I'm a guy outside Chicago who spends a few weeks a year in San Diego surfing, am an ok surfer but have never shaped, don't have cabinet-makers skills, and have no nearby surfboard shops to go into to ask advice . . . the last one whose first project should be building a hollow wooden board. I tried it nonetheless and now that I'm done it was awesome. My understanding of board features, characteristics and trade-offs as well as my appreciation for those who actually know how to do this has skyrocketed.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Assembling & gluing the spar and ribs

The spar and ribs fit into each other with a notch in each that mated.  My notch cuts weren't completely uniform so some fit tighter than others.  This picture shows the assembly glued and clamped onto the rocker jig.

NEXT TIME:
1. I should have gotten all the template paper off immediately - a heat gun works great if the paper won't peel off by hand. 
2. I used a drill press to cut holes to remove weight from the ribs. Didn't take that step for the spar. It was stupid, so I drilled the spar after it was glued to the bottom deck. This was a mess with all kinds of tear out, etc. Luckily, it is hidden inside the board.
3. Before the ribs are glued to the bottom deck, the spar and rib assembly is pretty fragile - especially at the points where rib and spar are being joined because so much material has been removed for the notches. You have to be exceedingly careful not to crack the spar or ribs at these points. I cracked both and had to repair them with more glue and extra wood for bracing.
4. After cutting the ribs, I'll spend more time making sure each is uniform in terms of length from center to edges.
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