Info On Shaping Your Own Fish

[isaluteyou]

Well I have cleared out the garage and descided it would be a fun project to build a fish as its the only board i dont have in my quiver. I only really have a few questions.

Blanks - where do you get them from I dont suppose i could just wonder to my local surf shop and see if they have em or what?

Resources - I have read some of the forum posts and just want to make sure i have all the resources and info i can possible have to start me off so if any one has got some really good stuff send it my way.

Experience - Would like someone who has some experience with shaping a fish just to swing some of the main pointers my way i.e stuff to avoid.

I have about 90% of the equipment i need and im getting all the glassing sorted (going to have a whole load of the stuff cause i want to keep a lot for some of the other projects i have going)

Im not a complete begineer on glassing as i have built canoes and a boat before so im hoping some of that experience will cross over.

Any thanks for the input in advance and watch this space as im surelly gonna post updates on my progress. Will be starting in the new year as i have 2 -3 weeks of spare time on my hands

[kitesurfer]

Yeah another backyarder joins the clan.



Tomcat should be able to help you out with american blanks supliers. What type of fish are you planning to shape? Retro or modern? HAve you had a look at swaylocks too? I spent hours on there researching boards, got some fish designs from there too.
Retro fish are nice and simple apart from the buttcrack which is just time comsuming and are nice boards to shape as their so small.
Best thing for you is to get your blank and then whilst looking at the blank visulise ur new board how it's gonna look then come back to us maybe with some more questions. Also recomend you get yourself shaping 101 and glassing 101. They take you through all the steps of making a surfboard.

KS

[tomcat360]

US blanks is up and running, but apparently people are liking the Rhynos better. I think a fish blank would be like....80ish? now. I can't remember.

I haven't done a fish yet, but isn't glassing the buttcrack a pain in the......buttcrack?

So what are we up to? Like 5 or 6 shapers around here? Alright!

[kitesurfer]

Shaping the butt crack is worse glassing it easier but can offer some advice when u get to that stage.

KS

[isaluteyou]

thanks for the input all. ya im going for a retro fish. i have spent a fair amount of time doing some research and will b getting shaping 101 series.

Im probably going to use usblanks.

Ive also been hunting down bust boards and stripping them apart to get a feel for whats involved. (yes the big surf we had created a lot of broken boards i have seen a load in the dumbsters got around 3 to play with just to get a feel)

This is going to be fun i hope

[tomcat360]

Any reasons you are picking US blanks? I think they were talked up a lot, being pretty much the same people as clark, but Rhynos are the same density all the way through, plus have a flat deck, so you don't worry about that.

I personally think they are better from what I've heard. I haven't seen or used US blanks, but I've dealt with Rhyno