Getting Back on the Horse...

I had to tear down the glassing work station before Hurricane Lane made its approach to the islands.  And I just got it back up last night.

And since I was out in the garage, I also got a few other related projects started - 

These are the shaping racks

And these are the mast track reinforcement blocks.  Lots more work still required to get a foil board up and running... but hey - this is a long weekend!!!

Bench Sander and Scroll Saw Day

Yesterday afternoon I put in more time to getting pieces and parts lined up.  I used the bench sander to get the kitefoil front wing and two fuselages roughed in.

I tried sanding down the reinforcement blocks (for the mast tracks) with the bench sander, but it was taking longer than I wanted.  I cleared the scrolled saw (serves as a garage shelf when not in immediate use) and set it up to trim the blocks.  It worked perfectly!

Next steps here (as this now makes 5 concurrent projects) are using the random orbital sander to fair in the foil parts, and using the plunge router to clear a void for the mast track boxes to fit in.

Jumping Around

Traffic on the way home has been really bad this week.  That is limiting what effort I can put into the foil.  But I did manage to do some work on it yesterday, as well as some other related projects.  First up was trimming some lumber to become fuselages for the kitefoil.

Since I had the miter saw out, I went ahead and cut a 1/4" dowel in 1.5" pieces for joining the fuselage-mast-base plates together.  And I also cut the d-cell planks to the size required for use as reinforcement blocks for the mast track boxes.

Here they are - enough for five boxes (I'll need to make another set shortly - I've got three boards planned out - but this is easy compared to sanding out the foil parts).

And lastly, I downloaded Aku Shaper to pump out some new templates.  I've got a 5'2" and a 5'6" already templated!

There are times when I think it would be easier and faster if I just went to the surf shop and bought a foil board and a foil.  But then I remember I get to teach two kids how to make boards, about composites, and then we all get to ride boards that we made with our own two hands.  That is why I'm doing this.

Made Some More Progress on the Foil

I broke out the bench sander and blew through the last of the bulk sanding.  On the fuselages I got the tail upcuts and the noses rounded out. 

Then I shifted over to getting the tail wings roughed in.

All of this work actually went very quickly.  I think I stuck a 30 grit belt on the sander the last time I used it.  And the horsepower in the motor - doesn't stop or bind for anything!  I really should have done this earlier.  I'll use the plugged random orbital sander this week to get the shapes all dialed in.  That'll get me in position to start laminating sometime in the next couple of weeks.

More Rough Shaping

I had a couple of hours to work on the foils yesterday. 

I knocked out a couple of rear wings and struts before my belt split.  And for all you tool geeks out there - this is a handy device to dimension out your projects -

Slowly Getting Ready for the Build

Marlon and I went surfing on Saturday morning.  The surf was small and the tide was high - not a good combination for conventional equipment.  That got me thinking I need to get a hydrofoil completed.  I got a third of a step closer - I cut out one of three main wings using the scroll saw.

I'm going to cut out the other two this evening - I'll use a jigsaw with a new blade.  I think I need more time on the scroll saw before I use it for finish work - possibly more tension on the blade to make it more responsive to the turning wood?  Anyways - nothing a good sander can't handle ;)

The Start of Something New

Or perhaps a better way to classify this is "A new way of doing an old thing"

 I'm getting ready to take a new look at surfing and SUP. I'll keep this mysterious for now...

Checking Out UH Manoa

I know these past several posts have diverged somewhat from the 'amphibious' nature of this blog - but with all our focus on plants and plantings, that's what we've been doing. On that note, here's another. UH Manoa was having a open house yesterday and La and I wanted to bring Marlon and Noe to checkout the programs, the campus and life for college students. Lots of booths with students and instructors super willing to discuss their programs. And the best part of the open house (according to the kids) was the Biology Department - because they had chameleons. And lots of cool plants and trees (UH Manoa has always had cool trees)! Cannonball Tree And I enjoyed more what this University does best - Hawaiian cultural endeavors. Makes me want to make some hand tools.

Re-use Hawaii

Reduce - reuse - recycle.  And hang cool nautical signs.

I checked this place out because I'm thinking of building a few tables from reclaimed wood.  Cool place with lots of well priced recycled items.