Garage Works - 6/29/2025

Got No.41 done!!!

Started off this morning by sanding the top deck - 40-80-120-180-220-320-400

Then I sprayed the top deck with regular gloss.  I let that dry while I got my hair cut.

This came out really nice!

I'm going to let the deck pads settle in for a day (so the bond is good and there is no slippage)

No.41 all pau!!!

Garage Works - 3/1/2025

After the dawn patrol, I went ahead and got the foam pieces sized for the 10.75" tracks with the bolts positioned for the Spitfire 960.

Ready for Round 2

And Roland came over to get some deck pads installed on his new wing board.

58 liters of fun!  Now we just need wind -

Garage Works - 7/2/2024

I got No.37 outfitted today.

CI Yesterday pad for the rear foot - Octopus No.7 for the front foot. 

I didn't end up using 2K clear coat on this one - just the standard Rustoleum Satin Clear Coat.

I am interested in seeing how the basalt feels under foot.

And these 15" tracks should make experimenting with smaller foils easier (although that may make me move forward on the top deck... do I have enough deck pad???).

It's uncanny that the Octopus deck comes in this color -

As far as setting the Foil Drive up, the foil specific mounting spots should transfer over directly from No.37 - as these are both 5'0"

Stoked to have this one all completed and ready for anointing!!! 

Garage Works - 5/21/2024

I brought No.36 to work and during breaks I got the deck pads put on.

I used a drywall screw to get the footstrap insert holes put into the deck pads - it is the perfect tool to do this!

I'm guessing the volume sits between 60 and 65 liters.

And as luck would have it, as this board gets finished, the wind forecast drops off..

Maybe I'll try this out as a Foil Drive board first...

Garage Works - 1/31/2024

I was tired after work, so I skipped the surf session and I hit the garage (after my nap) and got No.34 outfitted.

I got the vent install and opened up the insert holes for a handle (if I end up using one).

Then I cut out the deck pad, stuck it on and made sure to get the insert holes marked on the deck pad.  Blogger has been giving me grief lately with picture orientation... these next three are supposed to be vertical -

I also chamfered the edge of the deck pad on this one (and I think I'll do some maintenance on the past couple of builds and do the same - this is just a nice touch).

Here is the finished top deck.

And here is the bottom deck.

With this board, the goal is to be able to use smaller wings for a given wind strength - more so than with No.30.  I installed 16" track boxes so I should be able to use all the front foils - from the HPS700 all the way up to the HPS980 and Eagle 1090.  I also want to use this in waves - if you recall the Instagram post that inspired this board, winging with this style of board and being able to use a smaller wing - I think this is a break away from the conventions of winging thus far...

Now we just need some wind!

And since I didn't go surfing, I encouraged Marlon to get some progress done on his board.  He wiped the top and bottom decks down, added his logo stickers, and then we sanded down the previous repairs to the tail/boxes.

Now he will use Posca pens and add his art - then we will place another fill coat top and bottom to level out some spots and protect the posca pen work.  That will be followed by some sanding, maybe some more filling/sanding, then hopefully he can FINALLY surf this board.

Garage Works - 12/17/2023

I get to take my time setting No.33 up (since there are no waves on the south shore).

I got the battery box placed.  Now I'm trying to figure out where all the deck pads will go.

I'm thinking of custom up front (as no one make production ones for this purpose) and for the rear foot (since my boards are wider in the back).  

I did get the bottom traction for paddling out placed.

Still some work yet to get this one finished.

Garage Works - 9/9/2023, Part 2

I did some maintenance on No.18 today.

I cleaned off the wax from the nose area of the board.  In the past, I sometimes use this area to push off when I am ready to get to my feet.

Instead of wax, I installed a thick piece of diamond grooved deck pad.

While I was out today, the top mounted cable guide came off again.  I just tensioned everything and it was fine - but it is just about every session where I have to redo this cable guide.

I decided to change the way I hold the cable in place at this section.  I saw Glenn Pang had done tis to a few of his boards - installing leash plugs and zip tying the cable in place.

There were some air bubbles in the epoxy, so I wasn't going to get a way with a single pour installation.

I went ahead and got a straight epoxy top coat on the areas around the plugs.

I also Noticed a few pin holes around the mast track boxes.  I filled those as well.

This should go a long way towards keeping this board in top shape!

No.29 All Pau

After unpacking from this morning's dawn patrol, I hit the garage to get No.29 across the finish line.

I sanded the vent and leash plugs flush, and also the small resin patches I applied a couple of days ago.  Then I ran through the 80-120-220 sandings, followed by the 320-600 wetsanding.

Then I hung the board up and sprayed the clear coat all over the board.

Marlon and I ran some errands while the clear coat was drying.  Once we were back I measured out the deckpad.  This is a three piece - straight middle spacer with sides to match the asymmetry.

This one came out really nice.

I got the leash tie on, the marine deck sticky patches installed, and waxed the board up already.  I forgot to drill out the vent and install the vent plug - I'll do this before heading out tomorrow morning (to anoint this board!!!)

Kalani Picked Up His Wing Board

Kalani came over this evening.  He brought over the deck pad he found at Blue Planet and we did some trimming and setting to get the board all finished.

Happy camper!  

This was a long journey getting to this point.  We're making plans to bring this out on Sunday!!!

Garage Works - 1/30/2022

The wind did not pickup to the point where it would have been fun to wing - so after running errands today, I came home and knocked out some projects in the garage.  

First I took the deck pad sections I had templated and cut out from raw EVA foam sheeting, and used the bench sander to chamfer the edges.  Then I stuck them on the new wing board.  I didn't take pictures of this because Noe was the only other person home and she was taking a nap.  There are pictures of the board below, but it is underneath the other project I was working on today.

Prayot was having issues with his 5.2 wing.  I swapped out the center strut bladder and all is good (kinda - there is a slow leak in the main bladder somewhere also...). 

I also fixed the 5.2 bladder and an extra 6.0 strut bladder so he can use them as spares.

Did you see the deck pads on the new wing board?

I also trimmed some of the lifting grip deck on the skinny 4'10" and changed out the rear deck pad.  I had gotten a new wide Creatures of Leisure one at the Kailua HIC today.  

I also mowed the lawn, weeded part of the back lawn and cleaned up the garage.  Funny what you can get done when the wind is down.

Work on the NWFB - Getting Close

Got some major work done on the NWFB today.  This first picture is a mock up of the deck pads and footstrap setup to facilitate switching stances.  The final product will be something close to this.

After trying to define the mock up, I went ahead and started the rough sanding.  Three hours later, I got everything taken down.  I preened the board with the carbide grit bit on the dremel and opened up the vent plugs.  After that, I mixed up some epoxy and aerosil to fill up any remaining voids.  Unfortunately the resin had been sitting in the sun so it was warm (which makes it set up faster).  I ended up having to mix 4 batches of 1.4 ounces in order to get the bottom deck and rail (most of the rails) covered in this last fill coat.

You can see the dimension label in the middle of the bottom of this next picture.  The board came out to 5' 0.5" x 25" x 5" - should be plenty of volume in this board (I'm guessing somewhere around 95L - very similar to the wing foil board I am currently using).

Tomorrow will be some light sanding and the top deck fill coat.  That means Tuesday will be sanding the whole board, and either wetsanding to 1500, or using satin clear coat and spraying the finish (I'll probably go this route).

Good thing there isn't any substantial wind in the forecast - this has allowed me to focus on taking my time and finishing this board off on a great note (not rushed to get out on the water).

Deck Pad Hunting and Spreading Icing

We ran errands this morning - I was able to stop into a surf shop and found a SUP deck pad (which is totally unavailable online).  This deck pad had middle inserts to get across a really wide board - but I didn't need those.  No one makes deck pads for this size board yet - but I'll get two boards covered with this SUP deck pad (as I only used half of the parts).

And before Marlon and I took off for an evening session, I got some epoxy mixed with aerosil spread on the low spots across the bottom deck.  I got the epoxy mixed to the consistency of icing - but I still had the stuff cure in the cup on me - super hot today.  I'll do the same to the top deck and then try to get the sanding done.  I'm thinking I'll have to grind down the fibrous spots again with the carbide grit bit - so when I sand they won't puff out - and then I can put one last coat on the resulting low spots and do the final sanding. At the rate I'm going, I think this board could get wet this coming weekend if it needed to (but I'm thinking I can used the Hypernut for a week or so to give this board a little time to cure up).

Sunday Foiling/Surfing - April 28

The surf was absolutely perfect this evening - and Marlon and I both brought the wrong boards.  I brought the foilboard - which I had just finished cleaning up and putting deck pads on; the deck pads make getting foot placement simpler than using just wax - you can see instantly where your foot should go.  When I cleaned the wax off, I could see my heel dents so I pretty much just covered those spots.  I caught 7 tonight - the first 5 were flawless and lengthy rides.  The 6th ended in a breach and the 7th was short.  So this was the first time I batted over 50% (71%) - another milestone in this foiling journey.  I actually got to the point where I could feel when I had adequate front foot pressure and when I needed to apply more.  I'm crediting that to the fact that I haven't surfed conventionally this year (except that one time with the Greedy Beaver).  Retraining my brain and body to not "surf" on a wave, but instead to use the foil to move has been a long process - and there is so much more to learn still.

That said - the waves were so glassy and big today - head high and consistent - that I really should have been on the Greedy Beaver.  Marlon did bring out the 6'6" hybrid and he caught some fun ones, but he said it would have been even better if he had a longer board.

Hopefully this swell sticks around for a little bit (or not and I won't be tempted to break out the conventional equipment).