Garage Works - 8/31/2025

I got Marlon's foil board repair completed this afternoon.

Sanded to 400, no spray to keep with the distressed look.

And then I headed deep into the garage to start the rocker cuts on No.42

Electric planer and shop vac -

I've been studying some of the leading DW SUP foiling boards and I am trying to take the design points from those to make this parawing specific board.

The desired characteristics are the same - a board that returns energy directed forward when you pump the board/foil.  It also has to have sufficient volume to convert that energy efficiently in less wind (this is Oahu, not Maui).

This last photo is oriented with the bottom deck pointed upwards, nose to the left.

I'll use the surform and dragonskin next.

Garage Works - 4/20/2025

Instead of dawn patrolling this morning, I went ahead and got the board repairs in the garage forwarded.

I trimmed the slot in Roland's board so the mast track reinforcement block would fit.

Then I laminated a layer of fiberglass at the bottom of the slot.  And I went ahead and got the block epoxied in place.

While that was hardening, I sanded the big board and got one last fill coat in for good measure.  I'll sand this tomorrow and open up the tuttle and the track slots.

After that, this one should be done.

And after the winging session, I found myself back in the garage.

I used the small Bosch electric planer and got the corners faded in and the lip on the tracks removed.  I used the sander and took down the remaining high points and got this ready for laminating.

Nicely faded in

Same lamination schedule I've been using recently.

And here it is all laminated.

I'll drill in the bottom deck signal window tomorrow.  I'll also sand the edge of the carbon and fill the signal window and the drainage hole Roland cut into the tail.

Then there are the fill coats, sandings, cutting open the tracks, footstrap inserts on the top deck, signal window up top, sanding, filling, sanding, and clear coat.

Probably will be done by next weekend.

Garage Works - 11/16/2024

I mowed the lawn and edged the back lawn.  I also cleared the backyard of the plant debris that had been building up - then I hit the garage to do some shaping.  This is No.39 - a 5'8" foil drive/winging board.

Here is the blank cut out from the billet foam.

And here it is rough shaped.

It's easier to dial the shape in when the sun is out and it is bright.  I'll do this tomorrow.

And while I was in the garage, this is Prayot's AFS Pure 900.  He drove it into the reef yesterday.

I had to pick sand and rock out of it.  Then I sanded the areas that needed repair.

This will get fill and the tip will get a layer of carbon.

Filled and patch attached.

I'll trace the unscathed wing tip and get the patch grinded down to the same outline.

I'll need to add more epoxy to get this solid.

Garage Works - 3/26/2023

After a nap, I went out into the garage to work on the boards in progress.  First up was getting the volume distribution on the big prone/light wind winging board dialled in.

I broke out the Makita 18V planer for this work.

I'm comfortable with where the top deck and bottom rocker are at currently.  I'll try and keep as much volume on this as possible, so that'll mean minimal foam removal.  There will be chines on the bottom deck, but most of the removal will be at the tail block - which I haven't completely figured out yet.

I'll go through some iterations in my head - but I think it will involve tapering after the track boxes and keeping the bottom as flat as I can.

This will most likely become a 'V' tail.

And while I was at it, I got the template marked out on the new prone foil board (I need to have more room forward of where the current 4'8" track is installed).

I didn't hook up the vacuum to planer today - just focused on removing bulk foam.

And with these short prone boards, since I know how I want them to end up, the rough shaping goes pretty quick.  I got this one pretty much completed today (still need to sand it and then I'll install the mast track reinforcement block, etc, etc, etc).

The boxes are laid out 2" further forward than the current board.

When you know what you want to emerge from the blank, shaping is easy - just takes time (so you don't take too much too fast).

I also really like shaping stringerless blanks - so easy when you don't have to shave down stringers.

I really like this length - the current board has been super versatile.  And the shorter boards I've made since have helped me define what works for me and the waves I usually find myself in.  

Garage Works - 3/9/2023

I saw this little planer at Lowes recently and thought it would be perfect for doing small area work on repairs and builds.

I can attest that this is a useful tool.

It is ultra light and fits in much smaller spaces than the other planers I have.  It is strong and cuts through hardened epoxy without any drama.

This surface is now flat as I need it without having spent more than 5 minutes working on the high areas (and it only took that long because I was learning which buttons did what).  On the repair project side of this, I'll use the sander to still knock down some even smaller irregularities, but then I'll go ahead and rout the slots for the finboxes.

The allternative to this would have been a sander using 40 grit - but that often leaves a bias in one direction or another (because of the spinning and what direction I go at the project area).  This planer works perfectly for this application.

I can also see this working rocker on the shorter boards I make - not having to deal with tool weight will let me focus on material removal and dialing in rocker.

This being a new tool system from Bosch, I can see getting the 12 volt barrel jig saw and 5" Random Orbital Palm Sander also.  I already have my heavy tools for longer span work - I've been waiting for this line of tools to come out (without even knowing it was in development).

4'8" Wing Board Through Rough Sanding

I spent some time in the garage today.  I got the shape roughed in to about 85% of final.  First I used the surform to clean up the planer gouges.  Then I used the planer to take off some more bulk on the bottom deck.  Then I used the dragon skin and rounded out the parts that needed it (nose mainly).

Finally I used the 60 grit sanding screen to blend everything in.  I can see some areas that still need adjusting - like the shallow bevel in the bottom deck next to the rails, and others.  I'll break out the ruler and place marks and get everything symmetrical.

Progress on the 4'8" Flat Rail Wing Foiling Board

I got a little garage time yesterday.  I took the thickness down to just over 4" and drop the rocker on the nose.

This blank is ready for the surform and drywall screed work.

As I'm trying to keep volume in this board, I'm going to really just be dialing in the shape at this point.  Should be pretty quick to get it through these next steps (rounding the top rail, slightly tapering the bottom rail to a hard 90 on the back half of the board, and working the nose and front half like normal).

I do plan on building this out like Kalani's - d-cell sheets, footstrap inserts - and I'm going to add longer boxes underneath.

Garage Works - 6/27/2021

Got a bunch of lawn work done today - then took a nap.  After my nap (I love naps), I headed into the garage to get some progress on some projects.  First up was getting Nick's kite foil board ready for some more epoxy work.  I removed more deck pad on the area I'm going to have to wrap.  I sanded the band around the board where the wrap is going to go.  Then I finished up by routing out four slot where I'm going to insert some bamboo chopsticks.  It was pretty warm today, so I opted not to mix epoxy. 

Up next was converting my 72cm Armstrong V1 mast over to the A+ system.  Here is the mast after I took it off the 4'8" board - no through the mast bolt yet.

All I did was watch the video Armie put up on YouTube.

Probably took 15 minutes.  I encountered a lot of debate on whether this modification is necessary.  In my mind, it can't hurt and I already have the hardware/conversion kit so bam - all done.

I also got the 4'8" sprayed with gloss coat.  I don't have any pictures of that, but I annotated the HS1250/300 bolt locations, cleaned up any dirt/salt on the board then sprayed the bottom.  Tomorrow I plop some sticker on it and do some touch up painting on the top - I will likely take a break from foiling tomorrow so I can rest up - so plenty of time to work on the board and finish it up.  While I was doing all that, Noe was in the garage with me sanding the components for her desk.  I let her use my shapimg/sanding rack.  When she was done, I started the big project - Kalani's wing foil board.

I got the bulk excess planed off both the bottom and top decks.  Kalani wants some of the fancy chines on the bottom deck - I'll start working on the rails tomorrow and then add the chines in after.

More garage work tomorrow (I think the swell will be dropping and the onshore breeze will kick in again - I'll wait for the trades to fill back in on Wednesday).

Progress on the Latest Garage Projects

I started today's garage work with applying carbon onto the chopped HS1550.  Instead of vacuum bagging this, I used the Jimmy Lewis method - saran wrap.

I'll unwrap the foil tomorrow, do a little sanding to fair in the seams, then assess if I have to put more work into filling the gaps.

After the front foil work, I immediately jumped to skinning (not really skinning in the sense of polyurethane boards - just taking off the top dinged/dirty top layers) and foiling the wing foil board.

I got the blank down to under 5" thickness.  And the nose rocker seems to be just right.  The rails look thick, but I'll be putting in a 45 degree chamfer in them as well as the tail so that will thin things out a bit.  I'll stop the chamfer short of the nose and just round things out up front (better for bouncing off waves and chop).  I'm going to have to drill through the two stringers to make sure there is continuity across the whole board for the vent.  Still got a lot of work on this one - cutting out the chamfers, blending in the rails drilling out the holes for venting in the stringers, plugging the drill slots, routing out the slots for the footstrap insert reinforcement blocks and the Futures One Shot finboxes, cutting out the insert slots and finbox slots, epoxy in the inserts/finboxes, laminate the bottom fabric, fair out the laps, laminate the top fabric, fair out the laps, apply labels/stickers, bottom fill coat, top fill coat, sand 30-60-120-180, drill out vent plug and leash cup holes, install leash cup and vent, grind down leash cup, sand 220-320-400, spray clear coat, sand 500-1000-1500, place deck pads, dremel holes through deck pads to expose footstrap inserts, outfit board with straps and leash loop - then fly!

Rough Shaping the 5'2" Wing Foiling Board

Marlon as an infection on his leg, so I decided to pass on surfing yesterday.  Not to mention the surf is way down (first time in a while actually).  Instead, I decided to break out the planer and get the WFB further down the path to getting wet.

Most to the trimming was on the bottom of the board - bottom of the rails and the tail.  I had to trim up the nose a bit also - but it was all done in about 45 minutes.  I also worked on the top - rails, nose, tail - then did a pass over the flats top and bottom to get rid of the rough foam (makes sanding way easier even if I am not taking much off - starting everything at the same consistency is always best).

Today the surf is even worse - so I'll get the rails blended in (dragon skin - drywall mud rough sander), and I'll try to get the sanding done.  From there I'll need to cut out holes for the foot strap inserts, the leash plug and the mast tracks.  I was thinking of using dcell under the feet again - but I am also planning on using innegra for the laminate.  I think if I can double up where my heels will go, I can forego the dcell patches (which means less work).

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.