Building Boards is Not All Blood, Sweat and Tears...

It's also some desk jockey computer work.  Gotta have cool labels on your boards.  Note the "Flying Pig"

And you also have to design the templates for your boards.

This template is for a 4'6" kitefoil board that I'll cut out of plywood, glass and then slap on the kite foil I just started working on.  Now I have to cut out some rice paper and run these through La's inkjet printer.

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.

August 12, 2018 Dawn Patrol

The swell was still pushing energy in this morning.  From reading a bit more, this swell seems to be leftover Hector energy???  Maybe the back side of the storm... in any case - FUN WAVES on the dawn patrol!!!

I did bring out the Greedy Beaver this morning.  I also changed out the Vector Futures for glass Eric Arakawas.  The board completely changed for me with the new fins - drive and carve - so nice...  Proof that simplifying things is often the better option - that or since I've been surfing this template for a very long time, it just works better for me.

I caught a bunch in the middle break in front of the MWR building side.  This board is definitely not a standard, conventional shortboard.  With it's wide nose, straight rails, wide hips and rounded pin tail, this is pretty much everything I love about a great longboard - just in a shorter package for days where you don't want to have the extra length.  If I haven't said it before, I LOVE THIS BOARD!!!!

Fuselage Sanded and an Afternoon Session to Clean off the Grime

Saturday we had a busy morning helping some folks with digging some agave and cactus out of the ground - I've got the arm welts to prove it.  I was targeting an afternoon surf session with Marlon, so I figured I should get even grimier before going.  I added more sweat and fiberglass dust from sanding the fuselage down to the dried up sweat, dirt and blood from moving agave.

Next step is to glass the top of the mounting plate and then get the mast attached.  With this step done -surf!!!  I'm not sure where the swell came from but it was over head and a blast!!!!  I got more than a few really great waves and got to pull some fast large arc sweeping turns and speed runs along long walls - so much fun!  If I had known there was swell, I would have brought the Greedy Beaver - but the TJ Everyday wasn't overpowered so it's all good.

I also got a gyotaku printed - but that's another blog....

Friday Evening Work on the Foils

Friday evening I had Marlon pour the bead around the bottom of the fuselage.  

And when all that was done, I started laying out the kite foil wing.

The project list is long - no being bored around here.

Friday Dawn Patrol

I have to take Noe to an orthodontist appointment this morning so I took the day off work.  And since there is a bunch of time between Noe's appointment and when I woke up, I got Marlon out of bed for a post-Hurricane Hector dawn patrol.

The waves most likely weren't from Hector - seemed like background energy filtering in.  Small but still fun!  And much better than sitting in traffic trying to get to work ;)  I love surfing!!!

Glassing the Top of the Fuselage on the Surf Hydrofoil

This evening, Marlon and I continued making progress on getting the surf hydrofoil completed.  We cut out the glass for the tops of the fuselage and the base plate.

I've actually been dreading glassing this piece - too many curves.  But with some relief cuts it sat well on the nose and we got it done.

I'll try and get back out tonight to trim the excess glass with a razor blade - way easier than letting the epoxy fully cure and sanding/grinding it down.

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.

Commitment

Against my better judgment, I have just become committed to shaping two prone foil boards.  This is a 11'2" (Model B) 1.5# density EPS blank from Fiberglass Hawaii.  The darn thing barely fit inside the Odyssey.

My plan is to split it right in half and shape something between 5'0" and 5'6".  Probably going for 3.5" thick and flat as I can possibly get it.  22" to 23" wide.  These boards are only to get the foil lifting, so paddling speed and release from the water surface are the design targets.  The thickness and width are such that paddling speed is maximized (planning surface, minimized rocker and overall volume), and squared off rails will enhance release.

Now I need to build a couple of shaping racks and grab a couple of buckets of sand...

Monday's Progress on the Foil

I was able to sand down the base plate and the mast.  I did it around 5:30 in the afternoon... should have waited as it was freak'n HOT.

Afterwards I took a close look at the d-cell glue-ups.  Everything looked good.  Eat dinner, clean up and then around 9 pm I had the urge to epoxy the two planks together so I could get to cutting and sanding these blocks down.  Marlon helped and we did the calculations to determine how much epoxy to mix (6.7 mixed, with 18 spoons of milled fibers).

I'll break out the sliding chop saw and the bench sander this afternoon to get these boxes all faired in and ready for inserting the mast track boxes.  This project is turning into a lot of work... I just realized I'm going to have to make a couple of shaping racks - yeah, a LOT more work (but Marlon is learning so technically this is a course, and it is fun work - it's all good!)

This Guy -

Jason Glover was the first person that showed me how to mix polyester resin, fill a surfboard ding, and how to fair it in with a Random Orbital Sander.  Almost 20 years later, getting together is just like we hadn't seen each other since yesterday!

Time can and will go by, but for some friends that doesn't really matter!  Looking forward to the next time Jase!!!

Slow Progress on the Surfing Hydrofoil this Weekend

I didn't have much time this weekend to devote to progress on the hydrofoil, but Marlon and I did move the needle forward a little.  Got the base plate and mast cleaned up.

Here the bead has been poured along the leading and trailing edges.

Then got the divynicell strips epoxied together (base structure for the mast track box reinforcements).  Marlon is learning the sequence to mixing epoxy (he even corrected me about re-taring the scale before adding hardener - I'm going to have to give him credit for a composite material course - HEY I'M A HOMESCHOOL TEACHER!!!

Next step here will be to cut the two groupings into the near final top to bottom dimension.  Then trim the unused sides off.  Finally epoxying the top and bottom pieces together.  Then I can drop in the mast track boxes.  I've got enough d-cell here to make 2 sets of 2 boxes (enough for 2 foil boards).

Linking the last post with this one, I have a big, wide SUP blank coming in.  Originally I was planning on making two prone foil boards with the blank - one at 5'2" and the other at 5'5".  After looking around the Kailua shops and a little on the internet, I'm rethinking the plan -

I may now go ahead and make a 5'2" (or even a 5'0" - after the learning curve, most people are converging on shorter prone boards - I still want a board that has float to make catching waves easy, but now I'm thinking the shorter the better since I'm going through all the effort to make a foil board from scratch).  But the second board can likely be a 6'0", as wide as possible foiling SUP/Windsurf Foiling board.  I'm comfortable now with placing a mast track in the top deck, and am not apprehensive about the boxes that would need to get dropped into the bottom deck for to support the foil - so why not???  Inexpensive option to get to try out the "holy grail" I was referring to earlier...  It's is at least worth the thought...

Foil Research

Checked out the Kailua shops on Saturday...

Meanwhile at the Naish Shop, they had some of the 2019 equipment in stock.  The combo SUP/SUP Foil/Windsurf Foil boards really caught my attention... One board, two foils, and my old windsurfing gear - and I can cover everything - is this the holy grail of windsports????

This is the Large Surfing Foil 

This is the XL Surfing Foil (downwinders on a shortboard, surfers over 200 pounds)

This is the Windsurfing Foil

And the tail of the Large Surf Foil

Things that Make Kailua Kailua

I've been driving past this fence for the better part of almost 25 years. 

Hauling a 7th Hull

The kids had a couple of regattas this weekend and I hauled the boats to Kaneohe.  There was a need for a 7th hull for the Saturday race and the team didn't want to pull a second trailer - Super Truck to the rescue!!!!

I finally got a chance to rig up the double hitch receiver and the Thule Goalpost Hitch Rack!

The setup worked, but since the rack was now subject to the motions of the trailer (both connected to the dual receiver), I did notice some lateral motion in the rear rack.  Not a big deal, but something to be aware of if you plan on using a similar setup.

Everything else was as normal - great teamwork and an enjoyable day of sailing (for everyone but me - I ended up doing some hydrofoil research and helping at the CSSH Plant Show - but those are separate blog entries).

On the way back I ended up bringing the 7th hull back and the motion issue was not there - confirms the trailer was the variable.