Plywood Stick 3

 Finally done adding wood to  the tail block.  Now it is wide enough for the subtail. 

 Here are the rough nose blocks sitting in place.  They are cedar with a thin strip of redwood in the middle for a little contrast.  They'll get glued on after the top skin is in place.

 Bead and cove rail strip progress.  Nearly done.  With a totally flat deck, I don't have to carry the strips too far onto the deck.  Another 4 strips should do it.  Okay, for the observant, how many mistakes/fixes can you spot in this photo?  I can see at least two that I know of!

 I decided to go with a quad set up for  a couple of reasons.  Quads seem like having little motors under the board when you turn, and I wanted some shallow draft fins for suring the reef on low tide or inside days.  These are made from plywood leftovers from the skins and they'll get inset 1/2" into the board to simplify installation. 

Another picture of  the progress so far.  Gee, how come the top-of-rib stringers are so wiggly?  Apparently there was  a technical measurement issue in laying out the center line of the ribs.  Time for a new ruler I guess.

Plywood Stick, 2

 You can see the simplified ribs I'm using.  The deck will be flat and I've eliminated any channels on the bottom to make the build faster.  I'm using Titebond III to glue the frame to the skins.  The polyurethane subfloor adhesive that I had been using has let go on some previous boards.

 Here is the chine strip.  This one is a half inch wide to allow for a pretty soft rail in front of the board. The notch in the top of the rib is for a longitudinal stringer for additional deck support and gluing area.

 The starter rail strip is glued on and clamped with PVC clamps.  Plastic does have its uses. 

 Here is the tail block all cut and ready to reglue.  It is alternating pine and redwood.

So here is the tail block reglued in a little wavy pattern.  When the block gets shaped with top and bottom curved surfaces, the redwood rectangles will become curved like beans and should make a pretty cool pattern.  At least I hope!



Friends!

We recently met some old friends from Whidbey Island up at Doheney beach for a little sun and fun.  What a bunch of goofballs! 

New Plywood Stick

The Busted Board's Interior

Finally!  After the interior structural failure of my last redwood longboard, I've gone back to the tried-and-true materials.  The redwood board was 9'5" and only 18 pounds, even with a double six ounce glass job.   Unfortunately, I used very thin wood ribs  and 5/32" skins and it seems the rib spacing was too far, as several cracked during a bottom turn.  Not the sound you want to hear when you step on the rail!  The board is still very pretty, but is only good for the wall now!

So I decided to replace my daily stick an 8-3 mini-malibu.  This is a super fun board with double channels, a single fin and a pretty domed deck.  After nearly 3 years of almost daily rides, it is starting to show much wear and tear.  A leak earlier this year, warped many of the bottom planks and it has a bit of a corrugated feel to it now.  Several fin repairs have made it pretty heavy too. 

So the new board is loosely based on the 8-3 dimensions and for simplicity and cost, I'm using 3/8 exterior ply for the frame and ribs and  a nice light 1/4 birch plywood for the skins.  It will have a flat deck and a flat bottom.  The rails are bead and cove milled in pine.  The rib and skin dimensions are about 1/32 more than I typically mill them to, but the extra thickness will make it very strong.  I'm not sure about the fin setup, but I'm thinking a quad might be a nice change from a single fin. 

My buddy Dave lent me his rocker table and here it is clamped down with the base blocking leveled and in place.  Thanks

Dave!



The ribs are getting glued onto the keel here.  It is upside down, but you can see that the deck will be flat.  It is much easier to glue up and will give a little more volume in the rails.  

8-0h Triple Stringer Fish (that's inches)

Mike's Wall at Palomar Chiropractic

My friend and neighbor, Dr. Paul Peters has given me some wall space at his chiropractic office in Vista.  His business is called Palomar Chiropractic.  Paul is a great guy and fellow surfer.  Many of his paitents are surfers and other sport types and he has done wonders keeping me (and many others) limber and in the water over the years. Eveyone seems to enjoy the variey of boards and fins that I display.

Eggy Redwood

7'10" x 21" x 1.5" thick and no rocker.  Made of redwood heart and sap wood with a ployurethane finish (no glass).  This plank rides pretty much like a regluar boards despite it's 25 pounds and minimum float.  It paddles good and I'm surprised at the drops I can make despite the dead flat rocker.  The fin is redwood, very thin and very flexy, hence the leash loop.  I don't think the fin would survive multiple beachings.  After a few sessions, I ended up hollowing out the deck.  This removed 3-4 pounds and lightened up the nose of the board considerable.