Test riding Woody Logic 6' 7" Quad Fish.

• I've been wanting to ride this board for a while.  This morning I decided that today would be the day.  The waves where chest high on the sets.  A beautiful day with a light off shore breeze.

The board paddles good and is easy to duck dive.  It's very similar to boards I ride most of the time.  

The first thing I noticed was how fast it is.  That's important here.  I'm looking forward to riding it more when we get some fun waves.  Thanks to my girlfriend Julie for the pics.

Matthew after shock.

Looking around the beachside you can still see natural and man made debris from Matthew's strong winds.  A lot of plants are still suffering from wind burn and there are still lots of traps on roofs  The beach has changed a lot.  The dunes got mowed down by the swell.  The lifeguard station lost about 3-4 feet of beach sand from under it.

The public beaches parks like the one by my house are still a mess.  It's a work in progress for the county.

Now that the dunes are gone.  The water comes much closer to the road at high tide.  A lot has changed since Matthew.  It's still a great place to live and enjoy.

Need for Balance.

There are times when nature seems to throw everything it can at you.  Hurricane Matthew looked like it just might do that.  It looked like Matthew was going to hit Ormond Beach really hard and lay waste to this place.  For some reason the hurricane took a little jog to the east on that Friday night and spared the area from it's full force.

There were some houses and businesses that had roofs torn off and broken windows.  The coastal road A1A was undercut and parts of it washed away.  I feel fortunate because my house only had minor damage to my fences and a little roof damage.  The worst part of the event was being without power for 4 days.  Anyways, I did get lucky and even got a chance to surf on Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to my neighbors and family for helping Julie and I make it thru some stressful times.

Building What I Like.

Summers in Florida can be a lot of fun when a little swell comes up.  We have been getting a few every now and then.  Otherwise, it's riding boogie boards.  That's good fun too.  I'm taking a little break from building.

If anyone out there is interested I have several boards for sale.  Shipping is not an option for me.  Local pick-up is best.  Any interest email me: dirtcrowsurf@yahoo.com

With some luck we might get a hurricane or two.  Enjoy the summer.

Most Important Part.

There are many people building wood surfboards that don't know or don't regularly surf.  That creates a dangerous situation.  Wood surfboards are no joke in some hefty surf.

It's my opinion that wood boards can be very dangerous.  Builder's with little or no experience surfing.  They should learn on a soft top or a regular surfboard first.

There are really exceptional days when I take out my homemade boards  I love riding my own boards.  It's very special.   I do have fun riding a soft top on the small days.

The soft top is slower than a regular board and it doesn't turn all that great.  The plus side is it doesn't beat you up.  Be safe for yourself and others.

Lighter is better.

I got the idea of using a small luggage scale to weigh my boards.  The scales are inexpensive and fairly accurate.  One of the nice features is the zero button and it also has metric.  The sling I made is just some loops of nylon rope.

I did a comparison between my new build and my board the plans were made from.  The Torq weighed 9.9 lbs and my project weighed 9.6 lbs.  That's better than I expected.

There has been a couple of days of small fun waves and they say there will be some for the weekend.

Nothing to get very excited about.

6'7" Quad Fish is Done.

This one is done.  Next step is wax it and paddle out.  Should be a fun one.

Special thanks to Lance Carstens and Randy Bogardus for providing fins and paulownia.

This board feels the same weight as the epoxy board I copied.  It feels strong and the rails are my favorite part along with the fin set.

Simple math

After sanding the bottom lap, tail and nose.  My next step is layout for the fins.  For my project board the set-up is simple.  It's copying the board that I made my plans from.

My 6' 6" Torq is a really fun board.  The Punt fins make it turn with ease and hold when they have to.  

Once I determine my center-line the set-up is simple math.

Laminated 6'7" Fish

A couple days ago the bottom got laminated.  For this board I used 4 oz. S-2 glass with Suncure Polyester resin.  This afternoon, I sanded the lap and glassed the top.

Next, I have to prep the fins.  I just got a quad set from my fin guy Lance.  He makes them nicer than I would.

Ready for glass.

The boards is ready to laminate.  It's light and fragile.  I'm happy with the outcome.

Humm babe

With the right tools shaping the rails are easy.  I start by doing a shoulder cut and work it from there.

On the bottom I don't soften the rail for the last 30".  The next thing I need to do is install the leash plug.

Satisfaction

One of the most fun parts of this build is squaring up the rail strips.  I've always liked the feel of a plane peeling wood.  Balsa cuts easy and doesn't make much of a mess compared to many other types of wood.  

It's very relaxing to plane.  Kinda like therapy.  I worked on the top this morning and roughed it in.

The board is light and strong.  It's starting to take shape.

I'm really looking forward to shaping the rails after it gets cleaned up a bit.

Shaping the bottom.

It's been a while since I've worked on the board.  Yesterday, I glued up the last of the balsa tile pieces at the nose.  Today, I shaped the bottom.

Planing balsa wood is probably the most enjoyable part of the build.  I like to use a small modelers plane.

The board still fits in the cradle like it's suppose to.  It's a good check to make sure there aren't any twists.

Baby steps

Probably the most time consuming phase of any of my builds is gluing on the rail strips.  The first one is the hardest.  With a little shrink wrap and a lot of patience it can be done.  I'm at the easy part where I can clamp the second one to the first.  Depending on how much you pull in the nose or keeping it fuller.  That will determine the size of the individual pieces.

It's pretty easy at this stage.