Threw the 6.5 bonzer fin in there. Love that fin in SB single fins. Fin box looks ehhh. Straight and all that. So im cool with it. Some of that white on river box is polish i didn't fully wipe, since it's tape from when i taped it for the gloss coat. Few pieces are really in there. There's my hard edge in the tail I can not get good pictures of my concaves. This is the single. After multiple tries i got one that you can at least make out. The double i can not get a good picture of. Iv been trying since i put them in.
I learned alot during this project. It's far from perfect. Got a few spots that aren't the prettiest. The double seal LB mentioned, the whole fin box debacle, I'm not upset with the rails there good but i made a bottom tuck a bit big. Going smaller on the next one Got to give a big thanks to LB for all the information he sent me and gave me here. As well as mitchell. Thanks to those guys i can pinpoint what i did wrong and make improvements next time. Lot of work. Worked for most of last Friday and Saturday, half day Sunday, a few hours mon- thurs after work, worked til 1AM last night after work, then a half day today. But i enjoyed every bit of it. Will be doing more soon. I don't think i'll ever buy a board again...... except maybe a bonzer
That's a great first build. The shape looks refined, and i like the wide point forward outline. By the way i also made my first board with resin tint, also did the freelap. I'll try to dig up a picture. That was 20 years ago...it was a round nose fish when ...Lost had just started making them popular. I loved that board, rode it for several years quite a bit, and eventually sold it for $150. I suspect you will have the same experience.
Good job Bass. Seems like you have the mindset to build boards and be good at it. I will look forward to your ride report. There will be great satisfaction (I’m sure) in surfing a new shred stic that you built!
Outstanding first board, Bass... She's a rider, for sure. Many good waves... and many good memories will be ultimate satisfaction. Being your own worst critic, it will be a long time until you see no flaws in your work. Someone once said, "don't let perfection get in the way of greatness." It's all about doing it yourself and giving yourself the opportunity to be creative... a true extension of your surfing life, and the core of the surfing spirit. Congratulations, brother....
Thanks a bunch man. As far as perfection, I'm with you. Funny story. So pops was in PA all week looking after my grandpa after grandma's passing. He didn't get home til Friday. So he didn't see it til it was finished. Im stoking out. Not to be cocky or full of myself but i exceeded my own expectations. He looks at it and goes "yeah it looks ok". I'm like whaaaat!? Just ok? I know it's not perfect but damn man, i think i did pretty good. He looks at it again. "Got a little uneven spot here". Yeah well it's my first board. There's a few blemishes. Anyway conversation continues. I get to saying how i'll make a few more and get better. He goes "you should make sure this one doesn't fall to pieces when it hits the water first". Thanks dad. Loving the confidence. My point is, I'm beyond happy with it regardless. As a surfer, i care how it surfs. Or any board for that matter. And iv felt up and owned and stared at surfboards long enough to know this one will do just fine. You always hear shaping described as a art form. I recognize that but now i truly understand what that means. When i do somthing, I'm all in. My wife calls me obsessive. I call it passion. So yeah i do want to improve and clean up some things. Got to dial things in. But flawless.... although i'll try for it im not the type to let that bring me down, discourage me, or have a negative effect on my outlook. Every board i make could be complete dogs. The fact that i can experiment, try new things without worrying about dropping cash on a custom, and simply just enjoy the rewards of making your own boards. That's what's important to me. Can't wait to get it in the water. I was just telling a buddy. Iv surfed countless waves. But the anticipation of my first wave on my first hand shaped board. I got a feeling that will be somthing i'll remember forever. Hope i don't eat it!
Helluva nice first board Bass. The end result of my first board looked like the time Homer Tried to build a backyard BBQ on the Simpsons.
It’s funny how parents can do that sometimes Man. my father? I built a boat from scraps that looked and ran like a $200k showroom job and he asked me how it was gonna make me any money. Took me 6 years and ton of money I didn’t have and he didn’t even want to go for a ride. Never did. But I never lost the love of it and the pride I took in doing it. Neither will you. And the thing I learned about my father is that sometimes they don’t know how to look at things through others eyes, that’s all. But that’s why its special - it’s well and truly YOURS. You did something a lot of us will never do, for the first time, and were very successful out of the gate... that means you will begin to love each project individually for their flaws AND perfections. Now that is truly custom
Just getting a chance to chime in here, but that’s a SICK shtick, Bass. Love the look of that thing. I hope she brings you lots of joy. Awesome tread. Nice work man!
Yeah it is funny. No hard feelings with my pops. It wasn't that he didn't care or didn't think i did good. He took pictures of it and sent it to my uncle and a bunch of his friends who surf. It's just his way of keeping me in check. He's funny like that. He dosnt surf but has been around it his whole life. So a board in his eyes is a board on the rack at a shop. So yeah he doesn't fully grasp the idea of what a board built in a tiny room with no experience looks like. Like i said, it drives me and motivates me to improve, but at the same time i realize he's seeing it through a diffrent set of eyes so i don't get hung up on the little imperfections and dwell on it. I think it's a good balance.
Thanks buddy! To far out to get excited but most recent forecast is showing a possible worthy wave on Sunday!
Got my first sesh on this bad boy today. It was my second session, so pretty tired already. Waves were stomach-chest high, clean, punchy, steep. Board paddles like a champ. Duck dives like a mini simmons. Meaning it duck dives well, but you get tired quick after successive duck dives. First wave was a nice barrel. I wrote about it in the whos been surfing thread. It was a late drop. I was deep on the foam ball. The board felt so solid and locked in. On a thruster i for sure would of had the tail sliding a bit. Even on the late drop, it just felt so locked in. I came out of that barrel stoked. The sesh was a pretty down the line type day. Board was fast and single finny. I didn't get to really go for big turns but did have to get on that tail to dodge closeouts and what not. It definitely squirts when you get on that tail. Felt good but i have to get a more opened face day to really put it through its paces. From what i felt today im liking it. I havnt rode a single fin in awhile. But from what i can remember im liking this board more than the other. I'll probably ride it again tomorrow so i'll be back with another ride report. Kept today short (well not short. I was out for 2hrs but i was beat from earlier sesh so i took it slow) but I'm pumped on what I'm feeling so far.
Rode it again today in small but clean looong peelers. It went great. Fast. Very cruisey and i seemed to click with it. Got that little cruisey flow thing going on. I was having fun with the wide point forward outline. You know stepping the back foot up and riding the front third of ther board. It's a fun board. Id really like to get it out in some waist-chest high lined up rollers. But im calling it a success at this point. Im digging it. Going to be getting back to it in about 2 weeks. Shaping somthing for a friend of mine. He has been surfing awhile but takes long breaks due to work and not really not being die hard about it. He surfs well, no shredder but he cruises and has some style. His biggest issue is bigger waves. All his shortboards have too much volume and he gets killed trying to get through the white water. Hard to duck dive those guys. Going to shape him a cruisey little board that suits his surfing. Plenty volume for a weekend warrior type guy but without going over board. He's my size to slightly smaller than me. Fuller parallel outlined 5'10 x 20/20.5 x 2.5. Single fin as he's not a get up and pump type of guy so i think it'll suit him. Single concave, since he's not throwing the board around i think just the single will work for him. Vee or flat through the tail, his choice. Probably a round tail. Working on the design and running ideas by him but he's pretty much giving me creative freedom on it. Excited to get my hands on another blank
Blank and resin is on its way. Final design has been decided. It's pretty cool. Like i said it'll be 5'10 x 20.5 x 2.5. Single concave, vee through tail, single fin. A bit fuller in the nose. Straight square tail but i'll round the corners. I was drawing it out on graph paper and it didn't look right until i pushed the wide point pretty far forward, 3.5 inches. Nose and tail 12 inches down/up is 16 inches with a the square tail being 10 wide. Outline is parallel. It's actually pretty similar looking to tomos nano model but without the rounded nose. Got my logo all made up. Im liking it. Wasn't going to do one but my buddy insisted. Sort of swinging for the fences as far as color goes. Green with a white swirl. It's my understanding that you don't get a real swirl with epoxy as you do with poly. But im going more for an effect. Going to do a cutlap, bottom and rails will be the green/white swirl. Deck is clear except for the tail where i'll also be doing the green/white swirl. Somthing like this.... Just going for a general effect. Been doing alot of research. Seems i have two options. 1) mix a batch of green resin and a batch of white resin. In a third container pour in green, then swirl in white, get it on the glass, swirl in more white, repeat. 2) glass the board with green resin then drip in a swirly sort of pattern white resin, squeegee and glass as usual. Not sure which route i'll take. Been doing lots of research on how to go about it. If anyone has suggestions I'm all ears. Not sure if there is interest for this build. I'll keep you guys updated unless there doesn't seem to be interest. Would be cool if guys posted handshaped builds here but not many shaping. Guess we will see how it goes. Got this board, Mr. Bs daughters board, then might do another for me. Trying to keep busy and hone in on the skills and get better. So i'll have a few boards to post up about.
I've only done a couple of resin swirls. I think the main rap for epoxy isnt that you cant get the swirl in the lamination, but rather that you can get those colors to really pop a lot better with poly because the hot coat and gloss coat that go over top of those colors can get so much clearer shinier. I think a key to doing those kinds of resin swirls is to use a LOT more resin than you normally would, let it run out all over the cloth and over the rail laps with minimal squegee use so the color swirl hits the cloth and spreads unmolested by the squeegee, then just use the sqeegee to pull out excess. Make sure to wipe the squeegee clean after EVERY stroke to not "dirty" the colors. I would imagine another advantage to poly resin (besides the glossiness) is that it sets up a lot quicker, and people doing elaborate color swirls dont want that resin sitting around wet in the cloth any longer than needed.
This is what iv found while searching. I plan on using way more resin then if i wasn't doing a swirl and minimal squeegee work. For the deck i plan on using 3 squeegees. One for the clear, one for the swirl, and one for the line on the tail where it fades from swirl to clear. You definitely get diffrent pop with poly but iv seen some epoxy swirls that look killer when i was searching around. Saw a video on YouTube of a guy doing one with the first technique i mentioned and it looked really good. Im leaning towards that approach. It's definitely possible to get a nice effect and that's what I'm looking for. Im excited to get to it and give it a shot.
I found this old picture of the first board i shaped about 20 years ago. ...Lost Round Nose Fishes were the new thing and i was stoked on the shape. This is a 5'11" pulled off a template from a Lost RNF board in a local shop. Cant find a picture of the bottom but it was an O'Fishl thruster setup. Loved this board...rode it for a long assed time.
