Surfboard

[jeff]

Hey folks,

I'll get things rolling with a project I undertook late this summer. Living a few blocks from the beach here in Southern California it is hard to avoid the surfing bug. I caught it pretty bad and couldn't help the urge to learn about board shaping. After months of reading and researching, I decided to make a shape that I'd never even surfed--the fish. It's an original San Diego shape from the early 70s I believe and has been experiencing a resurgence in popularity here. So, I picked up a board blank at a surf shop down the street, shaped it (what a mess!), shaped the fins, and glassed the whole thing in my garage.

Here are some shots of the project:













And finally, my little one helping me put the first coat of wax on it before the inaugural session:



Best,

Jeff

[KurtHuhn]

Bloody well done, Jeff! How long did it take you to complete - roughly?

I saw a show on making surfboards on the Discovery Channel or somesuch - it looked like the side effect of shaping a board is a *HUGE* mess.

[Frank]

Excellent job. Do you find that the extra fins provide better control/stability?

[RadDavis]

Jeff,

Gnarly stick, Dude. Off the Richter.

Rad

[sethile]

After months of reading and researching, I decided to make a shape that I'd never even surfed--the fish. It's an original San Diego shape from the early 70s..

Wow, does that ever bring back memories--I was surfing in San Diego in the early 70s, and well remember that shape! I never owned one, but had something similar in a twin fin. Great for beach breaks as I remember...

Hard to believe that's your first board, Jeff. You are amazing!

[hlp808]

Wow, Awesome board Jeff. yeah you see that style mostly on the west coast. What's the size and where did you get the blank. I know that the company in Cali that most of the shapers got their blanks from close shop awhile back. It was big news over here, that's why surfboards in Hawaii were very high priced.

Not sure where most of them are getting their blanks now.


Jaden

[wdteipen]

That's awesome. Let us know how it rides.

[Olivier]

Awesome. I know nothing about surfing or bordmaking but I can see a quality finish from a mile away. I won't even attempt anything like that. You really did a great job on that bord.
Is that glassfibre ?

[jeff]

Thanks a lot guys. it was really a great time making it, but very frustrating too. The glassing is one of the more difficult undertakings of my adult life. Next time I won't bother with glassed on fins and will settle for fin boxes.

Jaden, the board is 6'4" and its nearly 3 inches in thickness should tell you something about my surfing skill. I'm no good, but I have a lot of fun getting beat up by the beach break down the street. It's a very unforgiving and fast break, but when the swell's coming in just right, you can have a great time.

I think I figured that the board took nearly 40 hours to complete. Most of that time was in the glassing. I suspect that board number two, if I choose to make one, will take about half of that time. I'm thinking about making a 9' classic single fin nose rider for the summer surf. But we'll see.

The blank is from Ice9. They make their boards using sustainable materials. This one, for instance, was from a foam that has a cane sugar base. Clark foam, the company I imagine you were talking about Jaden, went out of business several years ago due to the increasing regulations by the state of California. It became impossible for them to keep going and as the world's largest supplier of foam blanks, the surfing industry really was in a bad way for a while. now a bunch of new companies have stepped in to fill the void. Ice9 is one of many start ups that are doing quite well.

The bottom has 6oz E glass and the deck has the same with a 2/3 length, double-layer deck patch. And I used epoxy resin, so the board is light for the size and incredibly durable. I have yet to ding it and I've surfed it a lot.

Jeff