Garage Works - 6/25/2025

The wind was in that blah zone - too much for good Foil Drive-ing and not enough to wing.  Instead of dealing with it all - I went ahead and committed to sanding and getting No.41 over the finish line.

First up was sanding - I started with the plugs and worked over the rest of the board.

Then I wiped the board down and started the clear coat spraying.

Oh - and here is the signature block.  I don't know when this got smaller than 5'0"...

And as luck would have it, as I was trying to flip the board into this position, I dropped it onto the metal square that I was going to balance it on to get the remainder of the decks sprayed.

Yes there is a small ding - but that actually convinced me to go ahead and install foot strap inserts before I place the deck pads.  It'll only be my strong side (regular stance) and it'll primarily support using this board with the parawing and Foil Drive simultaneously.

With the footstrap inserts now going in - this will be a few more days before this gets in the water.

Garage Works - 2/10/2025

I decided to stay back from water time today so I could get No.40 across the finish line.

Here it is all sanded down to 400 grit.

Top deck -

Bottom deck (with the tracks opened up).

And just to provide those following - here is the primary difference between No.39 and No.40 - "V"

I wanted to compare the flat tail of No.39 to the "V" in No.34 - but the longer length in 34 didn't make the comparison on level terms.

Getting the bottom shape on this board was an exercise in joining different curves and making them work together.  The upcoming testing will determine if it is worth the extra effort over a flat bottom.

After sanding, I headed off to get some clear coat.  The shop only had one can - so here is the board sprayed up with one can.

I'll try and grab another can tomorrow to get another coat on the board (makes it more scratch resistant - and prettier).

There are other differences between 39 and 40 - 

40 is shorter by an inch,

But wider by an inch.

40 is also thicker by a smidgeon.

And 39 is more streamlined, where 40 has some hips to it (taking off with 39, I had to be further back on the board than I normally rode - 40 has more volume forward so taking off "should" be weight further forward).

The WMFG deck pad is still supposed to arrive by Thursday.  Which means this board would get wet on Saturday morning.

That also means I'll start Foil Drive-ing with No.39 now to start getting a feel for its performance characteristics, before switching off to No.40 this weekend.

Let the testing (riding) begin!!!!

I think the next board is going to be a 5'2" - bottom shape to be determined by the upcoming 39-40 testing.  The shorter length will be for the summer swells (since Marvin bought the last 5'-Oh that I built).

Garage Works - 12/14/2024

I've actually been working on several projects, but have been too lazy to document them (this blogging stuff takes a lot of work - I've been thinking about cutting back, but considering how much information I have on this format, it is hard to let it go).

Marvin brought over two boards to get windows placed in them - 

The vinyl decals Glenn put on his boards makes it hard to modify (and still look good).

And after all kinds of sanding and filling and sanding and filling, and more sanding and filling - I finally sprayed the clear coat on No.39

Tomorrow I'll work on these again - the windows will get their fiberglass top coats (capping the epoxy fill).

And I'll spray the top deck of No.39 with clear coat (and plot out how the deck pads will go on).  I'll give it a day between spraying and applying the deck pad - that means that the earliest this board will get wet is Tuesday (Foil Drive likely as the forecast doesn't call for wind for multiple days).

Garage Works - 7/23/2024

Marlon and I hit the garage today to get some work done.

Here's Marlon getting the fill coat on the bottom deck.

I finally sprayed the mast that I stripped of clear coat.  I may have to spray it again to get the interfaces between the polymer and carbon to fill in.

And I sprayed the bottom of No.37 again.

And I grinded the tail of this board repair for Matt.  I gorilla glued the loose foam and then went ahead and added the epoxy fill.  I'll sand this tomorrow and add a carbon patch.  I want to try and get this done so I can get it back to him (I am looking to get another board started...)

And as a note - I setup the AFS adapter on the Project Cedrus mast.  Nice fit!