The SUP is taking shape

Got the deck done and ran the planer over the blank this evening. I seems huge compared to the other boards I ride, but it is pretty exciting mowing down on something this big. Much to the chagrin of the neighbours, and my wife, the planer ran loud and proud for about an hour; there might be something wrong with the thing as it is bloody loud -- it drowns out the backhoes working across the street.  Luckily for all involved I'm done with it and will be sanding only.from tomorrow. Good progress though, hopefully I'll be ready to glass by the weekend. Fun surf for the last couple days too, gotta love the summer...

 

SUP update

The SUP is coming along. I'm now laying up the deck pieces and fitting things together. I've put a few foam blocks under where the fins will be, and across the middle where I'll be standing. I hope they provide more contact and glue points for the deck and keep things firm in the middle.

The paddle has taken shape. It needs a bit more sanding and shaping of the handle, but it looks alright. I read that the blade should be at about a 15 degree angle, but I only managed 11 or 12...oh well, shouldn't make that big of difference for puttering around and catching small waves. I'm not sure what the glassing the schedule should be, I'll go heavy on the blade and see how that goes...if I could only get my hands on some carbon that would be the way to go.

I'll update again when the deck is done and I clean things up a bit...

The long and the short of it



It's been a month and a half since I posted...as Ferris observed, "sometimes life moves pretty fast" (cue the Beat's Rotating Heads, or was that Shoot it Up by Sigue Sigue Sputnik? Hmmm, getting a bit old and am forgetting the important stuff). Anyways, we've had a lot of fun surf in July, and I've been riding by two new wood sticks pretty well exclusively. It's been intersesing, my "short board" is a 6'6", and my "long board" is a 6'7". One inch difference in length, but outline, rocker, and weight differences give me two completely different rides. The 6'7" mini long is really fun in the weaker mushier waves, it picks up momentum well, and lets me go longboarding without packing around a 9 footer. The 6'6" diamond tail has been a real pleasant surprise in all kinds of waves, it's a bit skatey in the bigger stuff with its wide tail, but works good in pretty well everything we get here. Finally, I made myself a ridable daily driver that performs well, yeehah.   

 

Since things are working out well with my two newest boards, I decided to make something completely different next: an SUP. I recycled the decks off of one of the boards I made last year, made the bottom, threw it on my rocker table,  and am now in process of framing it and builing up the rails. Oh yeah, and I'm making a paddle for it as well. I don't know how this is all going to work out, but I though it would be fun to give it a go. I wanted something I could fit in my kei van, so it's 8'4". It's about 33' wide and 4.75" thick. It came in at about 160 litres on Aku Shaper, so that should be enough to float my goat. I hope I can have it ready for glassing by the end of August.

I'll try to post more on my progress when I finish up the semester. 

 



Finishing up

Finishing up on the 6'7" mini noserider. It has come together pretty well. I tried some new things in finishing it. I sanded off the glossy epoxy finish this time and used a clear acrylic spray as a finish coat. It looks OK, more of a satin finish...it feels better to the touch I think. This is an interesting size for this kind of board, I stepped the deck down, so there's good volume under the chest and the rails are thin enough to provide bite...can't wait to ride it, maybe this weekend.  

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Glassed

pre-vent and final sanding

My supervisors: Ping (tail only) and Pong (foreground)

Vented with the new bigger brass vents from WSS

From a distance

It just keeps coming...

The waves just keep coming...last night was bigger and really fun out here at Kako, but this morning there were still fun waves on a dropping swell. The left stayed open all the way across, nice rights too. I had it for an hour all to myself this morning, and will hit it again after work. Hokkaido at its finest... 

 Wakuwaku, waves crashing over the tetras

 Clean peaks

The left

Mini Noserider Update

Been really busy lately, lots of work and writing, but also enjoying some good surf...been out 10 times in the last 9 days...and it's supposed to pick up again tomorrow...Ooohah, to quote Pacino. I've made some progress on the mini noserider, it's coming together nicely. The rails and rocker are getting better than previous boards. That said, the 6'6", my most recent, has become my daily driver...it's been a blast riding the single fin.

 

 I'm putting the fin box in before glassing this time, it's made the whole procedure much easier.

My shaping shed's back in action after a long cold winter.

6'7" Mini Noserider

Been busy riding the new board and am now working on yet another...just can't stop making these things. The one underway now is a 6'7" mini noserider. I've been looking long and hard at Linden's Compressor Model and wanted to make something similar for myself. The "blank" is done (framed and hollow like the last one), so now it's time to smooth things out and shape the rails. I'll post more pics when it's shaped and ready to glass.

 

The 6'6" diamond tail has been working well, it goes surprisingly good in the small surf considering it's size. Width and thickness appears to be the way go. It has been my go to board for the last few weeks. 

 

It's been cool here in Hokkaido, and the surf not so great recently...that said, still got out four times last week and am just super happy that the snow is gone. Next week we should get our cherry blossoms here in Noboribetsu.  

 

Pics of the new project: