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

Cutting the spar and ribs


I bought plans off the internet (www.timelesssurfcompany.com) and received a pdf instruction guide and pdf blueprints for the spar and ribs. I used spray glue to adhere the plans to the ply and cut them out using a hand held power jig saw.  It was Pie Day, the day before Thanksgiving. Stella the dog observing.

NEXT TIME:
1. Will consider buying pre-cut spar and ribs as the CNC cutting gives you much better fits when you need to piece the ribs into the spar as well as more exact and even rib heights and curves.
2. Will NOT use cheap 1/4" ply but will use marine ply or something much better. Cheap ply has voids that became a problem when the ribs and spar were glued to the bottom deck - the amount of rocker in this board put a lot of stress on the spar after the glue had dried and I unclamped it from the rocker jig. The voids caused failures in the spar as it couldn't withstand the deck's intent to lay down flat despite being clamped overnight in the rocker jig.
3. I'd spend more time getting the curve in the deck more permanent and I'd use better wood for the spar and ribs.  For the $10 or $20 I saved using cheap ply, I spent many, many evenings trying to salvage the cracked spar that was already glued to $100+ worth of Spanish cedar and white birch decking.

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