kako

kako
kako

Thursday, October 31, 2013

ahh, Hokkaido fall surf

The waves have been great. This year things were pretty quiet through September, but it really picked up in October. We just finished up typhoon #27, and may get one or two more before winter and the north winds arrive. I got in a week straight up until Monday, which is a really good run for this season, especially with the short days and work. All these pics are from Kako, my home break. Really fun waves and nice steady offshores...



The rail rebuild on the fish is going pretty well. I sanded all the varnish off the top and bottom, and am now shaping the new rails. I had to drill out the old FCS plugs because the extra width put the rails too far from the fins. Got quite a bit of kickback/movement drilling with the 30mm bit not liking the hard plastic of the plugs...ended up with some ugly tearing around the holes. I filled the holes with 30mm dowling, and quite a bit of wood filler, looks pretty ugly but should function OK... I probably should have just left the old plugs in. It'll be set up with a pair of big twins and a small trailer (MR TFX), the same set I bought for the previous incarnation of the board. Actually, with the wider template the board is looking more like a MR superfish (minus the wings), so hopefully it will go OK...More posts later... 





Saturday, October 12, 2013

Repair, rebuild and fall surf

The diamond tail is back in the water. I replaced the cracked piece and nose area, and although it doesn't look as good as before, it is ridable. While I was at, I redid the somewhat bumpy gloss finish with a fine sand and clear acrylic coat. It's something I wanted to do anyway, so the repair was a good excuse. Nice to be back riding my favorite board again.    
 

Another project I have underway is a rail rebuild on the fish I made last year. It was my first framed board, and I did a really really lame job on the rails. So, I finally went ahead and planed off the rails and built them back up again with paulownia strips I picked up at the 100 yen (dollar) store. It is looking more like a normal board now...luckily, I finished it only with varnish before, so I can sand the whole thing down and glass it.


Ahh the fall, fun waves and hardly anyone out. Hopefully this will hold until the end of November.