Chopped Uni 300 Sanded and Finished

I sanded the chopped Uni 300 through 120-180-220-320.  

After the sanding I sprayed clear coat over it, let it dry and then wet sanded it with 1000.  After the wet sanding, I put three coats of carnauba wax on it.  Here it is all done.  I believe I have the tips sealed, but I'll test it using a fresh water soak and a little time in the sun after to make sure.

Next Set of Foil Board Templates

Marlon's birthday is coming up and he asked for another blank and the materials to build another longboard.  I've got most of the fabric already - he's just got to come up with a template so we can select a blank.  And since he is going to be shaping, I might as well do the same.  I was also inspired by the epic wing foiling sessions this weekend to make a board with foot straps designed into it, one that has less area up front to avoid touchdowns, and one with the foil tracks further forward. 

I got three board templates defined - a 5'4"x26" wing foil board, another at 5'0"x26", and a prone foil board at 4'9"x20.5.

Yes I do this the old fashioned way - I believe the more you do with your own hands, the better you will understand the final product.  I could send the file to a shop with a CNC router, but why?  Here is the first template pumped out.

All three taped together and cut out.  I'm only going to make one of the wing foiling boards - need to pick one (leaning towards the 5'0" right now since I'm already on a 5'1" - this template trims all the foam I had on my current foil board up front for stability, thickens the foil throughout (to keep the floatation while setting up for a start), and will reduce the swing weight from the front.

Board Repairs - Progress 12/7 & 8

Got the patches on the longboard I'm repairing.

Also put the fill coat on the wing foil nose repair - although I believe this is a previously used picture.

Yesterday I also fixed Gary's Iwa front foil.  Just cleaned it out, placed epoxy into the split area and clamped the split together.

Today I sanded down the patches on the longboard.  I also ground down two cracked spots.  I'll fill them with epoxy so they don't take on water.

Evening Session - 12/2/2020

With an XL NW swell hitting the North Shore, Marlon and I thought there was going to be some wrap.  Alas, it was not to be.  In fact it seemed smaller than yesterday....

We brought the same equipment out.  

The crowd was even more manageable today.  I had some fun rides and my last one was super long - I rode the wave that picked me up from out by the two cabins break all the way to the single cottage, then pumped off the back and into the wave lined up behind the first.  I rode that until it started to break, pumped off that wave and into a third wave lined up behind the second.  I actually passed up the shower before I finally kicked out.

Fun times despite the smaller waves!

Repairs and Mods All Done

This morning we all slept in late.  I was pretty exhausted from working Black Friday, so Marlon and I skipped out on the beach this morning.  After I got up, I finished up a few things I had ongoing.

I finished up sealing Kalani's chop shop HS1550.

Looks too good to give back...

Then I finished sanding down the repairs on the Wing Foiling board.  Back in business.  Because of this issue, I think I'm going to go ahead and shape another Wing Foiling board so I've got a back up.

I finished tweaking a couple more rear stabilizers 

I also worked with Noe on swapping the lights on the trailer for the Laser - I'll post pictures of this later.

And a few other things - anyways the big projects were the first two.  So now I can clean up my garage again (and take in more projects...)

Rough Cutting on the HS1550 Finished

Got the outline rough cut.  I also started getting the foil roughed in.

Here it is compared to the 1550.

And here it is compared to the 1250

This wing also feels a little heavier than my 1550, so just in case there is water trapped inside, I drilled two holes down to the core.  Tomorrow I may try to pull a vacuum on it and see if I can get any water out.

More Foil Madness

I got asked to cutdown a HS1550 wing and to make sure it is faired in.

Here is the first step.  I'll shift over to the bench sander (but I had to change out the 

Rear Stabilizer No. 10

This one (top) went to a friend.

Bottom one is just included for size reference (13" span).

Garage Produced Rear Stabilizers Batch 3

Yesterday afternoon I got the rough shaping done on the latest batch of rear stabilizers.

I am going to get an M6 tap so I can adapt these to other systems (Armstrong).  Still need to fine sand, then wet sand, then measure out the center line, and set these up for bottom mounts.

Evening Session - 10/30/2020

I pulled a solo evening session yesterday.  It was a long week at work and I wanted to rinse it off.  The wind was light from the west, but it glassed off as time went on.  There were waves - mostly belly high, but clean and really fun.  

I brought the same setup from the last few sessions - skinny 4'10", GL180 and the No.9 rear stabilizer.  The only issue was the crowd.  When the swell is this small, the takeoff spots shrink and everybody piles up on each other.  I still caught some really good ones!

Fine Sanding Batch No.2 Done

After foiling this morning, I spent a few hours dialing in the final shapes on the Batch No.2 rear stabilizers.  Lots of work on the lower grits (60-120-180) - but it definitely paid off.  The sanding went quick on the 220-320 passes, and the end products were super nice.

I got the centerlines marked and the pilot hole locations marked (no picture though).  Tomorrow morning after surfing, I'll drill the pilot holes, drill the screw holes, cut out the countersink, fine tune the fitment, label and coat with clear enamel.  Part of the reason I am working on these is to try to sell some - but I want to see the difference between the shapes from Batch No. 1 and the "Crepe Spatula" in Batch No. 2.  I also want to try a 15" paired with the GL180 - the experience I had with the KD tail and the HS1850 made it clear to me that the rear stab is as critical to the overall performance of a foil setup as the main wing is.  The flex offered by the G10 is worth the little extra weight over the standard Go Foil carbon fiber rear stabs.  I'm going to have to figure out how to make a mount so I can use these on the Armstrong (although their rear stabs are pretty good to begin with - I don't think I'll see the huge difference in performance I got with No. 2 and the GL140).

Grinding Rear Stabs Batch 2

Started foiling the Batch No.2 rear stabilizers.  Got three of the six through rough sanding.

Sometime in the next couple of days, I'll grind out the remaining three, then jump over to fine sanding.  Over the weekend I should be able to get the mounting holes drilled and countersunk, everything labeled and finish it all off with a scant clear coat.  Looking forward to using one of the 15"+ stabs to balance out the GL180.

Evening Session - 10/8/2020

 This swell has been continuing to deliver energy - but it was starting to back off.  When Marlon and I did an evening run on Thursday, the takeoffs on the outside were still shoulder to head high - but the walls to follow weren't as energetic or as big as they were earlier in the week.

I brought out the same setup - skinny 4'10", GL140 and the No.2 rear stab.  With the chop in the water, I did pop the tail a few times and dropped off foil - but it still a great session.

Noe came out to take pictures, but the break is further out at WPB than it is at PTs, so these aren't the same as the previous ones that she took.

Finished with the First Batch of Rear Stabilizers

I finished the first three rear stabilizers.  Started out by foiling number three, sanding it with the 60 grit to get it faired in, and then took all three through the 60-120-180-220-320 sandings.

Then I used 500-1000 wet sandpaper to bring the sanding to an end. 

I found the centerlines again (the original markings were long sanded away), marked the 30mm spacing and drilled pilot holes.  Then I drilled the 7/32 holes for the screw bodies.  And last I drilled the counter-sunk space.

I put the labels on and let them dry.  Tomorrow I'll spray some clear coat on and "DONE"!

Progress on the Rear Stabs

I worked on two of the three stabilizers this evening. 

I took my time with the first one, so I could figure out how the belt/disc sander took off the G10 layers.  After getting the outlines where I wanted them (disc sander), I foiled tip to tip, then front to back with the belt sander.

Then I used the random orbital with 60 grit to fair in all the cuts and get the stab to about 85%.  The next step is to use progressively finer grits to dial in the shape - thinking 120-180-220-320-400-500-1000 to get it all silky smooth and not have to use spray enamel.  And once that's all done, I'll line up the stab on the pedestal and mark the mounting holes, drill pilot holes and finish with the wedge bit.

It took me a couple of hours to knock out the first one.  Not too bad if I say so myself.

I started working on number 2, but quickly ran out of light and actually sanded off too much material on the starboard wing tip.  I already redrew a new outline on both tips - I'll remember this for subsequent batches (don't use the belt sander if it's dusk).

Rear Stabilizers

I've been working on setting this up for a while now - just needed some time.  And now with the surf flattening out, I'll have some.  I picked up a sheet of G10 and sliced it up into strips.  Each strip will yield three stabs.

Considering I've been changing the stabilizers out more than the front wings, this was almost inevitable. 

The first batch will be a 16", 15" and 14".  A diamond coated jigsaw blade works well to make the rough cuts.  I bought this sanding grit block to get the outline faired in.

Next steps will be using the belt sander to get the foil across the chord and from wing tip to wing tip.  Ever since Go Foil released the pedestal tail, I've seen lots of groups releasing 3rd party tails - I can't wait to try out my own!