Garage Works - 8/16/2024

Space is at a premium in the garage now - and I've got a couple of foilboard blanks in there now.

In an effort to help clear space, I helped Marlon this afternoon by sanding the board he is making for a friend.

I got it through the 120 and 180 grit.

I also wiped it down with a wet cloth to get the dust off.  It is ready to get it's coat of spray paint and his logo sticker.

Then I'll have room to cut the foilboard blanks and get those situated.

Garage Works - 8/11/2024

And after I got back from Kailua, I helped Marlon get the longboard through rough sanding and installed the leash plug.

And I got the holes on Ken's board all sealed up.

And after I came back from WPB (next post), I placed carbon patches on Tim's chopped HA1125.

I should be able to clear these projects this week.

Garage Works - 8/6/2024

I'm trying to get these projects done and out of the garage (since the building area has been taken down).

Here is the wing tips filled on the chop shop request I got from Tim.

Next is to sand this down and laminate some carbon fiber to it.

And this is the weeping hole on Ken's wing board.  I opened the hole and have been letting it dry for a week.  I filled it today (since I was filling the wingtips).

Tomorrow I'll laminate carbon (probably one step).  Then I'll paint it white and this one will be done.

And Marlon put another fill coat on the board he is building.

Garage Works - 8/4/2024

I got a fill coat on the board Marlon is making.  The rail laps were too far apart so I needed to put thickened epoxy on to reduce the number of subsequent fills.

Tomorrow another fill coat needs to go on the top deck.

And today I also chopped Tim's HA1125 (insert throw up emoji here - I to this day fucking HATE Armstrong shit).

I used the dremel to cut the outline.

Then I used the grinder to thin out the tips.

Then I used the dremel again to dig out the foam core.

When I'm mixing epoxy for the top fill coat on Marlon's board, I'll add the bulk thickened fill for the rebuild.

After that hardens, I'll use the sander to shape the tips, then I'll add some carbon to cover the fill.

Did I mention I FUCKING HATE Armstrong foiling gear???!!!???

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!

Marlon Shaping

Marlon asked to shape a board in the garage as one of his friends asked for a board.

Hopefully this doesn't take two years to finish ;p (he said it'll be a week)!

Garage Works - 6/2/2024

I helped Marlon get the clear coat on his new longboard.  We opted to go with a 2K Clear Coat (2-part) and it saved us from having to deal with more fill coats and sanding.

It came out really nice!  We are going to need to fill in one area where there was an air bubble in the epoxy, but after that he can FINALLY surf this board (I think over two years in the making).

And after I got back from winging and helping Marlon spray the top deck, I got to work on getting the rough shaping done on No.36

I had to tweak the outline a bit - and it looks a whole lot better.  I got the rough shape dialed in to a high degree (probably close to 90%)

I'm thinking about putting footstraps on this one - I'm going to have to transpose where I believe I keep my feet when I'm Foil Drive-ing No.33

This is the top deck.

Or maybe I won't bother with the footstraps - I've got a few days to think about it.

I also got the box position decided on and marked the cut line.

If I have time, I'll sand the blank tomorrow and get the reinforcement block hole routed out.

I'm going to use carbon patches underneath basalt cloth on this one.  Will do a pigment fill coat top and bottom.

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 -1/1/2024

This post actually spans activity from yesterday and today.

As part of cleaning up the house for New Years, I had to move the templates I made for No.34 out of the living room.  Since I was moving them, I figured I might as well transfer the template onto the blank.

And here it is marked out

This board is being made for winging in waves (unlike No.30 which is more for flatwater light wind winging), and also as a Foil Drive Max board.  I ordered a set of 16" boxes already set in a divynicell block - that should give me the flexibility to use this board with several different front foils.

And yesterday I helped Marlon get the leash plug installed on the longboard he is building.

And today I cut the board out of the billet.  I trimmed it with a little border excess, then I used the rough surform to dial in the outline.  Came out really nice - getting the outline right sets up a good shaping effort.

I'm going to try and keep this as close to 4" thick as I can.  Also, I wanted to get the tail pulled in a bit more on this one - I figure with the extra length, I can afford to lose the rear planing surface.

Garage Works - 12/1/2023

And here I am in the garage.  I mixed up 21 ounces of Pro Lam epoxy and got the bottom deck laminated.

Oh yeah!!!

Came out pretty good if you ask me...

Tomorrow I'll sand the lap, cut out the top deck lamination and get it epoxied down.

And Marlon needed a small amount of epoxy to cover a burn through.

Hopefully he can get this one finished and out on to the water soon.

Garage Works - 10/21/2023 (late)

Got in a second garage works session in the evening.

Marlon was sanding, sanding, sanding, with more sanding.

I cut out the carbon overlay panels for Prayot's Wing Board repair.

And I epoxied in the tracks.  I placed several layers of carbon on the bottom of the slots to make sure there is no deformation of the d-cell blocks.  I placed clear epoxy in the bottom the slots to saturate the carbon.  Then I placed the tracks in and filled the remaining voids with epoxied mixed with milled fibers and thiksil.

Nice and clean.  Tomorrow I'll get the carbon overlays placed (and maybe even apply the fill coat).

And I got glass and epoxy on the rear cluster of dings.

This cluster can be sanded and will not likely need another fill.

The big ding will get sanded and I'll place glass over it (tomorrow).