Janu's Alley Slider

 Cool early morning and Janu couldn't wait to wax up the red beast 10ft x 24" x 3 1/2" Alley Slider

 The red virgin - Pig outline

 Deep concave running way back to the wide point and a nice roll through the tail

The Vans Simmons update

 

This year for the Fish Fry I was asked by The Vans Surf Team manager John Parmeter to shape some simmons for the boys to experiment with and see how they felt surfing something different from their normal comp boards. Team rider Caleb Reid-Boquist was very keen to be part of this challenge and spent hours colouring his board and personalising it.

This is what he had to say after heading home with the board and surfing it at his local break and getting the feel of it. " The board has been going really good and my whole outlook on surfing has changed,  it makes surfing big fat waves that you can't usually turn on a normal board , fun"

hope all is well
Caleb

Judging by the pics below he is getting to grips with it and having fun.

 Caleb cranking a bottom turn at Bronte - Both these pic thanks to Aquabumps

These two shot of Caleb at Bronte are from Frothers

Johns 50th present

Johns partner Mel asked me to make a board for his 50th. He loves the simmons and so I thought I would design something with a bit of simmons and a bit of fish influence . 5ft 6" x 22 1/2" x 2  3/4". Rasta bamboo quads from Futures. He is off to Byron for a surf today to give it a run . Always very satisfying making something for a mate who loves his surfing as much as you do.

Vans boards finished at the Fish Fry

 Vans team riders, Caleb Reid , Wade Goodall,  Kyuss King and Thom Pringle.

 This is Rich Pavel holding the 6ft simmo for John Parmenter the Vans team manager.

 Kyuss King with his 3ft 8" all sprayed and painted up.

 Caleb's board all painted up. The boys sure used some Posca Pens.

Me with the Team .

Vans Surf Team quiver for the Fish Fry

First up I had to meet Kyuss King to check out how small he was. This is him in the red hat with his dad and little brother.He is 11 years old and 4ft 8" 40kg of hot grom.I took a few boards to show him as he had no idea of what it was all about.

 I was contacted by John Parmeter the team manager of the Vans surf team a few months ago with the idea of having the guys shape some boards and then come along to the Fish Fry to check it out to see what it is all about. A chance for the guys to get together and to try something different. Well as it turned out time will tight for them to shape a board each and get it glassed in the week before the Fry. So I have the job of designing them something different to experiment with.

 The board for Kyuss is 3ft 8" x 19  x  2 1/8" and will have some hand foiled wooden fins.

Freshly shaped in the bay

Left to right ...
6ft x 23" x 3" for John the Team manager , it will have keel fins.
5ft x 22 1/2" x 2 1/2"  for  Caleb Reid-Boquist a team rider from Sydney
4ft 8" x 23" x 3" for Thom Pringle a team rider from the Sunshine coast
And Kyuss's board as above.
Dan and I are also designing a board for Wade Goodall that we will cut and he will finish.
The guys will get some footage of them shaping this board .

Glassed and ready for the boys to Posca the hell out of them.

Kelly Slater saw this one yesterday and wants to ride it. Also one of Dan's team riders Dru Adler who is 6ft 6" ants a go as well. Now that I would like to see 6ft 6" on a 3ft 8" board.

 

Nice little set of keels foiled by Dan. The whole board scaled out pretty well.

 

Christmas on the Gold Coast 2011

5ft 4" x 23" x 3" bagged Simmons

I started with one of my foam boards that I have designed in AKU Shaper and took 7mm off the thickness and 20mm off the rails all round. This was then cut from a hard Core Fusion EPS blank.

After sanding the blank I glued a 3mm Paulownia rail band / parabolic stringer round the outside of the blank.

The stringer is there to hold the rocker in the board and to aid in some following processes. It also seals the blank on one face.After the glue has gone off I trimmed the timber down to the blank and shaped it to the foil of the blank as well.

The polyurethane glue is spread over the foam blank and I sprayed a mist of water on the timber as the glue goes off with moisture.The 4mm deck and 3mm bottom skins are cut to approx 5mm oversize all round , taped together and placed in the bag. The glue has a 30 minute working time , so plenty of time to set things up.

A piece of shade cloth give the air some space to be sucked out without sucking straight onto the wooden.

The glues takes 2 hours to go off so the pump is left on for that time.It pulls down very well and very evenly. Best to gather up the excess bag on one side prior to pumping the air out. That way the bag is tight to the board on the edges and when the air comes out it pulls straight down on the skins rather than being able to get sucked in between the skins and rail bands. Which can happen. The masking tape also helps to keep it out during this time.

The when it is all set , slide it out of the bag and trim the excess 5mm all round. This is also where the parabolic stringer comes in handy. Make sure to keep the face square as this is important.

There are 6 x 3mm laminates to make up the nose as it is easier to bend these thinner strips , although you may be able to steam or heat them to make it easier. I have not tried that yet.

All 6 laminates on and then trimmed with the Japanese saw at a slight angle which will help hold or key the next rail bands in position. I have also rough trimmed them down to the deck and bottom skins.

Not a big mess yet.

3 x 6mm thick rail bands glued on and tail block laminated as well.

Here I have planned the rail bands down to the foil of the board prior to rough shaping the rails. So the outer edge of the rail band is still square at this point.

I used a small hand plane to bring the rails down rather than the electric planner just to get more feeling for the wood and what was happening. I felt better doing it this way . A bit slower and hard work but you only get one shot at this.

All shaped and leash plug epoxied in.

I used Futures fin boxes and took extra foam out right through to the deck timber to key it all together as there is no glass over the boxes as you would do in a glass board.

These are the new Rasta Bamboo quad set from Futures Fins.

I have finished the board with 2 coats on Lanotec which is lanolin or the waterproof oil / grease from sheep's wool. It is not to waterproof the wood but to condition it in the first instance.

What I have tried to achieve here is a simple way of making a wooden board with less time , materials , weight and cost involve. Not necessarily a greener board in any way , but it is probably a long way towards that as well. My theory is that the materials used are far more compatible flex wise so that if they need to move they will all go together. Where as if you were to use resin whether epoxy or urethane which is hard and not as compatible flex wise. So it may be more likely to come away from the foam as it is the softer material. The other thing is the Paulownia , the Polyurathane glue and the Styrene blank are all waterproof. The proof will be in pudding as they say when she gets waxed up and surfed. It feels good and the weight is great . I will keep you posted.

Well my good friend Johnny T took the little Simo out this morning at The Alley and had a ball. Some late take offs and some speedy little sections saw him slashing the face all the way down the line. One bonus is that he didn't need wax as the deck was not slippery at all. Paddles well and seems to be no problems yet.