9ft 6" pintal

This is the progressive steps in building this 9ft 6" x 23" pintail

 

 The custom hot wired EPS foam blank with the 5mm Paulownia stringer glued in.

 The blank is then cut on an AKU machine that foils the board out top and bottom , minus the thickness of the Paulownia to be laminated to the top and bottom.

 A 3mm Paulownia strip has been laminated to the rail edge of the blank.The blank is rested on a leveled table and shaped blocks located to hold the designed rocker during the vacuum bagging process. The board goes in the bag and it all rests on the blocks. Using the natural rocker in the board blank now all that is needed is gentle pressure to be applied to the middle of the board as the air is removed from the bag.

 A 6mm thick Paulownia panel cut 5mm oversize for the deck and a 4mm one for the bottom are taped in place before sliding into the bag.All the air sucked out by the pump and this clamps the timber down all over with equal pressure to all surfaces. This enables you to replicate all your designed concaves and contours.

 The Polyurethane glue needs 2 hours to go off in the bag. The bag is made from .75mm PVC , the same material you see in board windows and covers. It is tough , no stretch and the glue won't stick to it.So you can use it multiple times.

 Out of the bag and ready to be trimmed up

 This board will get 20mm of rails laminated on in 4 x 5mm thick full length strips.

 All the rocker is retained and the foam is now encapsulated in wood.

 Here it is finished. The only resin on the board is to secure the finbox into the board.

 It is finished with multiple coats of lanolin to nurish the timber and add to waterproofing.

 The lanolin has the added advantage , that when it hits salt water that it becomes very stick and you will not need to use wax.

 Old school leg rope hole through the fin box and out through the deck , simple neat and tidy. You and see the 4 x 5mm Paulownia laminated strips at the tail in a basket weave pattern.

 Simple clear wood finish

 5mm of concave in the nose with a very rolled bottom in the tail , no problem.

5ft 6 x 22 1/2" x 2" Hydro Simmons

 10mm concave full length of the board , starting out between the rolled shoulders in the nose. This is to split the width of the nose when doing a full rail turn. The rolled shoulders still give lift and it is like two hulls really. Something I have been playing with.

 This flows through to a fill width 10mm concave in the middle of the board to capture all the flow and give lift with a hard rail edge.

 The flow is then funneled in between the fin set out through the tail.

The fins also sit on a chine that releases the flow from the fins and narrows the tail width.

  A 5 fin setup to experiment with

Ready to be glassed

It is thin @ 2" thick but 34. 5lt volume. Thin rails for higher performance.

James's Alley Slider under way

 

 I have designed the new board for James Mason from Adelaide in AKU and sent him screen shots to check out. It will be 9ft x 23" x 3 1/4" .Then I design a custom blank and get it hot wire cut from VH EPS.

 It comes in 2 pieces ready for me to glue in a 5mm Paulownia stringer. The blank is cut to allow for the 5mm thickness of the stringer and the thickness of the rails bands that will be laminated on.The thickness of the blank is over size depth wise so that the guys can position the board file within it easily.

 After the stringer is in I glue up the first Paulownia rail band right around the blank. So that the blank is stiff and ready to go to the AKU machine to be cut.

 This way when the board is cut minus the thickness of the deck and bottom skins which in this case will be 6mm deck and 4mm bottom , the machine cuts the stringer and foils the wooden rail band at the same time.

This is the cut board ready to be shipped to James who will vacuum bag the 6mm deck and 4mm bottom skins on before laminating the 20mm of rails in Paulownia as well. Shape the rails and route in the fin box and he is there. He just needs to choose what he wants to finish it with. Lanolin and unglassed , a hot coat or two of epoxy and a light sand or if he wanted a little more weight in the board he could get it glassed with 2 or 4oz cloth and glass. Each will do the job of sealing the board. Each will cost and weigh a little more, Either way you will end up with a great board. For more info on this contact me.

6ft 6" x 22" Slimmons for Brian

 Stringerless EPS and epoxy for this one

Full length concave that starts narrow in the nose between the hullish entry. Full width concave in the middle with hard rail and the concave tapers out through the middle in the tail.

Work in progress ...

I picked up a blank and started drawing and sanding a few ideas. This is as far as I have got so far.

 Still in need of some fine tuning and finishing

 A fun process

The pull of the vacuum bagging process

 It is  quite amazing how much curve you can pull with the vacuum bagging process. This is a 3mm skin of Paulownia on the bottom of a board I worked on over the weekend.

 This is the tail of a 4ft 8" x 17" Slimmons on the way.

4ft 4" x 22" Simmons in the bag. 3 in a day gives me plenty to work on in the coming weeks laminating rails.

The Slimmons gun for WA

 Josh Punch has moved to Margaret River Western Australia and been riding his 5ft Simmons I shaped him in some serious surf. The smallest board in the line up. Considering he is 85kg it is a fair effort. We his Dad Brian wanted to get him another board so they decided to streach the simmons he has and give him some more length  to get into the waves a little earlier. He has been free falling on most steep ones. He loves the feeling of the simmons.So we went 6ft 6" x 19".

 The bottom contours are the same as my wooden Slimmons.

 Hi Dad Brian glassed the PU blank with Epoxy for strength and even went double on the leggies.

 It's on its way to WA as of now. Can't wait for the ride report. Josh has ridden the 5ft Simmons in all sorts of waves and even Bali twice.