Shaping & Making own Surfboards

loctite

Don't know if there is a thread out there on this...

I've been meaning to do this for a while and hopefully this summer I will. I've been looking to shape and make my own board. I've done a lot of repairs, some of which are (if I say so myself) pretty good... (but is obviously not shaping)

Are there any books/DvD's/sites or other resources that anyone could recommend. All the Info I've come accross on the web seems a bit disjointed on the topic.... cheers:)

gargan

i did it last summer, theres some good videos sets on expert village and you tube, theres also surfersteve.com.

failing that magic seaweed sell shaping and glassing videos but you shouldnt need them

loctite

What shape/size board you go for??
How it turn out?

PjC

I'd be interested in this, you should blog it as your goin

gargan

made a 6' x 18" shortboard that i was going to use for kite surfing which as far as im concerned was a failure. I messed up the glass on the rails pretty badly by not getting the resin completely over the glass. myself an a couple of mates are gonna try again this summer, but not untill we can get a proper shapinmg shack set up ill be making a 7' funboard, one mates making a fish and the other is undecided.

there are some simple steps to make it go smother like useing a brush on the rails and haveing extra measures of resin ready if i run out half way through and making a proper template instead oif marking straight onto the blank, simple steps i skipped last time

yank_in_eire

Check out the John Carper videos Shaping 101 and Glassing 101. They both give you a start-to-finish how-to, plus they have some good tips for people who are maybe only going to make one board (ie not getting into production).

Get ready for some serious mess as well. Shaping a blank generates tons of dust (wear your dust mask!!!) that seems to stick to everything. Resin will drip onto anything and everything in the area, and sure as eggs you'll tipover at least one full container of something before you're through that will ruin whatever it touches.

Keep your health in mind if you're going to go ahead with it - wear a respirator and safety goggles (trust me on this one I have the scars!)when working with resin. The fumes are wicked and MEKP catalyst can burn your skin or blind you if it gets in your eyes.

Having said all that, good luck and post pics when you're done. It's pretty satisfying catching that 1st wave on a board you made yourself.:D

glide

when you are ready to get the materials send me a pm, i sell all the stuff you need
also rent out shaping and glassing rooms.

Donal94

There are some good instructions on intructables.com

loctite

PjC wrote: »

I'd be interested in this, you should blog it as your goin

I've never blogged before... good enough reason to start I suppose.

I'm just gonna try to flog one of my boards before I get the materials and once I do that I'll start the blog and post it up here if anyone is interested in it....

I'd say it is gonna be an unmitigated disaster but gotta learn some how. Bought the Surfing 101 and glassing 101 DVD's. I think they are a waste of money TBH. Didn't learn anything new from them at all. The surfersteve.com site had way more useful info and it was free.

Gargan, what glass and how much did you use on the board?? I've come across 4 X 4oz on deck and 2 X 4oz on bottom versus 2 X 6oz and 1 X 6 on bottom?? I'm definitely gonna go with a retro fish shape... The missus has a class 70's Spider retro fish that I'd love to copy with a couple inches added on to it....

imaleper

Glide how much fibreglass and resin would you need for a board (short/fish size approx)? I've got an old Bic Natural Surf board that I've stripped of the plastic, the foam would be sufficient surely?

Any thoughts anyone? And what kind of prices are we talking here, if I were to buy a blank + glass + resin?

glide

on the bic foam you need to find out what foam it is before you can reglass it!

example of prices.

retro fish 6'5" blank + 9 mtrs cloth + 4kg resin works out at €124 +vat

imaleper

What kind of dimensions are on the 6'5 Fish blank... Is it just the length of the board that matters when it was categorised into a 6'5 fish? Or would it limit my design with regards to thickness, rocker, and width also?

It's polyurethane foam! So as far as I know thats compatible with most cloth/resin pairs!? Would you be able to give me a price on just some S cloth and epoxy? (9m, 4kg)?

glide

the fish blank is 6'5 long and around 25 wide and just over 3" thick so you will get whatever you want from it

and can get epoxy though why do you want s glass? it is over twice the price per metre!
and you wont need 4kg of epoxy much less

imaleper

But three inches isn't enough to get any kind of performance rocker... Or has it already been shaped, and thats it max thickness?

Oh and S cloth is just for strength and less weight, but meh, i'm not too pushed on the matter

glide

the rocker is already in the blank the fish blanks have about 3.5" of rocker already in the nose and you add more as needed by shaping it in.

the thickness on these is actually 3 1/4" so you can get whatever thickness you need from these.

yank_in_eire

loctite wrote: »

I've never blogged before... good enough reason to start I suppose.


Gargan, what glass and how much did you use on the board?? I've come across 4 X 4oz on deck and 2 X 4oz on bottom versus 2 X 6oz and 1 X 6 on bottom?? I'm definitely gonna go with a retro fish shape... The missus has a class 70's Spider retro fish that I'd love to copy with a couple inches added on to it....

That seems awfully heavy for a fish glass job. I would suggest a single 4oz bottom with a single 4oz plus 4oz deck patch on top or a single layer of 6oz bottom and a 6oz top with 4 oz deck patch.

loctite

PjC wrote: »

I'd be interested in this, you should blog it as your goin

http://anoobtotheshapingworld.blogspot.com/

And so it begins... getting blank on Monday....

gargan

I put 3 x 4oz on top and 2 x 4oz on the bottom but only because I wanted to use it as a kiteboard so it needed to be stronger and weight wouldn't be an issue. If purely for surf I'd have done 2 x 4 and 1x 4. In theory you should be able to get a 6 foot board done with 1 kg of resin but I used at least twice that. I used about 500ml on each coat, 500 top, 500 bottom, 500 top hot coat and 500 bottom hot.

Loctote where are you getting your blank, glass and resin from? I just rang the person I got mine from last year but she doesn't sell them anymore

fmcc

best of luck with it loctite

loctite

gargan wrote: »

Loctote where are you getting your blank, glass and resin from? I just rang the person I got mine from last year but she doesn't sell them anymore

Getting them off of Glide. He's put a few posts on this thread.

glide

blog looks good loctite see you next week!