Part 3 - 6" MR - Laminating

I just made a few finishing touches to the shaping today, just cleaned it up and took a bit more of the rails. My initial intentions was to have really hard sharp performance rails but even using a profile gauge I've found it really hard to know when I need to take more off and when to stop, guess that will come with a bit more experience though.

I'm using Iso X7 resin and glass both from Seabase. The resin is what I have left over from making my 5'5" and was already mixed with SunCure so I laminated the bottom THEN figured out I didnt have enough left for the deck lamination. My main reason for using Suncure so far is that it gives you plenty of time to play about and takes all the pressure off compared to using MEKP, I had about a litre of X7 left so I decided that it was time to do my first lamination with MEKP.

I've been timing myself when using Suncure and I did the bottom lam in 12 mins so I should of been fairly confident but I still had a rush of adrenalin as I added the catalyst to the resin but I suprised myself and everything went really well. I did the deck lam in 14 mins and did quite a good job!

Really happy with the way things have gone on this board so far, I've made a couple mistakes but nothing drastic.

Gonna instal the Lokbox fin boxes tomorrow. :)

Part 2 - 6' MR - Shaping

So far I've only used Xtra blanks from TriOcean. I'm using a 6'5" fish blank which is the 'Bunty' shape they sell which has alot less rocker than their standard fish blank.

The second pic show the outline cut with the edges squared up. As soon as I did this I could really see just how much different this board was going to be compared with the stubby fish style boards I have been using. Looks a nice shape though...well it was good enough for MR so its gotta be good enough for MM!

Next was putting the foil and rocker in, nothing too drastic with either really, rocker was kinda in between a standard shortboards and a fish.
Its foiled in the center of the board where its 2 3/8" thick.
I've put a Vee in the wings on the tail which really thins it out but thats only in the last 3 " of the board.
The shot of the boards foil is nose down! ;)

I was gonna stop for the day after putting the Vee in but just couldnt help cutting the rail bands and unleasing the shapers gauze, thats gotta be be the best part of shaping a surfboard!
The rails are pretty sharp and performance orientated, a profile gauge was used to copy some rails from a Simon Anderson shortboard.
I also added my concaves in, a single concave starts just after the entry rocker and that goes into a double concave between the fins, it all needs a good tidy with just a couple lumps and bumps to iron out but all in all I'm pretty stoked on how its gone.

May do a bit more tomorrow, looks like the North coast is gonna be pumping though so I may have to take a little drive. :)

Part 1 - 6' MR- From start to finish

The few surfs I've had on my 5'5" twinny have been amazing, really good but I need an all round board for surfing any decent swells over 3 foot.

I made this template up on AKU shaper (with a little help from Jimo), its taken from a MR Super Twin but I've just reduced the width and pinched it in in a few places. Its gonna be 6' x 19 1/2" x 2 3/8" with fairly hard performance rails, single to double concaves into a Vee in the last few inches of the tail. Its going to have Lokbox RSC twin fins with a trailing fin.

I've heard alot about these MR shapes, the people I know that have one really rate them but for me its a matter of finding a good balance of modern day performance without loosing that really nice twinny feel.

Work starts tomorrow!

Black and white...

Ben Howey paddling out early in the morning at Leven a couple years ago.

Where I've been and where I'm going....

About 18 months ago I packed in surfing, I just had enough, the crowds the poor quality waves that we always seemed to get and new found love for analogue photography all prompted me to sell my boards and to move on, forget surfing and do what normal people do.

Looking back on it photography was such a big part of this downward spiral. Surf fitness is such a huge part of surfing that most of us take it for granted and the more shooting I was doing the less surf fit I became. When I jumped back on my 6'2" shortboard everything was so much harder and surfing just wasn't fun anymore.

I think I surfed twice last winter though, both times on my longboard (the only board I kept) in about 2 ft surf and had a great time. Then last April I went out again and came to my senses....I needed to surf again!

My standard surfboard has always been pretty similar to everyone elses, ever since 87' I've always ridden shortboard thrusters somewhere between 6' and 6'4". This is what all the guys were riding in the videos, all my mates were surfing them and when I went to a shaper for a new board this was what he told me to use ( 'albeit this years latest design which surfs mush amazingly!')

But with my fitness not at its best so I decided to go for something a little different. Their was something about these retro twin keel fish that I liked though, the thickness would certainly help but I also liked the idea of just cruising around and just surfing how I wanted to surf and not always aiming to hit the lip or do big turns. With this in mind I bought a 6' x 21" x 2.5" Black and White twinny and the thing flies, I mean it really flies like nothing I've ever surfed before, it was just what I needed.

So this is it, almost like starting afresh as far as board design is concerned. I've now made two boards which in itself has taught me more about board design than what I've learnt in the last twenty years. Although I may shape a thruster at some point my sights are set more towards alternative board design. Nothing to way out or freaky but I suppose my goal is to make surfboards which I think will surf well at my local beach, something which performs but most importantly something which puts a huge grin on my face and makes me stoked to be back in the water again!

I'm playing about with a couple designs on AKU and I'II add them in good time. One thing is for sure though....Foam is definately your friend!!

Another classic Leven day 2/2/07

This day was the straw the broke the camels back for me as far as surf photography was concerned. It really was classic Leven conditions with really good light and 4 ft and offshore, these days were so rare and after this days shooting I just wanted to shoot perfect waves with good light all the time but sadly this is the UK.
Think this was the day that me and Ratman met up with Lloydy and Raff, good times.
1st pic Rat in a hole, 2nd pic Porthleven main peak.

5'5" performance twinny.....

Sooooo stoked on this board, just finished it yesterday.
5'5" x 21 x 2.5 with single concave all the way through going out to a flicked out Vee on the tail.
I just wanted a board that could grovel in the worst of it but still manage to hit a lip and after its first real test drive today it definately does that!
Never gone this small on a board though, smallest board I've ever ridden in the past was a 5'9" RNF that I took to Oz years ago but this little twinny surfs nothing like that. It hasnt got the twitchyness that the RNF had, its a very front foot orientated board which has loads of volume to make up for its length but the Vee in the tail makes it very responsive on turns.
Looking forward to testing it in different conditions though and I'm pretty sure I'm going to play with some variations of this template in the future.