Garage Works - 8/17/2025

In between the morning skunk and the afternoon session, I did some work on two projects in the garage.

First up was Marlon's prone foil board repair.

The tracks were leaking from the around the back of the boxes.

This board has a substantial wood stringer, so there was a lot of routing in lifts to not over stress the router.

The block fits nicely, but the port side has some overage (nothing that brown gorilla glue can't handle).

And I planed off the excess gorilla glue on the blank for No.42.

And I traced the template that I made to pull characteristics from the latest downwind boards - notably the tail of the board.

This is probably going to be one of my biggest experiments -

Garage Works - 6/6/2025

I sanded the bottom deck again - and there were a few pin holes that are still open (so yet another coat of epoxy goes on).

Then I went ahead of opened up the tracks.

I went ahead and mounted the drive and mast to gauge the plumbness of the bottom deck.

Relatively speaking, this looks straight.  But if I stare at it long enough, it looks like it has an ever so slight lean to the right (looking at it this way).

I went ahead and added a thin layer of epoxy biasing to the right (and closing up the pin holes).

I'll sand again tomorrow.  If it is good to go, I'll glue on the side offcuts and maybe laminate the bottom of the board (or finish shaping the top under where my rear foot will go).  I'm trying to get this one across the finish line so it can get into the rotation.

Garage Works - 1/22/2025

And before I went to the beach, I routed out the slots for the track extension.

I made the block at the top of the jig so I could route out 8" slots (instead of the 10.75" that I have the jig set up for).

And here are the slots all cut out.

I went ahead and sanded/grinded the high spots down to get this to sit flush.  And I still have some more to grind off...

Pretty straight if you ask me.

Tomorrow I'll epoxy these in place.  After that layer of epoxy hardens a bit, I'll place a carbon cap sheet to keep this modification super stiff.

After this, I might have it do another track add for Scotty (might).  And I'll be adding a long track to No.32.

I also finished adding windows to the board Marvin left (Majek). 

Garage Works - 6/17/2024

Between napping and working on the yard (edging and mowing), I got the big SUP repair forwarded.

I started by using the planner to take down the pour foam.  Then I used the router to open the slot to accommodate the polyurethane blocks.

Here's the open slot and the foam blocks.  I had to use the surform to get everything to fit the way I wanted it to. 

Expanding Gorilla Glue for this one.  I've been reading a lot of feedback on how other people secure this - most have moved on from epoxy to avoid the exotherm damage potential.  And the Gorilla Glue is stronger than the foam it is securing together - so the results strength wise should be the same.

At this point I had finished the yardwork and used the planer and surform to level out the foam block (and glue that expanded out).  Then I marked up the center line and the 90mm spacing 

And here is where I stopped for the day - I setup the first cut.

I'll cut the slots out tomorrow and then likely epoxy in the tracks.  I should go ahead and cut out the reinforcement patches and get those epoxied on at the same time (so everything chemically bonds together).

Garage Works - 8/1/2023

Since I couldn't go foiling today, I figured I should go full bore on No.32 and get this thing finished.

I had originally planned on just marking the locations of the footstrap inserts -

But I went ahead and routed out the slots.

Not bad spacing.  It's not so tight that I can't put a layer of fiberglass under the blocks, but not loose that it'll take a bunch of epoxy to fill.

Those of you with discerning eyes will have noticed the two extra blocks out towards the nose.  These are for mounting the Foil Drive battery box.

I even had enough sunlight to rout out the SUP handle.

Pretty amazing how much work can get done when I'm not out foiling ;)

Garage Works - 1/6/2023

I got home from work and Marlon was still working on school stuff.  To give him the time he needed to finish, I went straight to routing out the slot for the mast track reinforcement block.

This is the single messiest part of making boards - little pieces of EPS get cut off the blank and are flung everywhere.

After cleaning up the mess, it was time to go surf.  Marlon and Noe both have projects that need epoxy (dinged surfboard and scratched boat hull respectively), so I figured I'd stop at this point (lots of epoxy from this point forward).

Tomorrow is an epoxy day.

Garage Works - 1/1/2022

It rained hard the whole day.  I didn't have a chance to park the truck out on the street to get the garage cleared until late.  When I did, I measured, setup the template and cut out the slots for the boxes.

Perfect!  I pushed these up a little further than the previous set since I installed - should be better for the smaller front foils.

Next up is taping, adding more carbon, epoxying the tracks in, epoxying on the carbon cover sheet, curing, grinding out the box slots, fill coating, and final sanding.  Yeah - easy....

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.

Garage Works - 11/27/2021

After a long afternoon nap, I hit the garage to get the messiest part of the board projects sitting there done (yes I've been stalling).  I got the footstrap insert slots routed out on the new 4'8" wing foiling board.  This was not hard - new builds are easier compared to repairs.

Speaking of repairs - Marvin asked if I could flip the footstrap inserts on a board he bought used.  He also asked if I could fill in the heel dents, fix a ding in the tail, put some anti-dent patches, and laminate a cap sheet over the whole thing.  I already fixed the tail ding.  And today, since I had the router setup, I went ahead and removed the old inserts and opened up the slots for the reinforcement blocks.

I'll fill in the voids with strips of EPS.  Tomorrow I'll epoxy the blocks into both boards and mark out where the strap inserts will go.

And lastly, I took the 32.5" Go Foil mast off the WWFB and setup the Project Cedrus 85cm mast for the Axis ART999 on the ultrashort fuselage.  With the wind forecasted to come up tomorrow, I'll be getting this setup dialed in.  I'll bring the Lift 150 Surf V2 out as well if I have enough time.

Garage Works - Early November

I've got too many projects in the garage again.  In no particular order:

1.  I need to fix the mast tracks on the NWFB

2.  I need to fix Marvin's foilboard (flip footstrap inserts, fill deck, cap sheet, fix tail ding)

3.  I need to seal the HS1532CS

4.  I need to laminate the d-cell sheets onto the 4'8" Wing Foiling Board

5.  I need to glue up the d-cell strips (to make more mast track reinforcement blocks and footstrap inserts

6.  I need to sand Kalani's wing foil board and install the leash plug and vent

7.  I need to figure out a way to remove a broken tap from the Project Cedrus mast, then drill out the old helicoil and install a new one

8.  Marvin ordered a 15" rear stabilizer (I need to grind that out of a blank)

9.  I am thinning down the rear stabilizers I previously made (they are too thick)

10. And I'm trying to think of a way to better organize the front foils 

11. Help Marlon with his new longboard

I made a conscious decision yesterday to get started on the list (and also cleaned out the garage of stuff we're going to try and sell at a community garage sale this coming Saturday, as well as taking a bunch of unneeded boxes and what nots to the convenience center - whew!!!)

Cutting out the slots for the d-cell sheeting on the 4'8" WFB

Helping Marlon foil his new longboard.

Thinning out the thickness of the rear stabilizers.

And the d-cell slots all set up for epoxy.

Fixing the tail ding in Marvin's board (I'm going to have to template this one...)

And first seal coat on the HS1532CS

Uuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhh.....

Epoxying In The Reinforcement Blocks on the NWFB

La and I got home from running errands, but I wasn't feeling well.  I ended up taking a nap.  After I woke up, I still had daylight so I started routing out the reinforcement block slots.  I have a vacuum hose for this laminate trimmer - this operation is pretty clean.

And even though it was dark by the time I finished I started to mix epoxy to set the blocks in place.

I'm going to have to do a little sanding on the upper right front foot strap block - it had some epoxy push out - other than that it seems like everything ended up pretty flush.

I'll get the inserts traced out on top of the blocks tomorrow morning.  I should be able to get those routed out and the blocks epoxied in before lunch - going to tow Noe's boat to Hickam tomorrow so she can sail.  Once these inserts are in, I can go ahead and start laminating the board.  I may try to surf with Marlon in the evening tomorrow - so I'll likely just layout the bottom deck fabric.  If I laminate the bottom on Monday, grind the laps and laminate the top deck on Tuesday, that will have me placing the fill coat on Wednesday, and grinding/sanding/filling/sanding until it's done.  After tomorrow this will start to look like a more finished board.

Bottom Inserts on the NWFB

After I mowed the lawn and helped La learn some carpentry, I felt compelled to get some more progress done on the Narrow Wing Foiling Board.

Measure - measure - measure - cut.

Actually came out perfect!

And I went ahead and cut out the bottom deck handle.

If the predicted south swell does not show up tomorrow, I can get these inserts epoxied in and laminate the bottom deck fabrics.

After that, I'll have to turn the board over, figure out where I'll place the footstrap inserts and route out the holes for the divynicell blocks.  Lots of work still to follow - but this is always the most critical step (so it's all downhill from here).

Last Steps Before Glassing

I worked on the 4'6" yesterday and today.  Yesterday I faired in the slots for the track mount reinforcement blocks, cut out the carbon patches for the bottom of the slots, and dropped them in with epoxy (4.4 oz per box - probably only 3.0 oz stayed in place after squeeze out).

Today I sanded down the excess reinforcement block and sloppy epoxy work.  Then I measured out the track alignment and re-sanded the board at 180 and 400.  I also ran the block plane over the stringer one last time.  Tomorrow I'll route out the track slots and start glassing.  I'm still debating about what the glass schedule will be -

1.  Carbon patch at the tracks, then carbon strips up the stringers.
2.  Carbon everywhere top and bottom (just like the 4'10")
3.  Partial carbon along the back half of the board top and bottom (not forward of where my front foot would rest - not needed there).

If I go with 1 or 3, I can use printed labels.  Hmmmm - decisions, decisions, decisions.