Happy St. Patty's Day

I wish I could celebrate by epoxying the bottom of the board in a rich kelly green, but I'm still a week or so away from that step.
Started planing down the landings last night and got them pretty much done. I have some more trimming and shaping in store tonight and I'll also put in the blocking for the fin and vent.
I got the fin in the mail yesterday. It is HUGE! Looks perfect with the scale of the board though.
I gave up beer, but here's a bunch of guys drinkin it and saying Irish stuff. Be safe on the roads tonight.

Ides rather be surfing

March 15th. For once I'm thankful that there's been no surf all week. I got so much done Friday and Saturday its not even funny. Finished the rails yesterday around 2pm (15 on each side). Last night I brought the shaping stand into the workshop and moved the board from the rocker table to the shaping stand. I used a rasp to even out the rails and get rid of excess glue. It now officially looks like a surfboard, or more accurately, a convertible surfboard.

Here's a vid of the status as of yesterday afternoon. You'll note that at the time, I thought yesterday was the 15th...so I guess I gained a build day. Sweet!



And here's one that shows the rough shape as of last night. Not so rough anymore actually. Tunes by Bobby Hebb. Finally seeing and feeling the rails on the board last night put me in such a good mood. The song always does the same.



Heading over to the shop soon to tape out the landings and start the inside strips to a feather-edge. This part is tricky so it may take all day. Sorry Gigi.

The Clamps

Alright, back in bizness. Got the both the chine logs in, the starter strip in on both sides, and the first rail strip on the right side. Now that the first couple passes are in, the rails should go on pretty quickly. Emphasis on should.

Video shows status as of last night at midnight, and also shows off a pretty impressive collection of a variety of clamps.

Glued and Trued

Got the frame joined to the bottom planks with 5200 last night. Not a job to tackle alone. Mikey helped out a lot and we got everything straight and solid. Forgot the camera at work last night so I'll take pics tonight before the chine strips go in. I aim to get the chine strip and maybe 1-2 more strips glued on tonight. After that, I should be back on schedule.

Weekend Update

SO, I made SOME progress this weekend, but also took a couple steps backwards. I built the rocker table on Friday night. Looks good. On Saturday, I went to the shop to join the skeleton to the bottom planks, but wound up snapping a frame piece in half. I was PISSED but was able to epoxy it back together. It's probably stronger now, but I wasted a day.
Had too much fun Saturday night so I was in no condition to work during the day on Sunday until later at night (I was hungover til 9pm ,a personal record). I trimmed off the excess plank material and marked off the lines around the keep to make everything easier when I 5200 the skeleton to the planks in about an hour. I'm off! Pics tomorrow.

The only water I see most days

is the East River on my way to/from work.

Skeleton

Lumber Load-In

Jarito helped me load in a couple 12ft long 2x6s on Sunday. I really thought I'd have to cut a foot or more off of them to get around the corner entrance of Mikey's place. They fit by about 1/2". This bodes well for getting the completed board out without having to lower it out the 4th story window.



Glued up the top planks tonight.

Sticky fingers

Last night after work I glued up the bottom planks and knocked down all the tabs and rough spots from the keel and frames. Tonight I'll glue up the top planks and epoxy the two halves of the keel together. I was kinda crunched for time so no photos, but here's a video of the planks after they were glued and clamped.

Fin

Just ordered this monster fin for the log. Should be great for drop-knee turns and noseridin. It will also look good with the green bottom.

On repeat

This song has been runnin in my head all day long.

And so it begins...

After a great 2.5 hr surf session this morning, I was able to set up shop in the new workspace. TONS of space and lots of great light. I am so lucky to have a friend like Mike.
I got all the tools ready and organized, the planks laid out ready for gluing up tomorrow, and ran through the inventory to figure out what else I need (a bit more than I thought).
I brought over my portable record player and a couple dozen records for essential build-tunes. Today's work started with Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. My aunt and uncle gave me the entire Beach Boys vinyl collection a few years back. Thanks Barry and Susan! Those old tunes always put me in a good mood.
The last thing I did tonight was I popped the frame pieces out and did a dry fit of the skeleton. I laid the frame out on top of the planks and it's already starting to come together.
Tomorrow I'll build the rocker table, glue up the bottom planks (top ones too if there's time), and clean up the frames as they're a bit rough around the edges. That should put me in a good place for the rest of the week.
STOKED to be starting this process finally! Stay tuned!
Happy Birthday, Dad! Crazily enough...he's working on a cedar canoe in his garage in Michigan. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. When he sends me pics, I'll put them up here so we can compare. Very similar build techniques and materials, but I wouldn't recommend hanging ten on a canoe...unless you're the Karate Kid.