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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Build sign-off and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

I never got around to updating the last build, so here goes…this will also serve as a send-off for 2017 and a welcoming in of 2018 for this very inconsistent blogger.

The balsa skin went on better than I expected considering it wasn’t vacuum-bagged. Instead, I glued up each small sheet of balsa veneer, and then taped and weighted each down onto the shaped blank. For the rails I wrapped balsa veneer to a thickness of just over two centimeters. It all worked out well, and the hybrid build approach produced a light and attractive board. I glassed it with two layers of 4 oz. glass on the deck, and one on the bottom, with Japanese-sourced epoxy.

The board turned out to be my lightest yet (by far), and the EPS and epoxy gives it a ton of float. The board has gone well in small waves, which is precisely what it was designed for…basically I was looking for longboard float in something small I could easily fit in my car. It is way too fat and corky for decent waves, but I have other boards that fulfill that purpose.

Due the strength and lightness of the experimental EPS block blank I put together on this build, I am looking to build a straight EPS and epoxy performance board (minus the balsa veneer) in 2018. I’ve in fact started gathering EPS blocks from the local Daiso stores, so I’m hoping to slowly assemble the blank over the spring. I will try to update that build as it progresses.


In the meantime, Happy New Year, or Hau'oli Makahiki Hou as they say in Hawai’i, which is where I’m happily heading tomorrow!
Balsa veneer all done and sorted

This guy climbed up my foot while I was shaping the rails, 
scared the hell out of me! 

Glassed and hot coated

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