NEEEEWWWWW BOARD!

Started working on this guy a couple of weeks ago when I scored a "second quality" longboard blank from Foam EZ. I basically wanted to make this one because Im not overly psyched on the longboard I made a few months ago: http://afedbearisadeadbear.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-longboard-done.html

The previous board just feels very stiff in that it's slow to turn and like to keep a straight line. I think this is mostly because I left the rails too thick, so they basically resist sinking down into turns a little more, and for a guy like me, lightweight, I would like some easier turns. the nose and tail on that board were too thick also, looking back at it....The board basically feels like riding a skateboard with tight trucks, and not that I hate this board, but I hate tight trucks. 

Regardless, this new one has a similar outline, but much thinner rails, somewhat bladed, throughout the whole thing. I made the concave under the nose a bit longer, just for aesthetics really though, made the nose and tail much thinner, and almost have a step deck effect. Without the fiberglass on it, the nose felt really flexy. Almost too flexy, and I got scared this would potentially fracture. maybe I'm wrong, but I ffigured I want this to last, so I ended up glassing it with two layers of 6 oz cloth on the bottom, whereas on the last longboard, I only used one layer of 6 oz. We will see how that feels! I also glassed in a tail patch for strength for the finbox. anyways, here's some pictures. 

 Sanding and getting close to being done with the sanding. Can't tell the outline very well from the angles I can get in the garage, but taking it through that door in and out seems like a good way to ding a foam core...

 Final sand, very rounded and almost hull-like bottom, with up rails big time in the back end. This will help the water suction up around the rail and suck the tail down when you're towards the front end of the board.

 Glassed the bottom last night! my tape wouldn't stick to the top of the board (side not shown here) when taping it off last night, and I got pretty frustrated with it. not sure if there was too much humidity or what, but after three tries to tape off the board, I gave up. so this was done by free lapping it, which is a bit messier looking, but you won't be able to tell in the red or grey, just the clearish area in back. Regardless, I'm super pumped on how this looks!

Looks like I bumped my head and bled everywhere

 And I also modeled this board in Solidworks, and tested out the colors I like on it. Here's a couple pics! Psyched on how this came out and that I can do this in Solidworks now! This is the side view obviously

 Top view

And some perspective

New longboard done!

 I finally got this one done and out to the water last week! Here it is ready to go, with my new D fin that I made too!

 Top view

 Belly side up

 I made some block prints for the board too, pumped on them.

 block print signature

 Dimensions

 It floats

Switched it out for this fin after a while too. I think I  might like this older fin more than the new D fin, but i'll keep riding to figure it out and the best placement of it, since i can scoot it forward or backwards about an inch or so on either fin

Surf turkeys

Got out with these turkeys on Saturday morning

there were dolphins all over the place, with some babies too, always a good sign!

 On Sunday, Brad decided to join us! Here he is putting on a wetsuit for the first time ever, and accidentally putting a leg through an arm sleeve. We all got a kick out of that

 The crew, scoping the waves, giving last minute tips!

 Brad was as loud as always, giving hoots and hollers constantly, mostly about the cold water. Mel surveyed the situation too 

 Mel came out to the line up after Brad was done with the board! First time out to the line up in Huntington! She did well!

 Marilyn is getting very stylish on her wave riding these days! Husband and wife going for the wave. Check out how early Marilyn can get into the waves on that board! Really pumped on this photo.

 Tired turkeys

So I haven't documented making this board at all til now, but as you can see... it's shaped! This one is for me! I started shaping this before Marilyn’s board, but then started that one and put this on hold. This past week I finished shaping it though. I wanted a pig-like noserider to catch some noserides close to the curl and still have a somewhat maneuverable longboard. It's 9'1" long and 2 7/8 inches thick in the middle and 22.5 inches at the wide point. The wide point is 4 inches back from the center point of the board lengthwise giving it some hips toward the back end of the board, adding to some maneuverability. This board is somewhat similar to Marilyn’s board, so that helped with some practice too, and some design features are identical on these two boards.

The board is pretty similar to a Bing Elevator or Almond Surf-Thump, with lots of the same features and design concepts as far as I could tell from reading about them and looking at photos. It is meant to float nicely (obviously), noseride close to the curl, and still turn well, not just point straight and go. With the wide point, hips, pushed behind the centerpoint, this allows for some easier turning (think shortboard shape), and also allows for more curve in the back end of the board, which allows more suction effect when trying to noseride. Also, since the wide point isn’t pushed forward, when noseriding, there’s less chance to “catch” the rail in the wave face at the wide point, and cause too much drag. I’m making a big D-fin to go onto it which will have a lot of area to hold in the wave and not let the board spin out when up on the nose. The rails are pretty round, 60/40 ish, throughout the middle, which will keep it floaty, and be forgiving on turning and not all quick and sensitive/unforgiving. In the back 2 feet or so, the rails are 40/60 ish (upturned), but the board is thinner, so they are a bit knifeier. I kept the rails rounded up on the bottom in the back so that the water will suction up the rails, and essentially pull the back end down into the water more when walking up to the nose. The other end of the spectrum of this would be to have the rails have a harder down edge which would then cause the water to break away from the board easily, no suction force would occur, and it would facilitate turning a lot easier/be more high-performance longboard style. The front of the board has beveled up rails on the underside, since I went ahead and put in a 3/8" deep concave up in the nose of the board. The concave on the underside of the nose causes turbulence as the water passes under, which creates an upward force from the water, creating lift, so when you're up on the nose, it doesn't just nosedive. The side edges of the concave oval help the rider have some control and steer while on the nose, and give the board some traction. The suctioning force in the back end keeps the tail down, essentially wanting to pull the nose up in the air (lift), even when you’re standing on it, and helps with noseriding. Running lengthwise in the center, I made it intoa V-shape - think the center of the board is the high point and as your move towards the rails they a sanded down in a flat straight line manner from the center point. This will allow some mobility to turn also, like having loose trucks on a skateboard. On Marilyn’s board I kept it flat through the center for stability (tight trucks on a skateboard).  In the tail end on the bottom, it is a rounded V shape, so similar to through the middle, but slightly rounded V in order to keep with the up-turned rails and facility the water suctioning up the bottom of the board and it moves past and off the rail.  The top of the board is flat. simple. The tail rocker is upturned 4 inches (I think), again going with the upturned suctioning effect. The nose rocker is only 3 inches, to keep the front half of the board pretty flat so that when noseriding, it is skimming across the water rather than plowing through it. That’s it. 

THe other day I glassed it! Everything went smoothly as I prepped alot for this one. I wanted to do some fall-like colors on this board. Here are the colors layed out and ready to go. That greenish brown one turned more yellow once I mixed in the hardener, which I was slightly bummed on, but I still like how it all turned out!

Can't figure out how to rotate it....