.

Marlon was practicing his helicopter takeoffs.  He said he landed a few of them, and even rode one wave with the board parallel to the beach.

La had talked to a few people when she first got back to the parking area.  They said they had seen the police giving out parking tickets again around 5:15pm, so they only get dropped off now (same as Marlon and I).  Nice session!

Did Lots of Work in the Garage

Started out routing out the voids on the new 4'10" prone foil board.

Then moved on to skinning the duo finned stubby blank.

Afterwards I helped Marlon grind open the fin boxes on his board and continued on with sanding both the top and bottom decks with 40 and 80 grit.

I went ahead and removed the old manual vent on the 5'2" prone foil board and set in a new automatic vent in the same place.

Marlon and I drilled out a spot for the leash plug and got that set.  Tomorrow we'll fill in some air bubbles we found on the fin boxes.  If we do this in the morning, we should be able to grind down the leash plug and the boxes, then move on to the final sanding.

And I went ahead and planned out the fixing of the ding I acquired on the pigfish (the board slipped from my hands when I was getting out of the water - I thought I caught it, but apparently I didn't).  And this is where my OCD kicks in.

I also mowed the lawn, cooked breakfast and lunch (and dinner for me - everyone else ate already) -  I think I'm dealing with my mom's passing by working on things (and I'm talking about it on this blog).  

Dawn Patrol - 4/18/2020

Marlon and I hit a dawn patrol with Jimmy - Chun's Reef.  This was Marlon's first trip to unsheltered North Shore energy.  And since he had his longboard, he was out and riding before I even got to the lineup.  His first wave was a really good one, as were most of his other ones.  Head high or slightly bigger on most.  I was totally stoked for him!!!

I brought the Pigfish out and it took a few waves to get synchronized with it.  I did have three longer waves with it and the fish side (my toe side, also the starboard side) really wants to fly.  On my longest wave I was able to outrun a plunging section to get out to clean face and wrenched an off the top turn - there is some huge potential with this board.

It was great surfing with Jimmy again!  I used to dawn patrol year after year with this guy 20+ years ago!!!  Some things never change - great times!

Pigfish is Done

I sprayed the clear coat on yesterday.  Coated both sides.  Today I signed the board, added a little more clear coat, waxed the top deck, and installed the fins.

I'm hoping to get this wet this weekend - might help with dealing with my Mom's passing (let's catch some waves Mom!!!).

Final Work on the Pigfish & Marlon's Top Deck Fill Coat

The title says it all.  I went ahead and worked on the boards for a little bit today.  I grinded down the excess resin around the leash plug, and then sanded the whole board to 220 and a wet sand to 400.  After that I sprayed clear coat over the whole board to fill in the tiny gaps left from sanding (and despite my best efforts - there will always be tiny gaps left from sanding...).  I still have to label and sign, put the worm screws in the three Futures boxes, set the fins and wax it up!

Marlon got his top deck fill coat on.  Now all that stands between him and surfing this board are good swell (out of our sphere of influence), rough sanding with 40/80, leash plug install, grinding the leash plug, sanding to 220/400.

He says he wants to spray paint the exterior and draw on his logo.  In theory, his board could possibly touch saltwater by the end of the weekend.  We'll see...