Garage Works - 10/23/2023

This afternoon I got the ding repairs done on Tim's Greedy Beaver. 

The cluster of three small dings came out really nice.

The smashed in rail is structurally sound, but the cosmetics are lacking a bit.

Prayot's wing board got sanded and I opened up the boxes.

The router took a little too much out at this spot.

And then I got the fill coat on.

Tomorrow I'll sand down the excess fill coat, then get the spray coat on.

Both of these can go back to their owners tomorrow (so I can start the shaping on No.33)

Garage Works - 6/6/2023

I sanded the hardened epoxy before I went foiling.  When I got back I added a fill coat.

I'll wait until the morning to pull the saran wrap.  If it'll all good, I'll do a light sanding, then hit it with satin clear coat and call it good.

Garage Works - 6/5/2023

I got home in time to edge the grass and mow the lawn.

After that and some other chores, I headed into the garage to work on the ding repair on Tim's Greedy Beaver.

I cut up a bunch of fiberglass patches, and then saturated the repair area with epoxy.  I added the patches one by one to make sure there were no air bubbles.

I placed a cap patch, then placed a piece of peel ply.

If done right, I have found this method effectively reduces the amount of sanding I have to do to get the repair area flat and smooth.

I'll still have to sand - just not as much.

I had a little bit of epoxy left over (I mixed a total of 0.7 ounces), so I mixed in some aerosil to give the epoxy some body - then I placed it in the corners of the mast track reinforcement block hole.  This served as the "skim coat" - so that when I use epoxy to laminate the carbon fiber liner into place, the excess epoxy will not migrate through pinholes.

Tomorrow I'll sand Tim's board and add a fill coat if necessary.

I'll also laminate the carbon liner for No.31

Garage Works - 6/4/2023

I want to move the boxes up on this one (No.31) to even out the pressure on the boxes.  I cut the old stuff out yesterday - this morning I cleaned it all up, made sure the blocks fit, and cut out the carbon fiber liner.  I Gorilla Glued in another piece of EPS to firm things up.

Tomorrow I'll laminate the carbon liner on to the recess.  There is supposed to be a significant bump up in the swell height... maybe this will get delayed....

And here is the Greedy Beaver back in the garage - this time with a ding towards the rail (but still on the top deck - way easier to fill/repair).

I put the vacuum on the ding to pull what water I could out.

I'll let this one air dry a little more also before I fill it.  I'm just going to use progressively bigger patches to fill this in.  

Garage Works Part 2 - 10/29/2022

And to clear the garage and get rid of distractions (so I can start shaping Prayot's wing board), I went ahead and sanded down the repair on Tim's Greedy Beaver (if this board looks familiar, I sold it to him).

Here it is sanded down to 320 grit.

Nice and smooth.  The repair is flush with the surrounding area.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but here it is with the clear coat on.

Good as new!!!  It's ready to go back to Tim tomorrow morning.

Garage Works - 10/29/2022

After we got back from the dawn patrol, I sanded down the fill on Tim's Greedy Beaver repair.

I got it pretty flat but depressed the area over the repair so the fiberglass would become part of the repair (instead of sitting proud).

And here is the fiberglass patch

And here it is set for the cure.

After this, I took a nap.  I love lazy Saturdays!!!

Ding Repair - Foil Comparisons

This board should look familiar - it's the Greedy Beaver  I had for years.  I recently sold it to Tim - and he quickly put a ding in the top deck.

Here is the ding all prepared for filling

And the fill is down (to close the gap that forms the ding).

Tomorrow I'll sand the repaired area flat.  Then apply fiberglass, and finally place the fill coat and sand.  Should be fine.

And when Marvin dropped me off after foiling, he wanted to compare his 990 to my 1090.  He had the F One aluminum mast.  He said he wasn't jiving with this foil (and I can easily understand that - one word - ARMSTRONG).

To the untrained eye - one might even think these foils are the same.  But the chord is a lot different.

Dawn Patrol - 9/25/2022

Dawn patrol again this morning.  Got to the beach even earlier than normal - needed to bring the Greedy Beaver to the beach so I could sell it to Tim (even though he just got that Pyzel Ghost).  After the session, he said he loved the board (phew).

Marlon surfed for a bit, then went in to swim out and use his new water housing/camera.

I paddled the Seaside and Beyond - and was astounded yet again!!!  I was catching waves on the outside and gouging top to bottom turns.

After the sun started getting higher in the sky, I rode a few waves in and started surfing the inside.  The waves were smaller on the inside, but the Seaside and Beyond worked just as well.  The range on this board is really good.

So as much as I didn't want to sell the Greedy Beaver and the Sunday (and I'm still trying to sell the Toots Asymmetric) - those three boards had too much overlap among themselves, and none were as easy to ride as the Seaside and Beyond.

This has been a really great run of surf, and a great introduction to what is lining up to be an incredible surfboard!

W:94/F:80/S:25

Wing Repair and Board Prepping

Yesterday while I was using this wing (Takuma RS 6.1) the leading edge bladder popped.  Today I went ahead and fixed it.  You never know what you are going to find when you pull a bladder.  The pop sounded small and noncatastrophic - and it even took a little bit of time for the air to completely come out - so I figured I got lucky and this hole was small.

And small it was.  I had this patched in no time.

And I went ahead and inflated it and left it inflated.  It's at my office - I'll check on it in the morning.  I'm thinking it should be good to go.

I also decided to sell the surfboards I'm not currently using.  Those would be the Firewire Sunday (shown here), the Firewire Greedy Beaver, and the Toots 7'4" Asymmetric

The proceeds from selling these boards will go to the Ocean Rodeo Glide AX wings I'm saving up for and to pay off the Firewire Seaside and Beyond.

I'll post more pictures tomorrow of all the surfboards moving around (bought and sold).  There is also a swell that is inbound - surfing tomorrow!!!

Garage Works - 2/12/2022

Rumor mill had everywhere but north shore at none to 1'.  Instead of trying to fight for waves at a single takeoff spot, I opted to catch up on some things that have been on my mind.  First up was changing the fins on a couple of boards (so I can get the keels on the Sunday).  I took the Eric Arakawa's (and the Solara) off the Greedy Beaver and replaced them with the Grennan quads.

And I took the fins off the Pigfish (these actually came from three different sets of fins). 

After that I checked on the OR A Series Glide - came back from the repair shop.  I went ahead and got the leash and harness line back on.

I'll do an inflation test soon.

Marlon also got restarted on shaping his performance longboard.  He did not want to use the electric planer, so he was making lots of passes with the surform.

We also had to pick Noe up from her Laser racing, so we took off a little early so he could purchase a board that caught his eye yesterday - the Firewire Seaside at 5'2" in Helium construction (with a cool paint job to boot).

Stopped off at Kailua Beach Park on the way to Noe - not a single kite, wing or sail out...

We got home and Marlon and I waxed up our boards.  La noted we have different styles and methods for waxing boards.

I prefer my method - just look at the consistency and the tight, tiny wax bumps.

There is supposed to be a swell in bound - hopefully it gets here soon - I have a bunch of things to get done and I might actually do them all if there isn't any wind or surf.

Saturday Evening Shortboarding - 7 September

A lot windy (trades are back - finally), low tide (+0.5'), and a decent long period swell made for fun SHORTBOARD surfing on Saturday evening.

It was a hair crowded when we got there, but the group thinned out as time marched on.  My last three waves were pretty fun - head high walls that stayed open long enough to get a few good turns in.  Marlon had several good waves.

I opted to surf the Beaver mainly because of the low tide - the moon is just passing waxing quarter - another week and we'll be back to dual high tides.  Funny thing that surfing has become cross-training for me.  Used to be that everything else was cross training for surfing... still - good times on the Greedy Beaver!

Catch Up Post - 12 to 14 July

I've been slacking again on maintaining this blog.  I'll try and catch up this evening.  First off I went foiling with an old friend who was in town visiting (and eloping).  Jason and I go back to 1997.  We met up at White Plains and spent the afternoon surfing (I was on the Slingshot Infinity 76 and I brought out the Starboard Element for Jason to use).  It was a bit choppy as the trades were starting to fill back in and a new swell was starting to show.  I got up a few times but it was actually a little tough to get the balance point just right.  I had the foil set where I placed the mark - but lifting still felt like work and not natural.  Jason set up a SoloShot 3 and I wore the transponder.  Its a cool device and it tracks pretty solid.  I'll set it up and use it again another day - but I didn't take any pictures on Friday.  I ended up talking to Gary (big green board and Cloud IX foil) and also James (ex-UCT and EOD tech).  We finished the day by heading back to my house for slow smoked pulled pork sliders (SOOOO GOOOD) and beer.

Next day was Saturday and Marlon had a presentation in the morning to finish off his summer internship.  We celebrated by eating plate lunches from Liz's BBQ and napping.  Since this is summer, post nap we still had plenty of light and went out for a surf session.  I had the foil out again (this time bringing it forward a little) and Marlon brought his longboard out.  The foil flew a little easier, but still not effort less.  The swell was picking up for sure.

On Sunday we picked La and Noe up at the airport (Noe participated in a Laser regatta in the San Francisco area).  Evening came around and the swell was hitting full on.  I brought out the Greedy Beaver and Marlon brought his shorter board (the Squirrel).  The swell was well overhead and the drops were epic!  I only got a few waves that stayed open, but all the rides were awesome.

I actually had a loose fin (starboard).  On my first wave I felt some chatter, but for the rest of the session it was stable.  What an awesome surfing weekend!!!