Surfing Waves

here's some questions for the guys who know what they are talking about. I have heard some opinions that people say that this would end up being like a funboard, which aren't all that great unless you surf twice a year and wanna ride without any work.

after a loong time of looking around and researching and changing designs and blah blah whatever, two of my friends and I are finally doing it.

I plan on doing a 7'2" egg shape, 21 11/16 wide, 2 5/8" thick. I plan on doing a 10 inch center fin box, with two future side bites.

I hope to ride it in east coast waves (a.k.a., nothing-ness) mostly in VA beach. so basically, 1-2" summer, blown-out, choppy stuff. I would like something that would still be fun to ride in those conditions. for a while, I have been surfing a 6'3"x 18.5"x 2.5", which doesn't work for a 5'11" 175 pound guy in those conditions, or atleast it is not as fun as I would like.

I will be making it out of #1 EPS foam from lowe's, gluing up 3/4" sheets with rocker glued in, using epoxy glue. we will then be glassing with standard E weave glass and resin research epoxy. we will have 1/8" stringers.

so my questions are:

1.) Does everyone think this board would work well in these conditions?

2.) what kinda glassing schedule work good for this? It's my first...so I would like it to last.

3.) what would work good for a stringer?

4.) did I forget anything?

thanks in advance,

here's the APS file for it- tell me what ya'll think

I think it will end up riding like a funboard...

For an egg-shape, thats a whole lot of volume.
I reckon you could cut down on the length and width by quite a bit and it'd still work fine in the conditions you describe.

For somone your height/weight in a mushy couple of feet (assuming you're avoiding longboard/funboard/fish designs) I think I'd be looking about
6'8 x 21" x 2"5/8

Love the project though

longboard and fish designs are fine with me, I just don't think I should attempt the buttcrack on the swallow tail until I have a bit more experience under my belt.

how about....



thanks for the comments by the way.

Now that looks cool

I reckon it'd be loose as anything, skate around all over the place... but in a good way...

Gotta be fun on those small mushy days

Sounds exactly like the last board i made except mine is only 7 foot long with 4 1/2"rocker. I'm getting on fine with mine and it goes like a rocket. However i am by no means an expert surfer but i'm doing stuff now that i couldn't do on my previous board so i definately wouldn't describe it as fun board although it is alot of fun to ride.
Here are a couple of photos.






Cheers KS

sweet looking board kitesurfer!

what foam and resin and glassing schedule did you use?

yeah, I think ya'll have talked me back into it. I am also in no means a great surfer, I think I may go 7'0" for some more paddling speed (one of my weaknesses, or atleast on my 6'3" it is)

I'm gonna set it up as a single fin, with two side bites still.

man, I'm excited now!!!

You might want to reduce your entry rocker for faster planing on those mushy waves.

how does 4.5 sound for nose rocker?

I can't really help you on exact dimensions. Also, I should point out I have never shaped a board myself. This is information I've read about, so do with it what you want.

I do think "standard" shortboards have 5.5, and you would want less than that for you're small/mushy wave board.

Have you thought about having a wider tail. If not a swallow tail, what about an square, rounded square or squash? That will probably help with you're overall design goal.

well I have kinda always stayed with the round tail for some reason. I have it on my current board and am happy with it, although I have not tried many boards, due to my extreme shyness in the water and lack of friends who surf.

but I basically have mudded together a couple of shapes including the merrick single fin, the 6'8" egg off of the design/construction manual, and just stuff I made up my self.

I pulled the nose down a bit on my file to get a bit more speed in the mush.

are you suggesting a wider tail so I would have more wave catching, or another motive?

I believe it will aid in wave catching, but I was thinking more drive and quicker turns for the smaller waves.

Hi Tom thanks for the comments. I
t's an english company's blanks Homeblown they are called. The foam is harder than clarks used to be so you have to be much more careful when planning especially the deck but if you have a good heavy planner then you'll be fine. The nose rocker is about 4.5 inches but if you want i can measure it and give you exact dimensions. The board is quite wide at 22". I went for a low entry rocker and single fin for both speed of paddle and the retro look. I've concaved the nose for nose riding and vee'd the tail for control. The rounded pin helps in the turn. If you wanted more rocker but still wanted the speed of paddle then i suggest going for the 7 foot but but in a single concave through the length of the board as this will effectively flatten the rocker through the centre of the board allowing speed to be kept whilst keeping the rocker on the sides.
The board is polyester with a light/dark blue resin swirl and polished.

Cheers KS

I'm really a fan of the swirl; I plan on doing that but in blue/green/yellow. for the coloring you use pigments instead of tints, right?

I've decided to go with the 6'8" plan above. I figured that anything would paddle fast compared to what I have now

I ran across this site, which might help...

Surfboard Design Guide
http://www.scsurfers.com/boardpage.html

wow out of all the research I have done, I don't think I have ever run across that site.

Thanks

Be careful with using blue and yellow as that will mix into green and along with the green you are likely to end up with a green board! See photos!
But yes you use pigments.









No green pigment was used at all on this board just blue, yellow and clear and see how green the board came out.

Cheers KS

A good way to get a nice random pattern and this is how i did the blue board is to work out how much resin you will need then split it four ways, two parts clear and two parts colour, i used two blues a light one and a dark one. The advantage of using two shades of the same colour is you won't get any colour mixing! Then add your cat to the resins and mix. Then pour the three mixes into one pot, stir once and once only then use this to laminate with! Don't forget you will have to do a cutlap on the bottom if you want a white deck! I'm assuming you know this already but if you don't feel free to ask away.

Cheers KS

Nice! I like your stuff. yes, I do realize I will have to do cutlap, but I have had many lengthy discussions with some very knowledagble guys off of swaylocks, so I got the basics down (I hope).

I plan to put it in one pot and stir like....none, yeah maybe once. I really like the color schemes I have seen from those types.