summer board build

my bud and I just finished two small wave boards this summer. He's a bigger dude and made a 6'3 PU/PE swallow tail quad and I made my third attempt at a mini simmons type shape. Its 5'8 EPS/Epoxy. Here's a little bit about the process: both templates were just cardboard shapes scabbed together from other boards:




Shaped Mini Simmons in the background, swallow tail template on blank about to be cut:



Cutting the outline with a jigsaw:


Cleaning up the curves with some sandpaper glued to a block of wood. This is a really critical step IMO.



Cutting the rail bands:
<br />Tuning the rails with some drywall screen:

The ghetto 20 year old O'Fishl jig that still works perfectly for Futures Boxes:

 

My Buddies fin setup installed:



Bottom of my Mini Simmons about to get four fins:


Mini Simmons Bottom and Rocker Shot:





Erich's swallow tail glassed and sanded out:



Both of these boards were finished about a month ago and have been ridden several times.

We're both extremely stoked. They're great rides!

 

Thanks!

Yeah I'm sold on mini-simmons as a shape that makes knee waist high SOFT waves fun to surf. I know I've said it before. This shape is nice...its MAD wide so it will paddle into and glide easily on a 1-2 foot wave but with some tail rocker and the quad setup with small rear fins it seems like it turns on a dime (well...for this kind of shape...maybe better to say it turns on a nickel or quarter)

 

Thanks everyone. I appreciate it. The Mini Simmons is very fun to ride, and definitely a funky looking board. The dimensions are something on the order of 5'8" x 23" x 2 3/8" I thinned it out a LOT because I wanted the board length and planning area so the board would just fly across mushy faces (which it does) but didn't particularly want a great deal of volume.

Erich's swallow tail is just a stunner. It wouldn't look out of place at all sitting on a new board rack. And its only the third or fourth board he's built.