Garage Works - 8/2/2026

I had some time yesterday morning and I got No.44 through the fine sanding.  I got rid of two patches where there was subtle asymmetry.

One was on the starboard side back of the top deck.  The other was on the port side of the nose on the bottom deck.

And this morning I had Marlon help me route out the slot for the track block.

Here it is dry fitted.

Nice and tight!!!

And I got the top slot cut out for the polyurethane block (used to get the track block a direct connection to the top deck).

And I kept plowing forward - both blocks are gorilla glued in place.

I'll let the glue harden overnight.  Once that is done, I'll trim off the excess, get both sides faired in and start preparing the laminates.

My guess is that I'll be sanding fill coat by next weekend.

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 - 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.

Garage Works - 3/5/2026

I sanded the carbon lamination this afternoon on Roland's board modification job.

Then I used acetone to clean the surface in preparation for a fill coat.

I used 2.5 + 1 ounces of epoxy to get the fill evenly spread

And I let it bake in the sun for a good setup.  It came out pretty nice!

I'll do another sanding and possibly one last fill (tinted???) depending how this fill coat comes out.

And I brought the next project out - this is the prospective tow boogie (Foil Drive based).

I identified the center line and eyeballed where the track block would best fit the rocker line of the board.

This is pretty similar to the footstrap insert installation I just finished - measure and mark where the slot will go, cut out the slot, glue in the block making sure there are no voids in the sides, then do a light sanding and laminate.  From there I'll route out the slot and this old board will have new purpose and will likely see a whole lot of action coming up -

Installing a handle in the back, I can use it to ferry me out to the offshore breaks.  And I can add a bungee net up top - towards the front to pack away a tow rope and a windowpane lead anchor.

I'll have to go through another learning curve, but using it as a tow boogie is an easy call.

I can use it as a powered boogie board also - 

On flat days I can use it to drag me out on a longboard with fishing gear and a cooler.

I am pretty eager to get this upcoming project done and across the finish line.

Garage Works - 1/17/2026

I recently sold one of my 5'6" Sweet Potato boards so I could pick up this Machadocado.

I cleaned up the board of wax and the deck pad from the previous owner.

Then I got this Firewire 2+1 deck pad placed on.  I kept it under the soft dive weights for several hours to make sure it has a good start in it service life.

Same liters as the Sweet Potato, but 4" longer.

The bottom contours remind me of the Seaside and Beyond - just more extreme.

The tail is really thin on this board - should make things really interesting.

I also cleaned up a Dakine 6'0" thruster board bag, and got the Hayden Shapes Hypto Krypto nicely tucked away in it (no pictures of this).

Then I cleaned up the fill on No.43, did the last of the fine sanding, taped over the track slots and cut the reinforcing carbon tape.  I was going to laminate the board today, but decided on cooking dinner instead. 

And while cooking dinner, I took the opportunity to put together the Zip Pod I got for the Evolution Cedrus Surf mast.

I'll test it tomorrow morning to see how it feels compared to the regular Foil Drive mast pod.

Working on these projects is pretty darn therapeutic.

Garage Works - 1/4/2026

Lots of rain today.  La and Noe and I ran some errands - but when we got home, I got more work done on No.43

Marked up the blank for where the top deck foam block (glued to the top of the reinforcement block for a direct connection) would go.

Then I routed out the reinforcement block slot.

Followed by the top deck block slot.

Here's the blank with the two slots cut in.

Mast Track Block gets glued in first -

Followed by the top deck block.

Picture of the top deck block getting glued in.

Tomorrow (or whenever I get to work on the board again) I'll plane off the excess top deck block foam, do the final fine sanding (to blend in the two blocks), and get the foot strap inserts prepared.

If all goes well, I'll be laminating by this weekend.