Megashreadzilla Progress

Yes I know I have slowed down...

Work has been distracting me -

Well, I have started to regain my focus and...

The bamboo veneer has got it's coat of 4 oz glass and epoxy resin.

I'll trim the bamboo to shape (with the template just recently finished) and vac bag it on to the top deck tomorrow afternoon.

So hold on to your horses and use some breathing techniques - good things come to those who wait!

Hawaiian Sailing Canoes

I don't know what it is about sailboats with multiple hulls - they are just so darn alluring...

I saw my first Hawaiian Sailing Canoe in person back in the summer of 2000. That had a profound effect on me that is still making me think I need two more kids (to fill the 6 man crew requirements of a full on canoe).

Back then I was hard into surfing bigger waves, kiting whenever the trades were willing and starting prone paddleboarding and the canoe crewing idea faded away quickly.

To this day I still feel drawn to these watercraft - knowing their place in history and their significance in human achievement - navigation of the Pacific and migration of sea-going humans across the vast open ocean. AWESOME!

The Weta is looking more and more like a done deal for Team Velasco...

More to follow -

Laminates ready

These are for the bottom of megashreadzilla.

A trident for each side of the board and the Hawaiian for "stand up and paddle" for the center.

I've cut out the bamboo laminate template and (if the kids get to sleep soon) will laminate the fiberglass backing tonight. Tomorrow at the latest.

San-O Field Trip

I spent the day down at San-O.

I had a crew working doing some training, but if you look closely you'll see something else cool...

The SUPers were ripping it up! I saw a few Hobie CP Stingers and a couple of PSH All-Arounders being ridden at Dogpatch.

Have I said I love my job???... ;)

Green - Green - Green

Painted blanks!

Touch up coats tomorrow...

Minishreadzilla on top

Megashreadzilla on bottom - in case you couldn't tell

Final preps

Megashreadzilla (bottom two photos) and minishreadzilla (top two photos) are final sanded to 400 grit, sealed with spackle and have their stringers taped up.

I couldn't help myself this afternoon - the sunlight coming in and hitting the boards just right makes them glow! Seriously - they do glow. Alright - I'm digging another hole here aren't I... waxing prophetic

Today is the last day these boards will be stark white. Went to Michaels tonight to get extra acrylic paint in case I run low - tomorrow is PAINTING DAY!!!

Other weekend happenings

No pictures on this post -

1. Saturday morning. It had been almost two weeks since I had been surfing - had to get out. Didn't want to pay for parking so I took the Walden SUP to the north jetty at Silver Strand. Pathetic surf (but that's what SUPs for eh?). Stayed out for a couple of hours and milked the place until the tide started to fill in again.

2. Saturday afternoon. I took the kids to the new "Pirate Park" at Oxnard Beach Park. Really neat playground sets (it's probably their 10th time there). Afterwards they demanded gummy bears for an afternoon snack - so we went to my office to raid the secret stash. Since we were there, I figured I'd get the two foamies ready for painting (so I can catch up to my students). Sanded the spackle off both boards with 240 screen and finished off with 400 over everything. I wore latex gloves the whole time - finger oils at this stage in the game start to show up and spoil everything. Finished off by taping the stringer and tracing a template for the bamboo veneer.

3. Sunday morning. Knowing it was high tide early this morning, I opted to take the 12'6" Racing SUP out to gets some mileage in as training for the upcoming events. There was some close period swell coming in from the NW (windswell) and some larger (shoulder high) longer period swell from the south. Not much wind at all but the swell made it interesting. I used my Greenough Stage 6 fin to see if that configuration made a difference in tracking. Saw all kinds of aquatic life - seals, sea lions, sardines (everywhere), pelican squadrons surfing the incoming swells (ground effect - awesome!), cormorants, and a few sea skimmers.

4. The family went to Roxbury's Diner for brunch. Pigged out - kanakattack hit at 1300 (food induced sleep coma).

Fun weekend!!!

Rocker Table Progress

Foam is faster.

Foam is easier.

Foam can be ultra satisfying.

But wood - ahhh glorious wood! Alive (still motile with the variances in humidity, flexes and rebounds when loaded, and did I say beautiful... nothing intrigues like wood) even when encased in resin and fiberglass.

Well - that goal keeps me moving (even if it is slow as molasses).

Started shimming the rocker table late this afternoon. I need to cut some of the shimms to handle the reverse foiling (as laid out on the frames - don't ask me I'm just following directions), so I should be finished tomorrow with this step.

I'll have to cut the rough outline from the bottom planks soon too. Then onto gluing the frame to the bottom plank.

So to close all this rambling, foam is fun, but wood is a labor of love.

Nick's SUP

My friend Nick (stationed in Hawaii) recently finished up his latest project - Big Bird!

He builds all his boards using vacuum bags and multiple foam density layups - composite sandwich methods from the windsurfing industry. Swaylocks has the techniques described well enough to get anyone on their way - Nick has already diverged on to his own path with Big Bird (different rail wrap on this one).

That's the cool thing about board construction - 1000 ways to skin that cat!!!

Final Shaping and Painting

The board shaping class continues.

Two boards have been painted. The last one in the current group is fine sanding now.

Graphic labels need to emerge from inkjet printers (probably early next week) and then sometime mid-next week, we'll have a field trip to Fiberglass Hawaii (in Ventura) to buy finboxes, fiberglass and resin.

As far as the two I'm working on - I spackled them yesterday. The EPS SUP needed it - some chunks missing just because it's EPS, but a few other areas that needed filling. I just touched up the polyurethane 6'7" for the heck of it since I had extra spackle.

I still have to make a template for the bamboo veneer, laminate the bamboo, trim to the template, paint the bottom and rails, bag the bamboo to the top deck, place all the boxes and plugs and finally glass the rest of the board. Sounds like work, but in reality, it's tremendously therapeutic.

Promotion

I just came back from San Diego where I visited with some of my troops and I had the distinct honor and privilege of promoting my senior enlisted leader - Senior Chief Koelbel - to Master Chief.

In what is seeming to be the new standard, the pinning ceremony was conducted underwater. The bay was 62 degrees, so we wore 7mm wetsuits beneath the camouflage uniforms.

This is a great way to recognize the achievements of a great American hero!

Hoo-Yah Master Chief Koelbel!!!

Take me to your leader...

A nearly complete SUP.

The bottom picture shows the concave under the wide part of the board (where I'll be standing while paddling). The middle picture shows the double barrels spinning off the center concave. This actually looks very similar to the 6'7" I finished earlier - knowing that, I'm definitely going to play the paint schemes off each other - twinkie green boards - shredzilla and minishredzilla.

When boards are in this state - nearly finished shaping, but still not painted or glassed, they look like alien spaceships straight out of the movies (a B movie at that). At least they do to me.

"We come in peace (but little do you puny earthlings know we are here to totally shred your waves - hahahaha!!!)"

I'll be templating the flats on the top deck (anything not railed) so I can work on the bamboo veneer top and spackling.

Stay tuned....

60-180-240 Passes Done

This was today's labor fruits.

The nose is really good - a little down rail on the nose, but still foiled to a point. It was a little hard to get to this point but it was worth it.

The tail was easier. And as I said earlier - the ROS made short work of the excess bulk on the tail that was bugging me so much. Annoying - yet strangely satisfying to microplane it away with the ROS. Hypnotic. . . . . .

Next up is spackling to fill the accidental pits and the voids opened by the shaping process.

Microplane Equipped ROS

Well here it is -

The label on the package said "Prepare to love sanding again".

Well, I never got to the point where I didn't love sanding to begin with, so this actually made me love sanding even more!!!

Seriously - if you own a ROS - you need one of these. The catch bag on my DeWalt fills up so quick and the cutting time is greatly reduced.

I love sanding!!!

Getting closer

Since the last posting, I have put in another 4 hours spread out over 3 days. Mostly thinning out the nose and tail and fine tuning the rails - using a microplane equipped random orbital sander (ROS) and dragon skin. The ROS makes quick work out of removing excess bulk and making concaves (under foot and a double barrel through the tail).

These pictures show the board before today.