Dialing in the 4'6"

I'm now at the point in shaping this one where my OCD is a detriment.  I keep chasing the little asymmetries - and chasing, and chasing... you get the idea.

This is pretty close - and I'm going to stop the rough sanding here (80 and 100 grit).  Both of these pictures are of the bottom deck.

I'm using a slight downturn on my noses, since these things get flipped over and paddled upside down for a fair distance (to get the foil to deep water).

Next step is a quick hit with 180, 220 and 400 grit sandpaper.  Then I'll route out the voids where the high density foam block will go (going to use a premade one from Fiberglass Hawaii instead of a homemade one), vacuum it in place, then cut out the finbox slots.  Then glassing.  I'm going to try to get this one lighter than the 4'10" by using carbon tape along the stringer on top and by only using carbon around the mast track on the bottom.  I don't mind the weight of full carbon on a polyurethane blank, but I want to see if I can get similar response from a lighter glassed board from this one as compared to the 4'10".

Getting Ready for Number 2

Thinking about making a second foil -

Larger front wing (since I can only get the first one to rise above 50% of the time), and shorter mast (total of 24" inclusive of mounting plate and fuselage) so I don't hit the bottom.  For comparison I've got this wing on top of a Slingshot Infinity 76cm front wing (got this through a deal with an old friend).

The feedback on this foil setup has been positive.  The dimensions of the modified kit components are very similar to this one - but while I'm building up the kit, I'll be using this one in the surf.  Looking forward to comparing them all!

FInishing Off This Repair Project

So yesterday I sanded the repair area down - primarily taking off the primer that was not needed.

Today I masked the board (and the garage)

And applied a couple of coats of almost matching blue spray paint.

Here is the board post spray paint application - the unpainted section is where the nose bumper will be applied (so this whole incident won't be repeated with an accidental mast strike).  I'll also put on a coat of urethane to protect the paint from scuffs.

I should have this done tomorrow afternoon.  Thank goodness (and now to get it wet again).

Repair is Ready for Paint and Finish Work

I sanded the excess epoxy off yesterday afternoon.  I'll tape of the parts of the nose and then add a coat of spray paint, then stick on the nose guard and wait for the wind or swell to pick up.  Pre sanding pictures -

Post sanding

I test fitted the high density nose guard - it'll look good on this board.  Now to get some dark blue paint...

Bench Sander and Scroll Saw Day

Yesterday afternoon I put in more time to getting pieces and parts lined up.  I used the bench sander to get the kitefoil front wing and two fuselages roughed in.

I tried sanding down the reinforcement blocks (for the mast tracks) with the bench sander, but it was taking longer than I wanted.  I cleared the scrolled saw (serves as a garage shelf when not in immediate use) and set it up to trim the blocks.  It worked perfectly!

Next steps here (as this now makes 5 concurrent projects) are using the random orbital sander to fair in the foil parts, and using the plunge router to clear a void for the mast track boxes to fit in.

This is Why I Took Up Knitting in the First Place

What to do on a snowed in day? I'm making some "Tube Socks" for my fly rod tubes. These will help protect the tubes from scratches while the tubes are in the truck (headed back and forth from fishing) This is actually the main reason I thought about taking up knitting. I have high expectations from these socks. This is my first time using double point needles. They were intimidating at first, but after the first couple of rows are in place, the knitting becomes clearer to see. The only issue is this is not a fast process - in this case especially switching needles every 6 stitches. This tube sock will be 5 inches in perimeter to fit one of the smaller rod tubes I have (which is also one of the more vulnerable to dings and scratches) - and only 24 stitches per row (6 stitches per needle). I should be finished with it in about a week. I'll post more when it is finished. Knitting is as calming as it gets. Fishing, especially sight casting, gets my adrenaline way up - not like big wave surfing up, but pretty close. It's nice to have a fall back activity that lowers the blood pressure.

Recycling Old Clothes to Make Rod Socks

La helped me make a rod sock for one of the flyrods that didn't have one. Old clothes (or old outdated uniforms) make awesome material stocks for small projects like this. Threading the surger was intimidating and kicked our butts. And this is absolute proof that making something camouflage makes it even better than it would have been if it were just plain - at least three times better, maybe even four X... I sewed the button on and made the final stitches up the center to separate the rod pieces. I had a couple of PVC pipe rod tubes for the tenkara rods I have, but haven't been using (I am pretty anal with my stuff so I haven't been placing the tenkara rods in the tubes - just haven't needed to put them in there when I've been as careful as I am) - the PVC is just a few inches too short. I'll fix that with a trip to Home Depot and a hack saw. Pretty nifty if you ask me (and a big MA-HA-LO to La for the surger and high end sewing machine tutorial) ;)