How do you go about making a surfboard?

by **Dmd*Grl** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:25 am

So , i was noticng the better i got at surfing the more i'd practice. HOwever, when i would come home wash off my surfboards again i notice all these cracks, nick nack, dents ect... Off coarse i fill them in with thats surf stuff and sand them off when they'd dryed..... so now i just basically have a whole buch of fixed goof ups all around my board from this summer. ANd i dont want to buy another one cause it cost money

So How would i go about making my own surfboard?
Fiberglass shortboard......or anything that basically floats and catches waves good. :?:

by **pkbum** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:05 am

buy some blank which are pretty cheap and rent a shaping room

dunno about glassing and etc.

by **Dmd*Grl** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 3:30 pm

how much do those room go for?

by **isaluteyou** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 4:29 pm

im not sure about renting a shaping room (if memory serves me correctly CHarvey has some experience regarding that)

But basically you need a blank and a few tools and a little bit of know how/ common sense. Id avoid buying a blank online if possible as you end up paying shipping costs and the likes.

Check out http://www.swaylocks.com for a great site regarding shaping.

Glassing a board (probably the hardest part when you are new) is an diffirent story although you can get someone else to glass it for you which will likely cost anywhere from $160-$240. Otherwise you will need to aquire the materials yourself.

The main thing is that its highly unlikely you will beable to shape a board for much less than you can buy one from a shaper not unless you intend on doing everything solo and have quite a few of the tools already :wink:

by **CHarvey** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 7:46 pm

It is very hard to find a shaping room that goes for less then $40 an hour, can't speak for anyone else but it takes me about 4-5 hours to shape a board start to finish, not including glass. Since glassing shops buy in bulk you will actually be able to get it done cheaper through a decent glass shop so long as all you get is a sanded finish. But you can also find brand new boards or get a customer short board for $350-$450 so you have to decide if it is worth your time and money to try and shape it yourself not knowing if you are making something rideable, or order/buy one from your local shaper and know it will work for the same or a little more then you would spend making one yourself.

isaluteyou - Gonna be posting up the new board I just did when I get a minute. Interested to see what you think about it.

by **isaluteyou** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:01 pm

CHarvey wrote:It is very hard to find a shaping room that goes for less then $40 an hour, can't speak for anyone else but it takes me about 4-5 hours to shape a board start to finish, not including glass. Since glassing shops buy in bulk you will actually be able to get it done cheaper through a decent glass shop so long as all you get is a sanded finish. But you can also find brand new boards or get a customer short board for $350-$450 so you have to decide if it is worth your time and money to try and shape it yourself not knowing if you are making something rideable, or order/buy one from your local shaper and know it will work for the same or a little more then you would spend making one yourself.

isaluteyou - Gonna be posting up the new board I just did when I get a minute. Interested to see what you think about it.

yep unless you buy your glassing supplies in bulk its not cost effective i ordered up enough for 3 boards and the whole thing tallied up meant each surfboard cost me about $120 to make and glass + fins which werent bad. But im a lazy sod and my garage is a mess really need to clean up and get back to glassing my other 3 shaped boards :lol:

CHarvey - look forward to seeing your latest work of art :wink:

by **buckthis** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 12:04 am

don't expect your first board to come out perfect, help someone who has been glassing their boards and you will learn how to do it. it is not easy and it is a learning proccess, you will be fine by your tenth board

by **parrysurf** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 3:57 am

first shaping room.......blue tarps stapled up to create some dust control in my folks garage. Next one was in my buddy's garage..a fancy version of my tarps. The last one was the side of my yard....no way was my wife gonna put up the dust in the garage.

Doesn't much matter where you shape....you only need some level stands, and a good reference to level. You will notice level lines on the end walls of most all shaping rooms. helps sighting concaves and balance between sides.

by **parrysurf** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:07 am

I think every surfer should make and surf their own board for a whole summer.....first time I did that it was a sloppy surfing summer. My next attempt was a much more fun summer.

Good luck....take your time.....get a video..I think JC in Hawaii has a good shaping vid.....have fun...DO IT!!

"""SHAPING 101 REVIEW
Surfing magazine:

"Step by step guide to shaping from one of the masters. Totally helpful. Spiced up with some sick surfing footage too. Ear snacks mellow, but good. The Vid could've been called The Johnny Carper Show. What, you like? Call 800-833-0389 and be ready for a mouth full o'foam dust."""""

by **Dmd*Grl** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 1:58 am

damn, sounds like a lot of work come to think about it. No wonder people just buy them. I need to find hook ups where people sell all these things, or just spend time with a person who makes bords.

by **isaluteyou** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:18 pm

Dmd*Grl wrote:damn, sounds like a lot of work come to think about it. No wonder people just buy them. I need to find hook ups where people sell all these things, or just spend time with a person who makes bords.

you can buy blanks and such from select surfshops. You can order glassing supplies online but you have to pay shipping so i just went to a place in la messa san diego that has everything you need.

Ideally getting hands on experience with someone who knows whats going on is best. You can get away with a lot in shaping its the glassing that can really trip you up :wink:

by **esonscar** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:04 pm

I just made a carbon fibre board - hugely tricky since you can see the weave of the carbon through the clear resin - no mistakes here since you can't cover it up at all :roll:

And the join !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shock:

I happen to have dinged it quite bad too, the day before yesterday, when the wind hurled it into some cliff fall rocks

Oh well, it’s a practice meticulous, long, delicate repair job then

Good luck with yours (fiberglass is easier, but once the resin starts hardening its game over – either you have made the board in time, or you have a mighty mess of lumps on your hands !)

by **kitesurfer** » Sat Aug 23, 2008 10:45 pm

esonscar wrote:I just made a carbon fibre board - hugely tricky since you can see the weave of the carbon through the clear resin - no mistakes here since you can't cover it up at all

How did you find wrapping the cloth to the shape of the board or did you vac-bag it?

KS

by **Sillysausage** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 9:16 am

hard work

by **esonscar** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 4:44 pm

Didn’t vac bag this one.

I Poly’d it, so I had no time to phfaf with anything – actually, if you even touch the carbon fiber during layup and glassing, the weave gets all messed up and it looks rubbish, which can occur when you vac bag and / or hand job it ( most windsurfers have the carbon fiber layer hidden from view under a coloured laminate - I wonder why ?! ).

Expensive is a mistake in carbon fiber :!:

My stringer reinforcing is bang on which is a relief as any misalignment here would lead to a ‘ naw, its not straight – I don’t like that one’ , which would be fair enough.

I guess the mass produced ones use pre-preg ( like a sort of sticky back carbon fiber you can just peel off the backing and the weave holds. You can then easily suck it into a mould to form the shape of that mould – usually half a surfboard or a part of an F1 car – but seen the boards crack – oooooo ).

My technique is a single wrap tailor cut and finished off – not easy at all and not recommended for a novice to try.

My join is along the ‘stringer’ – can’t get much stronger than that

But I messed up a protective fiberglass wrap on top of one though – as I was glassing, the resin became like jelly

OMFG !

Sheets of costly but luscious woven carbon fiber glistening in technological beauty underneath a layer of translucent blobs ! bollox :roll:

After all the ‘carbon fiber fist time perfect’ concerns I go and mess up the dam glassing bit – tozzer

Still, didn’t take long to sort out – I made some canted carbon fibre fins while I was waiting for the resin to go rock hard ready for a bit of sanding back

WHY did I mess up ? I went to open anew pack of protective gloves, and that minute or two was enough to really mess things up – ‘cause I then forgot to put the graphics on which took more time and bang – resin started to cure. I gently commented on the circumstance at the time

Still, my carbon fiber boards go and look the biz and are tough as hell. Totally custom so the customer can have beyond what they desire

I have to say ( bear in mind I have stared at CF for hours and days and weeks and months ) – I still love the look of it on a surfboard :wink:

Dam, I’m gonna build myself a long board :lol: