Garage Works - 6/28/2026

Needed to fix Kalani's Triple Seven PT Hybrid 5.7 again.  The D line pigtail was getting frayed again.  I installed and new one and encased it in vinyl tubing.

NO WAY this is going to get frayed again!

I settled on a template for the new prone foil board

I reshaped the previously broken AFS 80cm UHM mast Stu had smashed.  I'm going to have to place more epoxy slurry and do another round of shaping to get this back to 100%.

And I opened the tracks on this conversion (from tiny prone to tow boogie)

I'll add a fill coat on this, sand some more and sand again.

I also sanded the track area on the big wing board.  I didn't take pictures - but I'm preparing to laminate more carbon to cure the shifty box.

Gonna need to setup my hot wire cutter....

Garage Works - 6/16/2026

I got home from work and wanted to take a short nap.  I did get up - and had contemplated getting in a Foil Drive session - but I then figured I should just get another rest day in.

La was going to go to the Cactus and Succulent club meeting - I figured this would be a good opportunity to get the Tow Boogie conversion project closer to completion.

I had the reinforcement strips cut out from a long time ago - today I cut out the cap sheet from the basalt supply I have.

Once that was cut out and trimmed, I went back and taped over the tracks and sanded the area where I needed epoxy adhesion.

I also mixed a small batch of microbubbles infused epoxy to fill the voids in the seam around the block.

This took 6 ounces to properly cover.  There was probably an ounce on the roller and another ounce left in the mixing cup - so the epoxy to matrix ratio was about 2:1.

And the areas where I needed the fabric to unconditionally stay flat to the board, I went ahead and used the remainder of the peel ply and some batting to keep the work flat.

I'll let the cure, remove the peel ply, sand the perimeter, and add another fill coat to level out the new layer.

Even if this doesn't work as a tow boogie, it will definitely work as a tow device to get me on a shortboard out to the breaks that no one surfs - for that prospect alone I am pretty excited for this.

Garage Works - 5/31/2026

Back in the garage today to get progress on some of these projects.

I pressure tested the wing I go tasked to fix the strut bladder on.  I ran the test twice - this one is good to go!

And I looked over the Cabrinha Apollo 7m wing - the bladder has been taken out but there are no valves on the bladder.  I'll ask the guy who ordered the repair if he wants me to order the valves, or just return the kite as is.

I'll need 6 valves to get this kite repaired.

With the Apollo on the backburner, I took a look at the last kite.  This one had the leading edge bladder detached from the valve stem feeding one of the struts.

The culprit.

This one slid clean off the bladder.

Here are the two pieces all glued up.

And pressed together for gluing.  I'll let this stand for 24 hours or so and run the pressure test on this kite.

And lastly, I used the planer to get No.26 all prepared to be glassed.  I took off the excess plastic from around the new tracks.  Then I sanded the perimeter where it is likely for me to place reinforcements.

Everything is nice and level now.  I've already placed the carbon reinforcements.  I'll need to add a cap sheet of basalt.

If I can focus, this modification should be done in a couple of days.

Garage Works - 5/30/2026

Spent a little time in the garage - it's actually been a little bit...

I started with installing the AFS USurf 135 onto the Silk 850/Standard fuselage setup.  Going to take this out tomorrow to catch some bombs!!!

I took on a few repair jobs - first up is an older strut bladder repair.  I took the bladder out and found I needed to re-glue the valve stem on.

Made marks to make sure everything goes back on correctly

High strength, flexible glue on the bladder

And on the valve foot.  I got these put back together, but I'll go through the full cure before testing it.

And I even placed some epoxy - this is the tracks getting epoxied into place.

I will do some sanding to get the bottom prepared for more carbon fiber.  And I'll likely get the carbon overlays epoxied into place as well.

Garage Works - 3/11/2026

Roland came by this evening to pick up his Appletree board.

And I promptly went to work on modifying No.26 into a Tow Boogie (powered by Foil Drive).

I used the Dremel to get the outline cut out.

And I also spent some effort trying to breakdown the stringer.

I'll use the router to remove the bulk material working from the stringer area out towards the rail - twice (once on each side).

After that, this will be pretty much a repeat of most of the work I have been doing recently.

With the weather being all over the place, chances are I'll get through this project pretty quickly.

Evening Prone Foiling Session - 12/3/2025

Yesterday I went to the beach - but I had brought the Volcanic Sweet Potato hoping that it would be rideable.  Roland and Brent were there - Roland was chilling and Brent was taking a break from prone foiling.

Brent went back out and proceeded to catch three waves on some tiny breaks.  This motivated me to go and prone foil again - which I did today.

The conditions were similar to yesterday - but it seemed to be a notch smaller and the tide a bit higher.

No.24 (for it's volume), the Project Cedrus Classic Carbon mast (75cm - probably should have brought out the 68cm one with the tide the way it was), and the Progression 170

I caught 5 pretty fun rides - getting in some really good turns and getting reacquainted with the low speed glide this foil offers.

Prone foiling is definitely all about the takeoff - after that it has the same mechanics as prone foil driving (duh).  But the takeoff is probably the hardest part - especially when the waves are on the small side and the tide is lower than 0.7'

Eli came out with the Tow Boogie he recently built.

This one has a single motor and the controller is integrated into the motor - these are the differences from Jesse's setup.

He was catching waves that I would have caught using the Foil Drive - but I told him I am trying to keep surfing and prone foiling relevant in my repertoire so back to prone foiling it is!

W:58/FD:137/PW:70/S:18/PF:2