My son texted me the other day to tell me he had a present for me. No special occasion, he was pretty stoked. This morning he stopped by with a 1969 (transition-era) Channin Diffenderfer for me. It’s a 7’4" (or so), minus the last couple inches of a once rounded pintail that was blunted and glassed-over sometime long ago.
The Waveset box has been updated, but a with box made of fiberglass, which I’m not sure if i have seen before… It takes a standard single, but is not molded lexan or whatever the hell fin boxes are made of. There are almost no real dings, save for a million heel dents (and knee wells!!! I can’t imagine knee paddling this!), and the foam is remarkably bright. What a beauty. My son knows I have a thing for the transition boards, and he brought me a nice one!
I am posting a couple pictures simply to share. I’m not seeking info on the board or anything, just showing off this well-preserved artifact for others to enjoy. Some time ago I posted a Surf Systems Dart II (same era), and picked Bill Thrailkill’s brain a little for historical data. It launched an interesting education in a chapter of surf history for me, and Bill filled in the blanks on the origin of that (also sick!) board. Thought it might be fun for some of you to see…
Post a better pic of the finbox. It doesn’t look like there was ever a Waveset box in the board, but a better pic would show what you are getting at.
The earliest Fins Unlimited style version 3 boxes were made of fiberglass. Gordon and Smith were the first to use them and here is the first ad ever published with that system. It is a two page ad. This was in late 1969. Your board fits that time frame.
Yeah I’ll snap a better photo this evening. The reason I assumed it had a Waveset originally is that the “new” fiberglass box is retrofitted into a slot that would be the size of a Waveset. It is almost impossible to see in the photo I provided, but there is light colored fill around the white box. I have come across a few boards now with the same "big slot, regular box, but this is the first box made of fiberglass that I have ever seen. I can’t imagine how they made those, I guess in halves??? Anyway, thanks for posting that ad and the info! I put up a way better picture tonight!
Yeah I’ll snap a better photo this evening. The reason I assumed it had a Waveset originally is that the “new” fiberglass box is retrofitted into a slot that would be the size of a Waveset. It is almost impossible to see in the photo I provided, but there is light colored fill around the white box. I have come across a few boards now with the same "big slot, regular box, but this is the first box made of fiberglass that I have ever seen. I can’t imagine how they made those, I guess in halves??? Anyway, thanks for posting that ad and the info! I put up a way better picture tonight!
Tony Channin was one of the earliest board manufacturers to use the early Bahne boxes. Tony’s glass shop was on 15th in Del Mar and Diff was rarely in San Diego County let alone in Del Mar. All those people knew each other back then and Tony glassed blanks for a variety of shapers. That’s a 70’s board at earliest, but a nice find. Probably never met Mike Diffenderfer, but still cool. L
PS—Hard to see that #, but guessing that is a 69. Which would be reasonable to assume, as round tailed Eggs and similar shapes were very popular. In 69 I had a couple of Hamel Surfboards “Eggs” shaped by Ron Cunningham that we’re very similar. They had early Bahne boxes in them with hand foiled fiberglass fins. 69 and 70 everything in San Diego County had Bahne boxes with exception of some glass ons. I rode up to Tony’s factory a couple of times to deliver shaped blanks. Pretty much everything in there had Bahne boxes. I bought materials a couple of times from Mitch in La Jolla and bought Bahne boxes to go in . That was 69—70. So 69 makes absolute sense. That’s a good template to copy. La
Yeah sorry I thought I posted better pics that Sammy A asked, but I must have done something wrong. Yes, it is a '69 that is penciled there. Very, very similar to the Surf Systems Dart II, so I would have assumed as much. It is pretty heavily bellied throughout, culminating in a fairly distinct V out. But yeah, cool glass box, hopefully these pics are better (and I can manage to post them), you can see whatever original box was in there was considerably larger. I assumed Waveset, but I don’t know the other systems that used that big-ass box. I think I have seen others and ASSUMED they were Waveset! Anyway, here’s a closer look. Thanks for the input, guys. I know these boards aren’t on most people’s radar, I just like them.
Certainly looks like the box was replaced. My guess is it had an older Fins Unlimited box at first. Probably the Vari-set, which was the second gen FU.
Sure wasn’t a Waveset box, as those are quite a bit larger overall. Here’s a pic where someone modded an FU box and glassed it into a waveset. Note that the outer width of a Waveset is 2"
Yes, I see what you mean. Even with the shitty picture, you knew what you were looking at! Thanks for the keen observation. There were aparently more removable fin systems being developed at that time than I was aware of. A friend of mine bought a Hobie Positive Force transition board a few years ago, and the Waveset fin was destroyed. It was was dry and powdery, would almost crumble in your hand. After pricing some replacements, I opted to make one. I’m not sure if I would do it again. but the result was not terrible. I used a wood core and lined the box with foil to act as a “mold” for cabosil base…
Honestly most boards that I have encountered from this era have SOME sort of upgrade, some better than others! i’m sure you can see from the pics that this Channin / Diffenderfer will need a little finbox attention. Likely I will patch over the existing job and call it good!
