Hi everyone, I'm back and ready to build my next board. Actually two boards! Which is exciting and a bit intimidating. I'm living in Canada and will be moving out to Vancouver island in about three weeks. A good buddy of mine out there wants to get into surfing and I had to leave my boards in Spain so I need something to ride, plus he has a workspace we can use and we are both keen for a fun project, so we are gonna split the costs and build a couple of construction foam boards, SWEET!!
Well, my last (which was my first) build went relatively well. I asked for advice here on this great forum and people gave me a lot of really good things to think about, some of which I implemented to great success, some of which I ignored to my detriment and failure haha. Anyhow, I learned a lot and I feel like I'm ready for my next build. Here are the details:
I can't seem to find any blanks near vancouver island, which means shipping a blank, which means pretty expensive, which I don't have. So I thinking of making the blanks out of EPS construction foam. If anyone knows of a place I can get blanks around vancouver island I would love to hear. However, I'm not counting on it, sooooo. Question about making an EPS blank: The last board I built I had the idea to just laminate two or three pieces of foam together and plane in the rocker, but someone on the forum here suggested that instead I cut the foam sheets into roughly rockered slabs and laminate those together. That method, which a bit more time consuming and finicky deffinitely worked a treat, and I even loved the pinstripe look of the board when finished. I'm wondering if this is the way to go again, or if anyone has another suggestion? In that vein, I'd also like to ask what type of glue should I go for when gluing EPS? The last board I built was XPS and I used polyurethane glue which worked well, but the issue I found was that it hardened quite a lot more than the foam, so when I encoutered glue joints on the edges/rails it created flat spots because the foam woud sand so much quicker than the glue, and it messed with my shape a little. Hoping to avoid that on this build. Anyone have a suggestion of what type of glue I should be looking for?
I plan to do 6/6/4 fibreglass and epoxy on both boards, but they will probably be stringerless. Do you think that will be enough? Should I consider doing stringers? Will stringers add much more strength or does it matter at all? I really don't know, but I will deffinitely follow advice on this one because I know at least a 6'2" can be stringerless, but I don't know about longer than that. I also am thinking about doing a fabric overlay on the deck of one or both boards. Thoughts? Is it more trouble than it's worth or is it as simple as just basically adding another layer of cloth during glassing?
Now for sizes and shapes. For my buddies board, he is not really a surfer at all, though we've been out a couple of times. He's competent and in fairly good shape, and when we went out he rode an 8ish foot softie. I was thinking something like a 7'6" - 7'10" funboard/egg would be ideal for him. Length wise we are pretty maxed at 8 foot because that's the longest that the foam sheets come in. When I told him that's what I was thinking he said he was along the exact same thoughts so I feel that would be good. Do ya'll think that would be a good place to go for a relatively inexperienced guy? He's about 5'10" and 195 pounds. If anyone has a template or suggestion for where to find dimensions I would greatly appreciate it as well.
Now for my board. I started surfing on a 7'8" softie and I loved it. I could get into almost any breaking wave which was great. The board I ended up building was a 6'2" fish with a lot of volume and a big fat tail. I was told it was probably too much of a step for me and my skill level and to a degree that was right, but I built it anyhow cause I wanted to and it turns out I was able to catch waves on it! What a feeling standing up on a board that short, and one that I made with my own hands!!! That being said, I'm no ripper, not enough skill, too much fat on my bones, and it's just not really my style. BUUUUUUTTT I do want to be able to carve a few turns if I can. The waves I'll be riding on Vancouver island will mostly be better than a really good day in Barcelona, so I figure even though I haven't surfed in like six months I should still be able to get away with something under 7 foot. What I'm really thinking is something like a 6'9" big fish. I know I know, I probably should just go with an egg, keep it simple, and enjoy surfing, but I love the look of a fish and that means something to me. I am open to suggestions though, I would love to hear the experienced thoughts of those who inhabit this forum. I want to experiment with this board a little too. Maybe try some contouring on the bottom, maybe even throw some channels in there, why the heck not?? I know I know, cause It's harder than it looks and I'll probably screw it up and it will make the glassing a nightmare. I know, but I might just try. Should I really avoid it, or should I give in to my desire for experimentation and suffer the consequences?
Please tell me learned boardsmiths. I crave your wisdom and advice.