Garage Works - 4/11/2026

On the way out yesterday, I thought I was in deep enough water - knowing it was low tide (0.1') I even paddled out further than I thought I needed to.

I had checked the water depth, flipped the board over and was even just getting situated.  The longshore current was kicking and I got pulled over to a different spot from where I checked the depth and I was no longer in deep enough water.

The foil stood up twice on the bottom.

It eventually happens to every foil if you are a White Plains foiler.

Yesterday evening I got to work on not just addressing the scratches from that day, but also tuning the foil.

I notice this more with AFS foils - lately there are tiny voids where the carbon and epoxy don't exactly press fully into the mold.  These are nothing major, but since I had to fill minor scratches, I figured I might as well take care of these and tune in the trailing edge.

After a couple of hours of filling and sanding - all done and better than new!

Unfortunately I did not get to use this foil this morning - the swell is starting to back off.

Garage Works - 9/7/2025

I got more work done on No.42

Mast track aligned and marked up.

I'll probably route out the slot tomorrow.

And I refined the rocker and the tail volume some more.

It seems more balanced now (but still rearward biased).

And after a lot of wet sanding and 3 fills, I got the Silk 850 back to top hydrodynamic shape.

I could actually put a couple more fills and sand some more... but this is good enough for now.

Garage Works - 8/27/2025

I sanded the last epoxy/carbon add to bulk up the rake on the tip.

Better now than when I got it!!!

The tip is more solid (that is one of the criticisms I have of AFS front foils - the wing tips are fragile...)

It's already been out on the water!!!

Garage Works - 8/25/2025

Monday is rest day - but that doesn't mean stuff slows down.

I got the tracks cleaned up on Marlon's foil board.

And I got the carbon applied.  I'll let this harden for a couple of days then route open the slots.

And I got the chipped wing tip filled in on the Enduro 900.

Same thing - I'll let this harden up a bit, then sand/file down to shape, then foil and fine sand.

And then I took No.34 and the KT Dragonfly and got some ratios defined for the mast track placement on No.42

Ratios!!!

If the wind doesn't come up tomorrow, I'll likely be rough shaping No.42

Garage Works - 2/19/2025

I was going to go Foil Drive-ing this afternoon, but I left my remote at my office.  So I took a short nap and then hit the garage to sand the repairs I have stacked.

First up was Norm's Code 1130 wingtip repairs.

Tops and bottoms faired in and ready for the fill coats.

Bottom tips

After dinner I'll get a fill coat on the top side.  Tomorrow I'll get the fill coat on the bottom side - and that will setup Friday for sanding the rebuilt tips and filling scratches.  Sanding the scratches will blend everything together.

I also sanded Marvin's board - should be good now, but I'll see if he is good with how the window is (some white spots).

After these are done I'll work on fixing No.33 (leak by the top deck handle - I've already opened up the layer that failed - just need to fill) and No.34 (sanding the repair to the top deck where a remote was contacting it - Kalani always finds the weaknesses in my boards).

And after that, I have been debating if No.41 will be a trench board or another No.37 (shorter flat deck).  If I had a hot wire to cut the foam blank evenly, I'd do the trench board in a heartbeat - but I don't and right now it seems like a ton of work for not much gain in efficiency.

Garage Works - 11/2/2024

Here is the Ezzy all repaired (thanks La!!!)

That was fixed yesterday.

Today I reminded Marlon the Takuma foils are his now.  To make me feel better about him taking these out and using them without me around, I rounded off the shark teeth winglets.  I should have done this when I got these foils - now they are less likely to cut...

And I showed him how to set up the foil on the board - including the foil angle of incidence.

Then I went ahead and prepared the crushed wingtip on the SK8 950 for the carbon patch lamination.

I'll start laminating the different layers on to the wing tip tomorrow (when I also place epoxy into the longboard I'm fixing for Greg).

I don't mind doing this for other people - but I get frustrated when I have to do it on my own foils.

Garage Works - 7/10/2024

I wanted to get these boards finished and out of the garage.

First up was Marvin's Majek-Appletree.

Here's the bottom deck window.

And here's the top deck window.

This is the nose job on Zach's prone board

And here is the finished ding repair on Zach's wing foiling board

And last but not least (actually probably the hardest repair of this group), Prayot's AFS Pure 900 tip repair.

Done - done - done - and done!

Garage Works - July 9, 2024

I had a never-ending meeting this afternoon at work.  That coupled with contending with late afternoon west bound Oahu traffic and today was a 13 hour work day.

After I got home and settled, I hit the garage to sand the fill jobs, trimmed up some patch material and set about getting the patches epoxied into place.

This is the nose ding repair for Zach

And this is Zach's KT Drifter bottom deck ding repair

This is Marvin's new Majek-Appletree C@$h board signal transmission windows installation - this one being on the top deck

And this one on the bottom deck.

And this is the last fill coat for Prayot's AFS Pure 900 wing tip rebuild.

I'll sand and spray these tomorrow and they can go back to their respective owners.

Garage Works - 7/8/2024

Lots of action in the garage this afternoon.

Guest shaper at the Velasco Garage.  Prayot is making a 5'7" wing board based off the new KT Dragonfly Surf.

He got it rough shaped in about 2 hours.

Zach also stopped by to get some dings fixed.  I got the boards sanded and the dings filled already.  I'll sand these tomorrow and get the fiberglass/carbon patch placed.

And Marvin got his new Majek-Appletree C@$h prone Foil Drive board

He picked the spots where the windows would be placed and I started drilling.  As of this writing, both windows are filled.

I also worked on Prayot's AFS Pure 900.  First up was looking at the rear stabilizer - it was on backwards.

Then I asked him if he was good with the fill as is or did he want additional carbon on - we're sticking with thinner.  I'll sand this down and run it through the sanding regime.

And Marlon got some work done on the board he is building.  He is getting more comfortable with the tools now.

Moving lots of projects through!

Garage Works - 7/7/2024

And in between errands, cleaning things and mowing the lawn, I got a bunch of stuff done in the garage.

First up was sanding and spraying clear coat on Kalani's SUP Foil board.  The windows worked!!! 

I was actually a little nervous because I haven't put the windows in a SUP before - but the physics was sound (and it worked).

Not pictured, but I peeled off all the UV cure clear coat from the Project Cedrus Carbon 85cm mast that I had repainted.  The UV coat started falling off when I used the mast to Foil Drive - with a razor blade I got the entire mast cleared.  I'll use some of the 2k clear coat from Napa to get this mast recoated.

Then I started working on Prayot's AFS Pure 900.  He ran this tip into the pipe at Fenceline.  At this point the major damage is repaired - but now I have to go and make sure both sides are balanced and the tips are the same size.

What makes that difficult is the compound curves this foil has - they are coming towards the tip from multiple approaches.

And last but not least - I helped Marlon thin out the rails on the longboard he is building for one of his friends.  Fast work when you use an electric planer.