I’m closing in on 70 and my knees refused to cooperate quite some years ago. Short of knee replacement or extensive effective physical rehab, I’m pondering getting on a paipo again. I had a variety (mostly kneeboards) in 1970-1974 and rode much of the North Shore with them. Imagine a clean head high day at Pipe with less than 15 guys in the water…
But nowadays, I mostly don’t miss it UNTIL there’s a nice swell in Town, and it’s been quite the summer with among other things, the biggest swell in some 15 years. I’m getting antsy and with retirement looming I need something to occupy the mind and body. Maybe even the soul.
So I’m disturbing the electrons on AutoCAD but 3D is beyond me. I remember and dabbled with akushaper, but really all I need is a planshape (which I have) and I’m good to go. Result of which is that I have something that embodies my recall of my first reshape of a broken Surfboards Makaha. Kind of a thumb planshape, with wide and thickest points aft of center. I’ve made the mistake of putting the center of buoyancy too far forward: it plows badly when you’re paddling.
All of which leads to the question: where’s the best source for a slab of foam 5’x22", EPS or PU, in Honolulu? Stringerless okay, I have a bandsaw and two hands. I’m aware of Ted Wilson’s shop in Kalihi (Fiberglass Hawaii) and in Wahiawa (US Blanks), and am looking at the 5’10" RP in their catalog. Then there’s Pacific Allied Products for EPS foam billets, much larger than I want to get into. Anyone got another source, or a billet you could hotwire from?
I’m glassed dozens of boards from minis to tandems with poly, but would be okay using epoxy on EPS. Still have a partial roll of 6 oz x 27" Hexcell glass. I’ll cut and insert my own stringers to create custom rocker if need be, might actually prefer that.
I’d prefer to avoid the pink stuff at Home Despot/Lowes and local availability requires it would have to be pieced together.
It’s hard to find EPS in Honolulu now. What thickness are you looking at. Home Depot and Lowes sell XPS in 4’ x 8’ x 2" sheets. HD sells Corning pink XPS and Lowes may still be selling Dow blue XPS. The last time I saw EPS at Lowes it was too soft.
You could contact Allied Pacific and see what a small chunk of EPS costs. They used to cut custom sizes, and they used to cut surfboard slabs if you had the computer coordinates. They got rid of their supply of surfboard blanks several years ago.
Fiberglass Hawaii would have regular blanks and the high density PU sheet foam, but I think they are either 2’ wide or 4’ wide and 8’ long.
I got my balsa from the widow of a RC airplane builder. He had a heck of a lot of balsa in every imaginable shape and size. I still have wood from that purchase, mostly the thicker wood, like 1/2" thick or bigger, and the shapes that can’t be used for boards. Other wise, I used to buy it from National Balsa.
If you don’t mind gluing up smaller pieces the way I’m doing some of my boards now, I still have EPS from coolers I was getting in the mail. Largest pieces are about 11" x 2" thick almost square, and many that have been cut into 2" or 3" wide pieces. I have some Blue XPS that is about 12" x 12" x 2", and maybe 10" x 10" x 2"
The closest thing I’ve seen in the store is XPS that is 4’ x 2’ x 1" but it is the pink Corning foam.
Several years ago when they closed the walking path at Diamond Head, I made a few foam Paipos. I had surgery and was out of the water for a couple months, so I thought I’d try paipos to get back in the water. Man I forgot how hard it was using my old duck fins, and my feet were so sore from the fins being a little too narrow. I made a Paipo nui style, and then a small narrow one, then a thicker one. The paipo nui and the narrow one are about a half inch thick and barely float me, the thicker one is about an inch thick. The narrow one was the best. I had a hard time turning on the paipo nui style board. I couldn’t get the edge to stick, so I didn’t have control. The narrow one was so much fun, I could get barreled in the small waves and the edge would hold enough to keep me going. It’s basically very straight, very little curve in the oultine and a rounded off nose.
I made the paipo nui after seeing one at Barry Morrison’s Interisland shop on Kapahulu. It’s Cippy’s old shop.
Should have mentioned my intent is thickness around 2" max, tapering thinner up front. Relatively more thickness at the back is needed to float me, and yet be duck-dive-able.
Looks like Lowes wants $30 for 1’ x 4’ x 8’ sheet of pink Owens Corning, if I cut it in half and make a 2" thick slab, it’ll be short.
Then there’s blue Dow foam, 2" x 4’ x 8’ for $50 (more than expected) which would serve with a good deal left over. It’s faced on both sides, another negative. Home Depot sells this for $44… maybe I can get Lowes to honor their price match minus 10%, that would leave me at $40.
I gotta call Fiberglass Hawaii and check their price for the 5’10"RP. If I’m lucky I can pick up a 2nd quality at some discount. I’ve shaped a lot of seconds and never had trouble with them. Maybe too, they have slab foam though I haven’t seen it anywhere in decades.
Your flower print deck inlay/orange rails is something like what I’m thinking, except that I’ll use a pair of fins on it for holding on turns. Big PLUS TWO on fin sores from Duck Feet - even with a Super Extra Large pair (NLA now) I had nearly a dozen festering staph pits at one time, before I got some penicillin in me, that healed them up pretty quickly. Nowadays it’ll probably be a fatal case of MRSA or necrotizing faciitis (strep A). The things we do…
Need to go say hello to Barry, haven’t seen him in a decade or two. He used to run the WRV shop in Kaimuki, just off the corner of Koko Head Ave and Waialae, so right down the street from yours truly.
He’s either down on his luck or just cheap. Somebody on Oahu give the boy an old snapped board, a dock float, a couple old ABC Store foam coolers. Something as long as it fits his budget.
Yeah let’s see. I’m a Quaker. Please do complain! Just doing my part. A little fun and folly, even a difference in opinion my be good for the place. If I was still on Maui, I’d put a couple of those old $#!t echo techs on the barge for ya. But I couldn’t pay the shipping. I live a beans and rice lifestyle myself. Have a little fun. Like I said somebody on Oahu, help this poor guy out.
Help me out, indeed. Price for a 5"10"RP in PU at USBlanks here is $98 and there is a shortage of EPS, so availability is highly questionable. Seems I’ve been away for longer than I thought. Back when I started, a longboard blank was about $30, two guys would split the cost and we’d cut it in half.
Gotta call Pacific Allied and see how they go, or find someone with a billet.
