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.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Winter 2012-13 project: 
6'3" swallow-tail bonzer with wings, single to double concave. Pawlonia and Spanish cedar.  Designed using Aku Shaper trying to approximate a Campbell Bros. Octafish.  Originally varnished only (no glass), but couldn't get it water-tight so I've stripped the varnish and glassed with epoxy. I weigh 185 lbs and it surfed well before water ingress became noticeable (hmmm, this feels increasingly sluggish . . . ). Weight with 6 coats of varnish was about 10.5 lbs (4.77 kilos). Varnish has been stripped and I'll be glassing it (or rather, learning to glass and hopefully not messing it up).
6'3" Bonzer with wings, Pawlonia and Spanish Cedar, single to double concave

Bonzer fin configuration - pics don't show it well, but there's a single to double concave


Nearly complete, before final sanding

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