Suggestions and advice for my next builds?

General Discussion
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Hi everyone, I’m back and ready to build my next board. Actually two boards! Which is exciting and a bit intimidating. I’m living in Canada and will be moving out to Vancouver island in about three weeks. A good buddy of mine out there wants to get into surfing and I had to leave my boards in Spain so I need something to ride, plus he has a workspace we can use and we are both keen for a fun project, so we are gonna split the costs and build a couple of construction foam boards, SWEET!! 

Well, my last (which was my first) build went relatively well. I asked for advice here on this great forum and people gave me a lot of really good things to think about, some of which I implemented to great success, some of which I ignored to my detriment and failure haha. Anyhow, I learned a lot and I feel like I’m ready for my next build. Here are the details:

I can’t seem to find any blanks near vancouver island, which means shipping a blank, which means pretty expensive, which I don’t have. So I thinking of making the blanks out of EPS construction foam. If anyone knows of a place I can get blanks around vancouver island I would love to hear. However, I’m not counting on it, sooooo. Question about making an EPS blank: The last board I built I had the idea to just laminate two or three pieces of foam together and plane in the rocker, but someone on the forum here suggested that instead I cut the foam sheets into roughly rockered slabs and laminate those together. That method, which a bit more time consuming and finicky deffinitely worked a treat, and I even loved the pinstripe look of the board when finished. I’m wondering if this is the way to go again, or if anyone has another suggestion? In that vein, I’d also like to ask what type of glue should I go for when gluing EPS? The last board I built was XPS and I used polyurethane glue which worked well, but the issue I found was that it hardened quite a lot more than the foam, so when I encoutered glue joints on the edges/rails it created flat spots because the foam woud sand so much quicker than the glue, and it messed with my shape a little. Hoping to avoid that on this build. Anyone have a suggestion of what type of glue I should be looking for?

I plan to do 6/6/4 fibreglass and epoxy on both boards, but they will probably be stringerless. Do you think that will be enough? Should I consider doing stringers? Will stringers add much more strength or does it matter at all? I really don’t know, but I will deffinitely follow advice on this one because I know at least a 6’2" can be stringerless, but I don’t know about longer than that. I also am thinking about doing a fabric overlay on the deck of one or both boards. Thoughts? Is it more trouble than it’s worth or is it as simple as just basically adding another layer of cloth during glassing? 

Now for sizes and shapes. For my buddies board, he is not really a surfer at all, though we’ve been out a couple of times. He’s competent and in fairly good shape, and when we went out he rode an 8ish foot softie. I was thinking something like a 7’6" - 7’10" funboard/egg would be ideal for him. Length wise we are pretty maxed at 8 foot because that’s the longest that the foam sheets come in. When I told him that’s what I was thinking he said he was along the exact same thoughts so I feel that would be good. Do ya’ll think that would be a good place to go for a relatively inexperienced guy? He’s about 5’10" and 195 pounds. If anyone has a template or suggestion for where to find dimensions I would greatly appreciate it as well.

Now for my board. I started surfing on a 7’8" softie and I loved it. I could get into almost any breaking wave which was great. The board I ended up building was a 6’2" fish with a lot of volume and a big fat tail. I was told it was probably too much of a step for me and my skill level and to a degree that was right, but I built it anyhow cause I wanted to and it turns out I was able to catch waves on it! What a feeling standing up on a board that short, and one that I made with my own hands!!! That being said, I’m no ripper, not enough skill, too much fat on my bones, and it’s just not really my style. BUUUUUUTTT I do want to be able to carve a few turns if I can. The waves I’ll be riding on Vancouver island will mostly be better than a really good day in Barcelona, so I figure even though I haven’t surfed in like six months I should still be able to get away with something under 7 foot. What I’m really thinking is something like a 6’9" big fish. I know I know, I probably should just go with an egg, keep it simple, and enjoy surfing, but I love the look of a fish and that means something to me. I am open to suggestions though, I would love to hear the experienced thoughts of those who inhabit this forum. I want to experiment with this board a little too. Maybe try some contouring on the bottom, maybe even throw some channels in there, why the heck not?? I know I know, cause It’s harder than it looks and I’ll probably screw it up and it will make the glassing a nightmare. I know, but I might just try. Should I really avoid it, or should I give in to my desire for experimentation and suffer the consequences?

 

Please tell me learned boardsmiths. I crave your wisdom and advice. 

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Lots of stuff going on in your post so I won’t attempt to address them all.  

 

I think it’s great that you’re embracing the “built - not bought” look.   Just the fact that you’re building your own will add to how you experience surfing the board - it’s your vision, made with your own two hands.   

I think that the glue lines you’re adding to the blank will provide all the rigidity you need, although it might also be adding weight.   If you’re in Canada then you might be able to score some thicker panels, which means less gluing.   If you want to go longer than 8ft that shuld be readily doable with your method  - just stagger the panels so they aren’t all sharing the same seam.   

An egg will be more versatile and easier to ride in a wider range of conditions than a fish.  Easier to glass, too.   

Now that you’ve completed a board you should be working to refine the symmetry of your shapes and shooting for that nice curve (without any flat spots), and working to refine your foils.  The more time and effort you spend on laying out and cutting and sanding on your template the better your outcome once you transfer that outline onto your blank.   It takes as long as it takes.  If you spend 4 hours working on your template until you get it just the way you want it then that’s time well spent.   You’re not on the clock - there’s no reason for you to feel like you have to hurry.   The pros need to make a living, so time is money to them and efficiency counts.  But us backyarders have all the time we need to do what we do.   You’ll get faster as you develop your eye and come to a better understanding of what you want out of your shapes.   

Start spending your time looking at how other shapers do their boards.  And not just the type of board you want to do, either - look at all different types of boards for how they do their outlines, how they do their foils, what shapes they use for their rails, where they set their fins.    You might not have use right now for something you see someone else doing, but it might come in handy later on when you’re doing something different of your own.  

 

 

 

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Oh yeah, and don’t lose sight of the fact that a board doesn’t have to be perfect to be fun.  Even mistakes can be a be a lot of fun to surf and can teach you something about your surfing.   

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Thanks so much gdaddy for all the advice and encouragement! I am in canada and I’ve noticed you can get foam panels up to 3 inches thick here which is great! I’ll try to go for those if I can find them and the budget allows, but probably end up going with 2 inch thick panels. I was thinking about how to go longer than 8 foot and the method you mentioned came to mind, good to know that can work, thanks! Really good advice to look at all types of boards and shapers too, are there any you would recommend? I’d love to check out some youtube videos but don’t really know where to start. Thanks again for the advice and encouragement!

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With shaping and glassing vids I don’t think it much matters where you start.  You’re just looking to see how other people do it.   

The thing you want to remember is that someone who has shaped or glassed 1000 or 5000 or 10000 boards is going to have developed a groove that a noob cannot hope to emulate to any significant degree.   The 1-hour shape or the 8-minute lamination is going to be beyond your grasp.  (mine, too).  The smart thing to do is to adapt your process and your pacing to your skill level.  If it takes you 8 hours to get your shape then that’s fine.  You’ll get faster as you develop your skills.    If you have to do a larger percentage of your shaping with a sanding block so as to avoid accidentally taking too much off with a planer then that’s fine.  Your planing skills and technique will improve with practice and experience.   If you have to mix more resin to do your lamination or you have to reduce the amount of catalyst in order to provide yourself more working time then that’s fine.  

Take your time.  Perfect each step as best you can.  Don’t even look at the clock.   

 

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Yeah that’s great advice man, thanks again. I started watching some videos on youtube last night and it’s incredible how quickly some of the pros cn make a board absolutely perfect! I was thinking that exact same thing, I could probably get close to that finish, but I would just take a really really long time. That’s ok, I’ve got time :slight_smile:

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Dude dont know if you are still looking for Blanks. Swell Composites located in Richmond has them at a really good price!!! Email Kelly