Travelin'.....

I had to move a bunch of stuff down to SD. Filled up the ol' truck, but had just enough room for a borrowed T-Belly and my fins.

Caught some glassy "OH" 3'ers. Felt good to get into some warmer water with a sandy bottom.

Best Beach Dog Ever...

2001-2012

Sammi loved the beach as much as me, maybe more...I miss her

6-8HYB2+1 for Chad....

Chad had some specific ideas about what he wanted in a surfboard, so I invited him down to the shop, and we collaborated on this neat little hybrid design. For starters, Chad wanted a full-outline design in a short (but not too short) length. He wanted a board with a pretty wide wave-range, but one that he could duck-dive.




Working together with the Aku Shaper software, we came up with this functional little, 2+1 diamond tail hybrid.

Dims are 6'8" 14-3/4" x 21-3/4 x 15-1/2"  2-5/8" thick. Bottom has relaxed entry rocker with single-to-double concaves, and a little "V" out the tail. The board can be surfed as a signle-fin, 2+1 or thruster depending upon mood and conditions. Chad chose to start with an 8-1/2" Frye Flex fin.

Board was finished with "Mercedes Blue" resin tint, orange resin stripe and white pinline. Sanded gloss-coat for matte finish. Glasswork done by Ray Lucke.

Super T-Belly for Stan....

I made some alterations in my standard T-Belly design based upon Stan's input and came up with this nice single-wing, squash-tail twin-fin.

I added a sloped-rail to the design in an effort to keep the rail profile as thin as possible while maintaining thickness  around the perimeter of the outline. Thickness is 2-3/4" at the peak of the rail slope and 2-1/2" at the stringer. This board also sports the new Futures ILT fin boxes in red. Futures offers three different side-bite templates under 4". Stan opted for the SB3 template which at 3.25"x3.25" is the smallest of the SB templates.

Great Week!

Lots of HH, clean swell, clear skies and sunshine...and more on the way. You deserve a new board to make the most of it.

My idea of fun on a Saturday...

Stan and I worked on his new "Super T-Belly" last weekend. We spent a lot of time talking about design elements, and I got a chance to explain the shaping process, what I was doing and why. Of course we had to swap surf stories, which is always part of the deal when surfers get together. Is this a cool gig, or what? Here's some more shots of the shaped blank....

Board is now in Ray Lucke's capable hands for glassing. I'll post more pix when its done.

 

Today is TSJ Day....

My favorite surf mag arrived in the mail today...

If you don't already read this cover-to-cover, you should...definitely worth a cup of coffee at Barnes&Noble.

New Board for Tom...

Chris brought in his dad's 15-yr old Stewart and asked if I could shape something similar. I kept the outline similar, but made some changes in the bottom contours to update the performance. I used a "green" density foam blank from USBlanks and 6-oz Silane cloth on deck and bottom. Replacing the 3/16" cedar stringers with 1/8" cedar compensated for the extra weight of the denser foam. End result is a board that is more durable but no heavier than the board its replacing.

Father and son with old and new

Old and new bottom view

Board dimensions: 9'6" 18-3/4" x 23-3/4" x 14"   3-1/8"  Custom laminated wood tailblock and new True Ames fins finish off this classic beauty.

Dolphin Fan's Noserider



Dolphin fan Ilan and brother Tito

       I shaped this 9-6 Neo Single-fin for Miami Dolphin Fan Ilan. Boards dimensions are 9-6 18-3/4" x 23" x 15-3/8"  3". Board has typical Neo features: half-length, blended nose concave, moderate "V" in tail and eggy, 60/40 rails.

The two 1/8" cedar stringers can be seen clearly through the tourqoise and orange resin tint glass job (by Ray Lucke).  A clear True Ames "Slick" model center fin finishes off this noseriding beauty.

Ilan was able to watch the entire shaping process from raw blank to finished shape.





Heading to a nearby break for a little tip-time...

New SUP...finally

This is my first SUP. The design was a cooperative effort between Ray Lucke and me. Having glassed a large number of SUPs, including limited-class racing SUPs, Ray has a good eye for what works. Using Aku Shaper, the designed shape's file was sent to Marko Foam who machined the 1.7lb EPS blank. After receiving the blank from Marko, I made some adjustments in the thickness of the nose and tail, and added the wings to the tail to get tail-width down to 17". Dimensions are: 10-0 20-1/2" x 32" x 17"  4-1/4".  I wanted an SUP that would offer good paddling for flat-water touring, but would still be spunky enough to surf.

Board was air-sprayed light yellow, and glassing schedule was 6-oz E-glass + 6-oz E-glass deck and 6-oz E-glass bottom. Red pin line and gloss & polish finish completed things. After glassing, the dual leash cups, one-way air vent and deck pad were installed. Fin set-up is 2+1, with FCS Fusion side-bite boxes. I plan to start off with a 9.5" True Ames Faberow Flex fin, and will switch to the 7.5" TA Wayne Rich Power fin with TA Side-bites after I get a little more comfortable surfing the board.

Already I'm very impressed with the lightness (26lb) of this board despite its huge size. You'll definitely see me building some EPS/Epoxy longboards in the near future.