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 - 5/4/2025

Yesterday I did some measuring on No.41

I didn't cut anything - just marked out the points that I'll trim away when the garage is clear (La doesn't like foam dust on her car).

For a little bit, I forgot this is destined to be a trench board - so I'll stick with a blocky transom.

I'll start rough shaping soon (clear garage...)

Garage Works - 1/4/2024

The weather was not so conducive for water sports today - so I opted to stay home and get some errand done.  And then UPS delivered the prebuilt 16" mast foil track I ordered and I started to study the foil box placement again on No.34

This is where it ended up using the ratio from No.30

But when I showed this to the foiling crew I wing with, they suggested to move it up further.

So I went back to this posting on IG and studied the mast position and came up with a slightly ratio.  

This is the final position - moved up 2" from where it previously was set

This likely where the Eagle 1090 would sit.  Most of the other foils I use now are positioned forward of the 1090, so this gives me plenty of room to accommodate (Eagle 890, SK8 950, Spitfire 960, Spitfire 840, HPS 700)

Tomorrow I'll work on the entry rocker and skinning the top and bottom decks (trying to preserve as much thickness as possible).

If I don't get too distracted, I may have the rough shaping/fine tuning done by Sunday.

Garage Works - 1/3/2024

I skipped surfing (or even possibly winging) today to spend some time in the garage.  First I loaded the truck with some stuff to take to the Ewa Convenience Center.  

Then I tried to develop a method to more accurately place the mast track boxes.  I measured the spacing from the tail of the boards that have good positions (centering the foils I use the most), then ran some ratios against the board's length overall.

Not surprisingly, the longer boards had a higher percentage (center of box to the tail, compared to the loa), and the short board (No.32) had the lowest percentage.

For No.34, I plan on using the Chinook 16" boxes.  This first picture had the track boxes set further back. 

And this picture has the boxes further forward.

Since these tracks offer more adjustability over the Futures 10.75", I have some margin of error I can lean on.

I set up a spreadsheet that tabulated the intervals between the two boards I have tuned in nicely.

Looking at this table, No.34 at 6' (72") - should have the center of the boxes at the 21" mark (up from the tail).

I ordered a set of 16" tracks already set in a block of divynicell.  Before that arrives, I'm going to try and get this board shaped, the locations of the inserts marked up, the center hole (digging out the EPS where the d-cell block goes and replacing it with polyurethane blocks) worked, and then I'll have figured out if Gorilla Glue is the same/worse/better than using epoxy to set the reinforcement blocks.

I've got some scrap pieces of EPS, D-cell and polyurethane.  I'll glue them up and see what the bond looks like.

Garage Works - 4/6/2023

I have been fretting over this issue for a while now.  Cutting in the infrastructure to support the finboxes that will hold the hydrofoil in place and getting it wrong is the fastest way to ruin a board making project.

I've measured and looked, then adjusted and looked, and repeated over and over.  I've simulated paddling this board and popping up to figure out where my back foot will land and then readjusted the track position based on that.  But no matter what I did, I always felt I was either compromising on potential adjustability or adding too much weight.

Well - today I resolved my dilemma -

Instead of trying to use the 8" boxes as the augment element, I just doubled up the 8" boxes and now have a 16" track!

This is an optimized solution between the weight of a longer track and the limited adjustability of a single 10.75" box.

I trimmed the polyurethane blocks also and marked the area to be removed by the router.

I'll try and get the slots routed out tomorrow.  If I get that done, I'll also get the liners laid out.  My goal for Saturday will be to epoxy in the blocks.  Sunday I'll fair out the expanded epoxy, mark the tracks and get those slots routed.

At this point I'll take a break, and take a second look at the overall shape - this is where I'll adjust anything that nags me (usually the nose, sometimes the tail, and almost always some part of the rail).

Garage Works - 11/16/2022

I got the slot routed out for the footstrap inserts done yesterday afternoon.

I also got the bottom all measured out.

I'll either get the bottom routed out today, or epoxy in the footstrap inserts.

Garage Works - 12/31/2021

Marlon and I tried to get a dawn patrol in yesterday - but the gate was locked at WPB.  We even looked at Campgrounds but it didn't look like it was worth it.  So we headed back home - I made omelettes and coffee for breakfast, then I got started on a project I had been stalling on for a very long time - fixing the Narrow Wing Foiling Board.  I had toyed around with the idea of drilling a hole under the cracked boxes (front of both of them) and placing epoxy to shore up the damage - but I figured that wasn't guaranteed and it would add weight.  At this point I committed to the removal. 

Before I started on the NWFB, I cut out the slots for the new 4'8" Wing Foiling Board - these were pretty easy to do.  My only concern is relative position on the board.  The trends have been boxes moving forward - but with the flat tail and the shorter overall length, I'm not quite sure if these needed to go more forward.  I took this placement from the Go Foil website - over the boards I've made, that never steered me wrong.

Back to the long neglected repair (see - even now I'm trying to avoid this).  First step was measuring and placing landmarks for the new box placement.

Then came the really tricky part - demolition.  If something is going to get ugly, it is in this step.  I was able to cut around the boxes and loosen them up.  Thankful that I didn't have to route through the broken boxes.  I also had to remove the stickers in the tail area.

Fitting the HDF box.  Had to take the edges on the block down so I could fit it in with a carbon sheet around it.  Also took the top down so it would sit flush with the deck.

Carbon sheet cut, trimmed and ready for laminating.

And the block in place with epoxy and peel ply to take up the excess epoxy.

This was the hard part.  The rest should go fast.

Measurements for the NFWB Foot Strap Inserts

Marlon and I tried to dawn patrol today - but the surf was almost flat (it was a high tide at 2.35' and the swell was too small to show through that high of a tide).  We came back and I decided to get more work done on the NWFB.  I took the places where I place my feet on my current board (I've been looking and adjusting during the past several sessions - to include where my feet go when I'm riding toeside) - and transferred those positions to the NWFB.

Next I cut out the divynicell reinforcement blocks.  I used a donor block from a previous project for some of the blocks.

These are cut to size so the inserts don't go all the way through.

This was about two hours of work.

This is set up for a windsurfing setup (switch stances after transitions) and an offset regular stance for days I plan on tackling waves.  At this point, La and I took off to run some errands.