The Baron 12 foot wooden surfboard project part 8

Here the underside of the deck is having epoxy and paulownia dust wood glue applied to the rail area and to the frames with a squeeze bag ( ziplock bag wth the corner cut out ) A slow resin has been chosen because of the warm weather.Lowering the first frame panel on to the deckNow for the palletload of bricks, and couple of clamps for the nose.

The Baron 12 foot wooden surfboard project 4

Finishing off the first internal panel: the tail with fin blocking. This panel will be under the deck so it doesn't need blocking for the tunnel fin. The blocking for the main fin goes right through from bottom to deck, but the tunnel fin only needs to be set in a 1/4 inch as it is such a stable shape, so we only put one layer of blocking in.The noseThe next day, removing the panelRelaxing in the moaning chair

Shaping a 12 foot wooden surfboard

Deck and bottom are sanded, now the second rail facet is created. The rail is a continuous 50/50 section, almost a circular section but very slightly 'pinched' or elliptical.In theory making a rail like this is easy, and it is easy, however the multi directional grain in the perimeter rail stringers keeps the job interesting.Believe it or not a hollow wooden board like this resonates so well that hand sanding noises are amplified to the point where they are a hearing hazard, hence the earmuffs !

Future Primitive 12 foot wooden surfboard construction part 4

Here's the surfboard completely laminated with the planshape cut out, ready for sanding and rail shapingWeight is 21 pounds, which will most likely be the finished weight also.

Spitfire-Tunnel fin for the 12-9 Makaha

The fins are shown here with the main Spitfire cutaway fin sitting in its slot and the tunnel fin placed in position, it will actually be a bout 3/8ths of an inch lower once set in to the board.There are 73 pieces of paulownia in the tunnel fin, which is a two layer lamination with a wool/polyester blend cloth in between the laminations. The fin is glassed on the outside with bamboo cloth and the inside is resin coated.Six laminations of paulownia are used in the main spitfire fin, with 36 pieces in total. This cutaway fin has developed from the original spitfire fin to the point where it is hardly recognisable as a spitfire fin, but we still use the name as it is an upright planform fin using ellipitical leading and trailing edges.

Tunnel fin for the 12'9" Makaha

The Makaha woody has a 10 inch deep singlefin with a 5 inch diameter tunnel fin tucked under a cutaway in the main fin. Here we have the tunnel fin laminated and partly foiled, it is made of 73 narrow strips laminated together in two layers over a cylindrical mould, with a layer of cloth in between. The resin/cloth layer is harder than the wood and is there to provide a hard layer so that the trailing edge can be finely foiled.Here is the fin setup, in reality the main fin will be set down two more inches into the board. It's an incredibly good fin setup which we have been using for the past 5 years, no other fin arrangement that I have tried has anything like the drive, speed and control that this one has. It is powerful and free running, just the cat's whiskers !

Wooden surfboard venting: The Goretex vent

These little Goretex vents from Peter at Casica engineering are easy to install and come in retrofit or glass over options. I am using the glass over option as the retro fit was sold out. The Goretex vents allow air to pass throug the membrane but not water, so they don't have to be opened and shut.Pete Casica, Casica Engineering25631 Via Del Rey, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675-4458(949) 493-4824 Office, (949) 365-6603 Cell, casica@earthlink.netThe white circle in the middle is a sticker which is supplied to keep resin and dust out of the vent while it is being installed. The goretex plug is a little black bolt which is screwed in to the middle, these should be replaced every 2 years or so according to Peter..

Randy Rarick and Bernie A talk about the 13 footer Hawaii challenge

Bernie is a really decent and honest person, and has plenty of Aloha. As for Randy, he has stated publicly that Aloha is his creed and that he inherited this way of life from Duke Kahanomoku. What I'm saying is that I know that both Randy and Bernie mean well and are generously offering to help with the pipeline project.So here is a post by Bernie on Swaylocks regarding the proposed Hawaii 13 footer challenge. It's not the first time that he has alerted me to the fact that the 'boys' are in his opinion almost certainly going to destroy the board. He knows them personally, so I'm listening.I have to wonder why he's so adamant that they will wreck the board. .. . after all even though the Hawaiian waves are very powerful plenty of boards have survived the experience. For example the surfboard which was used in the movie 'singlefin yellow' didn't break, and neither did the red board which Shaum Tomson surfed for through 5 consecutive North Shore winters in the 70's. . . . . so it seems clear to me that it's not normal wear and tear that Bernie is talking about, it's something more sinister, particularly when added to the threat made by 'Otay' from surftech.Here's Bernie: " I ran into Randy Rarrick on the way home from a business conference at the Las Vegas airport and asked him about the whole Roy-Board project. He confirmed that its on and will be in Hawaii around October. He said it was very expensive for Roy to ship it by boat to Hawaii but Roy was commiitted to doing it. I gave him my card and asked if he could let me know when it gets ridden so I could watch and video it. Plus Roy said I could give it a go before someone broke it in half here which is its mostly end if you know the "Boys". I think Randy was taken a back that someone out of the blue would bring up the whole thing especially a "suit". It did seem apparant that it wasn't on the top of his mind although he though it was a neat project similar to the Yellow Single Fin Project awhile back. Roy is out there at times like any anyone living at the edge of life, but speaking as a former student of Physical Oceanography in regards to his understanding of hydrodynamics and ocean waves physics he's spot on. His design reminds me of the perfect shape we looked at the design of high speed underwater torpedos for the naval warfare lab in seattle back in the 70's.".

The Makaha 12-9 revealed

12-9 progress: deck and bottom sanded

Three hours of hand sanding with 36 grit and the bottom and deck are almost done.