New 8-0 Nomad...

Over the years I've built a number of sub-8ft egg shapes (Nomad Model), mostly 2+1 set-ups, but a few quads as well. The surf conditions in my part of California vary, greatly. This past winter was as good as it gets, while the winter before it (2013-14) was just an extension of summertime, without SW swells. More often than not, surf runs 2'-4', which is good enough for the ol' log, but who wants to ride a log everyday? Finding a board that's a little more "sporty" in performance but can still handle the small stuff is a real challenge. This board is my latest attempt.

Dimensions are 8'0" 16-1/4" x 22" x 14-5/8" 2-3/4" 55.8L. EPS/Epoxy construction with two-tone resin-tint color, and sanded gloss-coat finish. The board is both light and buoyant. The board has a versatile five fin-box set-up, allowing either quad- or tri-fins.

Low entry-rocker makes this board an easy paddler, with good down-the-line speed. Initial trials at Mondos (mush-burger capital of the world) showed that it can handle the small stuff. Just waiting for the next South swell to see how it handles some juice.

Wall hanger finds a wall...

I really like the shape of this 7-6 Nomad. Its one of my favorite templates, a cross between a Velzy egg and a Martinson egg, with a little more peak in the nose (my input). Add a couple of feet in the middle, and it would make a pretty nice longboard shape...hmmm. Here it is in its final resting place...

Wall Hanger, Part 2...

Finally got its turn on the glassing rack...

We spent a lot of time adjusting the color before mixing up the final batch. I wanted a color that would be just "a shade" darker than hi usual Ice Green. Ray takes a piece of scrap foam and a piece of scrap cloth to test how the color will look on the blank. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with the results...at least so far.


Typically, the bottom of the board is laminated first, with the cloth lapped around the rails. The "lap" is then evenly trimmed on the deck side. Next, the deck will be laminated with one layer of 6-oz cloth and one layer of 4-oz cloth, lapped onto the bottom and trimmed. Board will then be ready for hot coating.

Story of the "Wall Hanger"...

I decided it was time to build a board strictly for appearance, which could be displayed in our home. My wife has used a "beachy" theme to decorate our small house in Ojai, CA, and she felt a surfboard would be a nice addition. My first impulse was to build a balsa board, with redwood stringers, but building a chambered balsa board is not only very labor-intensive, requiring access to tools typically found in a cabinet-makers shop, but very expensive (10' raw blank=$800!). And, given the wall-space that this board is to occupy, a sub-8' board would have to do. I settled on building a 7-6 egg, with multiple (5 to be exact) stringers. I think the egg is a classic shape, that probably looks better than it performs. And, with 5 stringers, this board will be a true mini-tanker, which should help to keep it on the wall and not in the water. So, I visited my friends at Fiberglass Hawaii in Ventura and ordered the blank. Here's what I started with:

The notes scribbled on the bottom indicate who ordered the blank, the stringer info (thickness, location and material), and finally, the rocker adjustment. The note "+(2)1/8CD 3-1/2 out" means two 1/8" cedar stringers, each offset by 3-1/2" from center. Other trivia you may or may not know: the blue on the nose means that this is a "blue" density foam and "80H" is the blanks name, while "MIL" are the initial of the person who poured the foam. The "natural rocker" of this blank is a little too flat for my taste, so I had USB add 1/4" of nose rocker in the last 24" of the nose.

Here's the blank after "skinning" and after being cut to length, which in this case is 7'6"

 After planing-down to within 1/8" of the final thickness and foil, its time to template the blank. This is my favorite egg template and the one I use for the Nomad shapes.

Here, the outline has been cut and trued-up. At this point, I make the final rocker adjustments and add any bottom contours, such as concaves or V.

One last check of the rocker followed by any necessary tuning, and then I shape the rails.

With the rails shaped, its time to finish-sand the blank. Since foam is softer (less dense) than wood, there is a tendency for the stringer to protrude above the foam after sanding. So, after every sanding, each stringer has to be carefully planed down so that it is slightly lower than the foam. This process repeats until all scratches have been removed, and the stringers are flush with the foam. Because this blank will receive a resin tint, it has to be finished to almost a polished look. Any nicks or scratches, however small, will appear darker in color. Multi-stringered boards take almost as long to finish as to rough shape.

At last, here's the finished blank, ready for glassing. This board will be done in the classic coke-bottle green.

Hey Michael! Come and get your Nomad!

Here's the latest iteration of my Nomad shape, a.k.a. egg, speed egg. This is the epoxy/EPS version, which was glassed with 4oz+6oz S-cloth (deck) and 6oz S-cloth bottom. Board is about a 2lbs lighter than a standard PU/PE shape. Boards dimensions are 7'6" 16-1/8"x22-1/2"x15-1/4"  2-7/8" 53.7L.

Here's Ray polishing the deck

This shape has an interesting story behind it, and it demonstrates how my shapes evolve over time. Earlier this year I hand-shaped an 8-0 EPS King Fish for a customer, and then had the same shape cut by machine, using EPS again. I use the AKU  program for machining my blanks and since AKU doesn't cut swallow or fish-tails, the tailblock of the cut blank is left straight. Since personally, I'm not a big fan of big fish shapes, I decided to just re-shape the tail into a round-pin. Thus was born the 7-11 Egg which I really enjoyed last spring. But, I felt the shape in EPS was a little to floaty for my weight, so I sold the 7-11 to Mike G., and hand-shaped a 7-6 from PU foam that was much more to my liking. About 5 weeks ago, Michael stopped by and turns out he works and surfs with Mike G.  He had ridden the 7-11 and wanted something similar, but smaller. So, I loaned him the 7-6 for a week or so, and after riding it, he felt the shape was still not quite right. So we narrowed the outline, and reduced the thickness and went with EPS foam to maximize float, and here is the final product. And that's how my shapes evolve; a combination of personal trial and error, coupled with feedback from customers. Don't forget, you can get a custom shape for the same price as a board off the rack. All it takes is about 4 weeks of patience.

Project Egg completion...

The board was gloss-coated yesterday and allowed to "cure" overnight. This afternoon, the board was sanded with 400g on the deck and bottom.

The sander has to be careful not to round edges or leave flat spots where there should be curves.
After sanding the deck and bottom by machine, the rails are wet-sanded by hand.

With the board sanded, polishing compound ("secret sauce") is applied and the buffer is brought out.

A short while later, I pulled the tape off the fin boxes, threaded the leash loop and installed the fins. Here's the finished board, 7-6 17-1/2" x 22-1/2" x 15-1/2"  2-7/8" NR=4-1/4" TR=2-1/2"

I hope you enjoyed following the journey of this 7-6 Nomad, and have a greater appreciation for the work and craftsmanship that goes into each Thomas Patrick Surfboard.

After

Before

All glass work courtesy of Lucke Glassing in Camarillo, CA

Eggy project almost done...

Here, the board has been hot-coated and sanded. Ray taped-off the pinline on the lap of the deck, applied color and is now pulling the tape.

The white dot in the middle of the stringer is where the hole for the leash-loop will be drilled through the deck and into the center fin box. The leash loop will be knotted, and the knot will wedge itself into the very tail of the fin box, while the loop end will protrude through the deck. This is by far the strongest and cleanest way to attach a leash loop in a board with a center-fin box.

Here the pinline has been completed and the board is waiting for gloss-coat and polish.

Should be ready for its first outing this weekend. Hopefully, we'll get a little swell as forecasted. Stay tuned...

More progress...

Here's the  deck after lamination with one layer 6-oz S-glass and one layer 4-oz S-glass.

My logos are screen-printed on rice paper and then placed under the cloth during the lamination process. Glassers refer to logos as "lams".

 The bottom lam was "basted" over the bottom lamination with resin and then will be covered with a patch of 4-oz cloth. The bottom lam is actually two lams superimposed on one another to create a dropped-shadow effect.

Next the holes for the fin boxes were routed-out, the fin boxes basted in place with  resin, and each box covered with a patch of 6-oz cloth.

Next step will be to hot-coat bottom and deck, sand, pinline deck, gloss-coat entire board and polish.

Project Progress....

As promised, here what's been going on with my latest project, a 7-6 traditional egg. The blank had to be ordered from US Blanks because I wanted to modify the rocker, and add a 1/4" cedar stringer with black glue. I ordered a 7-9H blank because it would accommodate the length, width and thickness of the intended shape.

The "natural" rocker of the 7-9H did not have enough nose rocker for my design, so I ordered 1/2" of rocker added to the last 14" of the  nose.

I cut the template out of 1/8" Masonite, using a paper pattern generated by the AKU shaping program. After I traced the outline on the skinned blank, I didn't like the curve in the the last 12" of the tail; basically too wide. So, I grabbed another template off the wall that had the curve I liked and blended it in. 

With template and blank, shaping begins...



and about 2hr later...

Tail to nose

Nose to tail

Next, I moved it out of the shaping bay and into the glassing area. I asked for 6-oz S-Glass on the bottom and 6-oz+4-oz S-Glass on the deck.

Here's Ray working his glasser "abstract" mojo...a little of this and a little of that....

Now, its all in the pour...

Bottom laminated...