Hi ya Matty, guess the spin out at takeoff could be operator error, for sure, but its disconcerting, esp in L.A. waters where you really have to work it to get a takeoff slot on a set wave in the midst of the crowd, and to have your tail blow out on takeoff is something you really want to avoid. My 7-4 has a pretty wide tail, but seems to hang in there better in those situations, I'm guessing its the rail fins. V-bottom doesn't even enter into that discussion, just comparing single fins to rail fins. As funny as it may sound to you, I'm completely new to the tri-fin setup, so still adjusting to it. I do like the speed and looseness of my thruster, in comparison to my singles.
Yeah, 100% epoxy, I don't use poly resin anymore. Combining them is do-able, but they flex differently, so asking for troubles down the road, IMO. To be honest, I don't really even like the idea of using floor sealer or anything from a rattle can over epoxy. I tried poly gloss over epoxy, and got a good finish, but just don't do it anymore. I'm a self-taught backyarder, so I don't like to say too much, cuz I'm not in a position to teach anyone, I just find ways that work for me, and go with it. Epoxy can be finicky, but I'm finding there are work-arounds, like the cheater coat. After 22 boards I'm still in the throes of the learning curve with epoxy. You're right on about the 60 grit scratches, comes from being in a hurry to get this one finished. So 120 would have been a better starting point. The RR epoxy I use does not gum up at all, unless you sand too soon.
Your leash plug comment is the opposite of what I read in an old thread on the subject (I couldn't find that old thread, but here's another that's chock full of entertaining blather on the subject... http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/lightning-bolt-tom-eberly-surfboard-help). Hopefully I'll never have to find out! My main concern was making sure I didn't get in the way of the rear fin box if I decide to put one in.
Funny too that you were going to suggest moving this to the "dungeon", and noteworthy that one poster commented that he felt more inclined to comment now that it was out of the main folder. I hate repeatedly bumping a thread up to the top every time I post, when I can clearly see there is little to no interest in a general discussion, so I'm definitely more comfortable with having it here, and I just post my updates as they come.
The board is finished for all intents and purposes, I put the final coat on thin, so all I have to do is hit it with some 600 grit to take the little nits out. Not a showroom finish, but good enough I won't be embarrassed taking it to the beach. I may add another fin box later. I'll try to follow up with some beach shots and ride report (sorry, no one to take surfing shots for me). \
Thanks for any and all who have read the thread through to this point!
Back in the Clark shut down I freaked out and bought a CI 7-6 M13 and Rusty 8-6 Desert Island the Merrick good, the Rusty Crap I did not like the flex!
Once I got back sold them both for more than I spent so there is value in durability.
So Sorry I just a lost old Poly soul
Since I was a punk I have handled some dangerous stuff
And like a few others I have cautioned not to cremate me as it may burn the joint down.
Day job is keeping me fit, 9 days straight 12 hr. days so far (at least the test riders are getting wet) Got a few EDIT "jobs" hooked up and working ‘em to the gaff, if I get ‘em on deck I’ll be calling the boys.
As far as installing leash cups - hard for me to imagine parallel to stringer could be weaker than foam only - I have done them all ways, parallel to stringer, perpendicular to stringer, foam only, never had a problem yet. I've broke leashes but the cup stayed solid. I use the small ones, I think that probably helps, harder to bend a short piece of metal than a long one.
Don't look at my workspace too close - its a mess! That basket thing is some doohicky my wife wants me to fix, I told her don't put that stuff in my shop, but does she listen? My mind blocks that stuff out, I don't even see it, haha. I told her get me some distilled water for mixing with spackle on my eps blank, she got me the bonus size LOL. Which is OK, I generally keep water in there anyway, for wetsanding.
Kensurf made some spec boards for his local shop, absolute beauties, resin tint, pinlines, high gloss, flawless finish, the whole shebang. They never sold, or took an awful long time if they did, while the Taiwan boards with a logo jumped off the shelves - he got discouraged over the whole thing. I think that's one of the factors in him retiring from board building. Me, I just build for myself. No specs. No team riders (not that I don't wish I had some!). Just little old me. It keeps things simple that way, although I do have an awful lot of boards, haha.
Cool that you did some upgrades to your shop, I need to go in and get mine clean and organized better.
I don't know about "scratches under the sanding coat", you'll have to show me when we meet up again. All my boards are hand sanded, no power sanding, and usually little or no polishing. I guess someday I'll get motivated to polish 'em up, but for now, good enough to ride is what I get.
BTW I texted you some contact info for a guy who might be a good hand to help out on your projects, did you get it OK?
Meanwhile, you need to take some time off and let the kid sweat the late nights, he's the one with a new mouth to feed LOL. You and I been there done that.
Took it to the beach today before work and got some nice beach shots, but right now I'm on my mom's computer and it won't let me add a file, and it won't let me upload to flickr. And of course, no waves today!
"Day job is keeping me fit, 9 days straight 12 hr. days so far (at least the test riders are getting wet) Got a few EDIT "jobs" hooked up and working ‘em to the gaff, if I get ‘em on deck I’ll be calling the boys."
Just been crazy.
Hard for me to let go..
Boy got his rope in a knot.
Just runnin' and gunnin'
Thing is flyin' straight and level for now.
Now back to baiting hooks.
Plenty fish and
I'm not letting off the throttle!
I really, no BS love this board.
#1 outline
And yeah that tail is wide!
Kinda reminds me of the early twins.
More specifically
Corky Carroll's "Space Sticks"
Love to know more on your fin set up...
Hat's off 2 U!
Quad commitment Maximus.
Bravo!!!
Upon my resurrection to this wacky surfboard world.
I felt more comfortable making LB's
Just got to a point of dread
Old (HA!) Grey Beards bitchin' me out
Cuz they can't surf and flat ass lied to me.
Ya know I manipulated boy with HPLB's
Ah "thruster Boy"
The Quad is wide open!
Dig the Twinzer twists and all kinda stuff.
So my path started @ the "accepted" set up.
"Stock" and I realize a ton of work went into it.
However
Before I ramble on
This has ALWAYS been a sport supported by the thinkers
Not afraid to fail
Like Joe Quigg for God sake.
Riders mine and others speak
And my take, (God knows I can only watch).
The problem is the transition from rail to rail.
And this probably will not apply to folk
Who, givin’ a wave sure don’t want to waste it
With a rip off the bottom and snap (or worse) at the lip.
Basically think about fin engagement and release with the typical quad…
Between two things
I heard (and really listened), saw and believe are true.
If the board works for me I will post up all the fin details. If it's a dog, or if I just can't ride a board this small anymore, I'll probably let the thread fade away, or add that center box and keep trying. I just don't want to post up details wihout knowing first if the info is any good :-)
No waves again today. I stuck some different fins in it last night, just cuz I have these von sol (iirc) quad fins I've never used.
Quads appealed to me cuz I used to love riding my twin keel wide tail fish, people call it two dimensional surfing, skatey but it was fun. I was hoping to capture some of that when I built the swallowtail wing quad, and I did. This board is closer in size and planshape to my old twin fin fish back in the day, hope it has a little of that pizazz too! I almost made this a fish, but then decided to try something a little different.
Just building boards for myself, I'm probably not as adventurous / experimental as you. Because I'm aging, be sixty in a matter of weeks, as opposed to your younger more skilled and ambitious team riders. To be honest, there are days I don't feel like paddling out, but I do anyway just to stay in the game, but then I always end up getting some waves and being stoked.
Like this one, if I see a board I want to build, I draw my own template, and shape it to the best of my knowledge and ability. A lot of times I'll ask for input here, and I'm grateful for any pointers, or encouragement and suggestions I get.
OK, nothing wrong with some positivity! There were some small little peelers today, so I paddled out. Shallow, breaking over rocks, kinda sketchy, but I just had to get this wet. Not much push in the little waves, but the good news (for me) is that I can paddle it fine, it catch waves fine, and I can pop up fine, so those were three areas of concern that can be checked off. Fins seem to work good too, although need some better waves to really make any kind of determination.
The beach photos are a few days ago, didn't paddle out that day, just too small. Then I changed fins, so the red Von Sol fins are the ones I tried, haven't used the white fins in the photos.
The diagram shows my fin layout, rears toed 3/16" over 4", fronts towed 1/4" over 4", fronts canted 6 degrees, rears canted 4 degrees, although I can change that with ProBox inserts. And the V actually adds a little more cant than the number on the inserts.
Funny. Yeah thanks I corrected the fin cant description, the fronts 1/4" rears 3/16". I have tore fins right out at this spot, more than once! The rocks are right there, on a small day at low tide if you don't stay high in the wave you will hit them. Tues / Wed. swell coming? Really I'm tickled pink to be riding a 6-7, would have never made this board if it wasn't for the free blank laying around. Not too long ago I was riding 9 foot boards every day. Who knew? Glad I shaped this up now. Feels funny paddling for a wave with no board in front of me, haha.
Eh,
#1. Fin box, Probox center.
I can see what you are thinking.
No shame!
Don't really know if you experienced the Vee bottom single.
Me?
The first "short board" went from 9-10 to 7-10 overnight!
"Talk about a revolution"
Only took a week of kooking out to get it wired.
V, mini gun back to V.
Never “spun out”!
That was McTavish at Sunset!
Nat Young @ Honolua is just history now.
Most would say, don’t worry you did not miss much.
I loved the V and got my first legit “brown room” on my 2nd
3rd point right after the flood that changed
Da BU
Deer and tree stumps in the lineup!
Just some punks that timed it and cut school.
Ignoring all the skull and cross bones posted as to contamened water (Horror! Eh, I'm still kicking and don't regret a second)
Plus a mud slide on PCH just as we passed (Cyn’s closed).
My buddy and I had it to ourselves all day!
One of many, many memories!
#2. Sanding.
I don’t know a lot about 100% epoxy.
I’ll lam with epoxy.
Hot or filler Poly
I am concerned however.
? I know you have been at this a long time.
And if my old mind recalls your board(s) are polished.
With poly after sanding coat (another word for it)
I’ll start with 220
However my experience is you’ll never get 60 grit scratches out.
Ah, with poly.
Does (and I don’t know) epoxy “gum up” that bad ?
#3. Why not kill this on the general forum and come solely to the dungeon?
EDIT "never mind"
Ha, LMAO+ LOL
The leash plug.
AND I could wind up with egg on my ugly face!
IMHO less stress with bar @90 of stringer.
Diggin' the pin lines!!!
Over….
Aloha Nui Hoaloha
I would rather be someone's shot of whiskey, than everyone's cup of tea.
www.mattysurfboards.com
Hi ya Matty, guess the spin out at takeoff could be operator error, for sure, but its disconcerting, esp in L.A. waters where you really have to work it to get a takeoff slot on a set wave in the midst of the crowd, and to have your tail blow out on takeoff is something you really want to avoid. My 7-4 has a pretty wide tail, but seems to hang in there better in those situations, I'm guessing its the rail fins. V-bottom doesn't even enter into that discussion, just comparing single fins to rail fins. As funny as it may sound to you, I'm completely new to the tri-fin setup, so still adjusting to it. I do like the speed and looseness of my thruster, in comparison to my singles.
Yeah, 100% epoxy, I don't use poly resin anymore. Combining them is do-able, but they flex differently, so asking for troubles down the road, IMO. To be honest, I don't really even like the idea of using floor sealer or anything from a rattle can over epoxy. I tried poly gloss over epoxy, and got a good finish, but just don't do it anymore. I'm a self-taught backyarder, so I don't like to say too much, cuz I'm not in a position to teach anyone, I just find ways that work for me, and go with it. Epoxy can be finicky, but I'm finding there are work-arounds, like the cheater coat. After 22 boards I'm still in the throes of the learning curve with epoxy. You're right on about the 60 grit scratches, comes from being in a hurry to get this one finished. So 120 would have been a better starting point. The RR epoxy I use does not gum up at all, unless you sand too soon.
Your leash plug comment is the opposite of what I read in an old thread on the subject (I couldn't find that old thread, but here's another that's chock full of entertaining blather on the subject... http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/lightning-bolt-tom-eberly-surfboard-help). Hopefully I'll never have to find out! My main concern was making sure I didn't get in the way of the rear fin box if I decide to put one in.
Funny too that you were going to suggest moving this to the "dungeon", and noteworthy that one poster commented that he felt more inclined to comment now that it was out of the main folder. I hate repeatedly bumping a thread up to the top every time I post, when I can clearly see there is little to no interest in a general discussion, so I'm definitely more comfortable with having it here, and I just post my updates as they come.
The board is finished for all intents and purposes, I put the final coat on thin, so all I have to do is hit it with some 600 grit to take the little nits out. Not a showroom finish, but good enough I won't be embarrassed taking it to the beach. I may add another fin box later. I'll try to follow up with some beach shots and ride report (sorry, no one to take surfing shots for me). \
Thanks for any and all who have read the thread through to this point!
stubbie finished 001a.JPG
stubbie finished 002a.JPG
stubbie finished 003a.JPG
stubbie finished 004a.JPG
stubbie finished 005a.JPG
stubbie finished 007a.JPG
stubbie finished 009a.JPG
Good STUFF!
Me?
More like reverb than Barnfield.
Just my experience.
Testing (to my limit) and fixing others boo boo's.
Boy likes his on the left (goofy foot).
Never big on foam only
So far so good...
Spied your work space.
You can learn a lot observing other things than the board.
Scales check!
Pencil sharpener, check
Roller, check
Is that a basket, bug zapper or heater? HA
H2O???? Hot batch wipe down?
Your lam jobs are very good.
And shaping also very good.
As if I'm a pro!
Always small time and if you wanted one of mine
You got a board that worked great
Just not pretty.
Last year I speculated and made some for the local shop.
What a bitch.
And a big challenge!
Christmas batch
The best finish quality stick is still in the rack.
WTF?
Maybe the ugliness stands out compared to the competitons perfection.
Started really trying with this last batch of R&D boards
Made Dustin 6
Rider X 1
Skin Hoss 3
All done to shop finish
Hey,
Only three problems
Pin lines, (you rock!)
Aramid fiber laps
Blank boo boo’s
To start
Removed my old vac set up
Put in a single arm.
Yeah and my bay has a vaulted lid.
Not so EZ.
Then the vac collector set up on the Skill broke.
Put the dust shoot on
Along with a respirator.
Push the vac arm over.
And WOW really gave my sprit a lift!
No whacking the blank on the vac
Unencumbered freedom!
Made a few new tools and a mess!
Oh and my laundry, Momma isn’t happy
(Wish I still had my Soft tail)
Outline planner w/ 90 degree table
And a “rail maker”
Planner, a little 40, 150, 220
Not even the Micro blade, serious swelling head.
And for shits and giggles I divorced Fred!
Boards work and are pretty.
Back to observation.
Hate to call it out
But I can see scratches under the sanding coat
Laps?
Small die grinder I use 40
Lightly to knock off da bumps
And a sander w/ 150 to true up my rails still shaping, yeah
UV cure poly/acrylic w/ MEKP (I glass at night) set in Sun and rotated @ 5 min intervals.
Sands well and a head start in curing.
On “polish” boards I have been lucky with the hot coat.
220, 320, touch up w/ acrylic spray, 400, 600, #2 surfboard polish
I’m thinking epoxy cured up would be the same.
EDIT I mean polished..
Back in the Clark shut down I freaked out and bought a CI 7-6 M13 and Rusty 8-6 Desert Island the Merrick good, the Rusty Crap I did not like the flex!
Once I got back sold them both for more than I spent so there is value in durability.
So Sorry I just a lost old Poly soul
Since I was a punk I have handled some dangerous stuff
And like a few others I have cautioned not to cremate me as it may burn the joint down.
Day job is keeping me fit, 9 days straight 12 hr. days so far (at least the test riders are getting wet) Got a few EDIT "jobs" hooked up and working ‘em to the gaff, if I get ‘em on deck I’ll be calling the boys.
Over…
Eh (photo) I am looking forward to a RIDE report
Every detail, excep drop in's
Maybe a Charle Manson mask complete with swasika.
Aloha Nui Hoaloha
stubbie waxed and ready 001a.JPG
bf v polish.jpg
I would rather be someone's shot of whiskey, than everyone's cup of tea.
www.mattysurfboards.com
Hey Matty thanks!
As far as installing leash cups - hard for me to imagine parallel to stringer could be weaker than foam only - I have done them all ways, parallel to stringer, perpendicular to stringer, foam only, never had a problem yet. I've broke leashes but the cup stayed solid. I use the small ones, I think that probably helps, harder to bend a short piece of metal than a long one.
Don't look at my workspace too close - its a mess! That basket thing is some doohicky my wife wants me to fix, I told her don't put that stuff in my shop, but does she listen? My mind blocks that stuff out, I don't even see it, haha. I told her get me some distilled water for mixing with spackle on my eps blank, she got me the bonus size LOL. Which is OK, I generally keep water in there anyway, for wetsanding.
Kensurf made some spec boards for his local shop, absolute beauties, resin tint, pinlines, high gloss, flawless finish, the whole shebang. They never sold, or took an awful long time if they did, while the Taiwan boards with a logo jumped off the shelves - he got discouraged over the whole thing. I think that's one of the factors in him retiring from board building. Me, I just build for myself. No specs. No team riders (not that I don't wish I had some!). Just little old me. It keeps things simple that way, although I do have an awful lot of boards, haha.
Cool that you did some upgrades to your shop, I need to go in and get mine clean and organized better.
I don't know about "scratches under the sanding coat", you'll have to show me when we meet up again. All my boards are hand sanded, no power sanding, and usually little or no polishing. I guess someday I'll get motivated to polish 'em up, but for now, good enough to ride is what I get.
BTW I texted you some contact info for a guy who might be a good hand to help out on your projects, did you get it OK?
Meanwhile, you need to take some time off and let the kid sweat the late nights, he's the one with a new mouth to feed LOL. You and I been there done that.
Took it to the beach today before work and got some nice beach shots, but right now I'm on my mom's computer and it won't let me add a file, and it won't let me upload to flickr. And of course, no waves today!
Nice pool shot of the Fowler!
Yeah got the text.
Thanks!
In my cryptic way that's what I meant.
"Day job is keeping me fit, 9 days straight 12 hr. days so far (at least the test riders are getting wet) Got a few EDIT "jobs" hooked up and working ‘em to the gaff, if I get ‘em on deck I’ll be calling the boys."
Just been crazy.
Hard for me to let go..
Boy got his rope in a knot.
Just runnin' and gunnin'
Thing is flyin' straight and level for now.
Now back to baiting hooks.
Plenty fish and
I'm not letting off the throttle!
I really, no BS love this board.
#1 outline
And yeah that tail is wide!
Kinda reminds me of the early twins.
More specifically
Corky Carroll's "Space Sticks"
Love to know more on your fin set up...
Hat's off 2 U!
Quad commitment Maximus.
Bravo!!!
Upon my resurrection to this wacky surfboard world.
I felt more comfortable making LB's
Just got to a point of dread
Old (HA!) Grey Beards bitchin' me out
Cuz they can't surf and flat ass lied to me.
Ya know I manipulated boy with HPLB's
Ah "thruster Boy"
The Quad is wide open!
Dig the Twinzer twists and all kinda stuff.
So my path started @ the "accepted" set up.
"Stock" and I realize a ton of work went into it.
However
Before I ramble on
This has ALWAYS been a sport supported by the thinkers
Not afraid to fail
Like Joe Quigg for God sake.
Riders mine and others speak
And my take, (God knows I can only watch).
The problem is the transition from rail to rail.
And this probably will not apply to folk
Who, givin’ a wave sure don’t want to waste it
With a rip off the bottom and snap (or worse) at the lip.
Basically think about fin engagement and release with the typical quad…
Between two things
I heard (and really listened), saw and believe are true.
As you see in these photo’s
My set up @ this time!
Was rears closer together and less cant.
Have been more successful than I really deserved.
CC space sticks.jpg
Lb quad.jpg
I would rather be someone's shot of whiskey, than everyone's cup of tea.
www.mattysurfboards.com
If the board works for me I will post up all the fin details. If it's a dog, or if I just can't ride a board this small anymore, I'll probably let the thread fade away, or add that center box and keep trying. I just don't want to post up details wihout knowing first if the info is any good :-)
No waves again today. I stuck some different fins in it last night, just cuz I have these von sol (iirc) quad fins I've never used.
Quads appealed to me cuz I used to love riding my twin keel wide tail fish, people call it two dimensional surfing, skatey but it was fun. I was hoping to capture some of that when I built the swallowtail wing quad, and I did. This board is closer in size and planshape to my old twin fin fish back in the day, hope it has a little of that pizazz too! I almost made this a fish, but then decided to try something a little different.
Just building boards for myself, I'm probably not as adventurous / experimental as you. Because I'm aging, be sixty in a matter of weeks, as opposed to your younger more skilled and ambitious team riders. To be honest, there are days I don't feel like paddling out, but I do anyway just to stay in the game, but then I always end up getting some waves and being stoked.
Like this one, if I see a board I want to build, I draw my own template, and shape it to the best of my knowledge and ability. A lot of times I'll ask for input here, and I'm grateful for any pointers, or encouragement and suggestions I get.
Have Confidence in your fin set up “young man”
IMHO there is nothing wrong or cause for doubt!
Hey, I grew up and surfed with some talented guys.
And I’ll tell you this some of these guys could pick up a board
Just bad mouth it and then paddle out.
“POS”!
Simply negative vibes…
I just tuned that shit out
And got the best out of those POS’
POSITIVE thoughts only!
Or (gezz) “Good vibrations.
“Sonny” your set up pop’s in my mind like this.
I am thinking half way decent point surf, eh Wensday.
Kinda down the line or “Hall Ass”
Picking off sections.
I know you can connect the dots!
I would rather be someone's shot of whiskey, than everyone's cup of tea.
www.mattysurfboards.com
OK, nothing wrong with some positivity! There were some small little peelers today, so I paddled out. Shallow, breaking over rocks, kinda sketchy, but I just had to get this wet. Not much push in the little waves, but the good news (for me) is that I can paddle it fine, it catch waves fine, and I can pop up fine, so those were three areas of concern that can be checked off. Fins seem to work good too, although need some better waves to really make any kind of determination.
The beach photos are a few days ago, didn't paddle out that day, just too small. Then I changed fins, so the red Von Sol fins are the ones I tried, haven't used the white fins in the photos.
The diagram shows my fin layout, rears toed 3/16" over 4", fronts towed 1/4" over 4", fronts canted 6 degrees, rears canted 4 degrees, although I can change that with ProBox inserts. And the V actually adds a little more cant than the number on the inserts.
pic 01a.JPG
stubby beach photos 006a.jpg
stubby beach photos 009a.jpg
stubby beach photos 014a.jpg
stubby beach photos 004a.jpg
stubbie von sol fins and job progress 015a.JPG
stubbie von sol fins and job progress 018a.JPG
stubbie fins 09.JPG
A coupl'a things, yeah?
Funny about the Vee and cant.
I have the same trouble only reversed.
The Pro box helps dial em in???
Your toe?
1/4" front
3/16" rear?
As to fins Boy likes
fronts inside foil asymetric
and 60/40 foil rear.
Plan on late Tuesday Early Wensday.
Make time.
Positive
like the too much stoke, test ride.
And I know you know
what rocks can do to fin systems!
And last.
Your board actually looks better at the beach.
You?
Almost as ugly as me....
I would rather be someone's shot of whiskey, than everyone's cup of tea.
www.mattysurfboards.com
Funny. Yeah thanks I corrected the fin cant description, the fronts 1/4" rears 3/16". I have tore fins right out at this spot, more than once! The rocks are right there, on a small day at low tide if you don't stay high in the wave you will hit them. Tues / Wed. swell coming? Really I'm tickled pink to be riding a 6-7, would have never made this board if it wasn't for the free blank laying around. Not too long ago I was riding 9 foot boards every day. Who knew? Glad I shaped this up now. Feels funny paddling for a wave with no board in front of me, haha.
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