Sunday, September 13, 2009

Capt. Ron's New Boards

Well, here are a few- more to come later. When I have some time, I'll post up the whole building process.



Photo: 11' nose rider, 10'6 cruiser, 10' all arounder

I built these from a huge block of foam. These designs are all me- from the rocker, foils and bottom contours to the glass jobs, sanding and polishing.

The center board is a custom 10'6" for our local surfshop owner. The board features a madera negra (central american black wood) tail block, bent balsa wood nose block and a laminated, high-density, balsa, parabolic rail inlay.

The parabolic rail inlay does two things: First, it acts as a stringer on the rail. Second, it keeps paddles from going through the glass. I vacuum bagged the 10'6" with 3 layers of 6oz cloth on the deck and 2 layers on the bottom. The blank is 2.4lb density xbead EPS foam. All finished out with a glosscoat the board weighs in at 14.6 lbs.

Here are some additional photos taken while the board was being shaped and wood components added.

Photo below: Nose Block

Photo below: Tail Block


Photo below: Balsa inlay

Any Questions? Send them here in the "Comments Section" and I'll post a reply.

By the way: Which is your favorite deck pad?

Peace and good waves to all,


Capt Ron


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

the deckpad on the 10' rocks

John Ashley said...

Suh-weet boards! I like the 10'er, board and pad- that thing is ridiculously light!

What kind of bottom on the 10'er?

I'm a little curious about what having a stringer on the rail does to the performance of the board- is there also a regular stringer?

It'd be cool to see what your vacuum bag set up looks like- maybe an explanation of how it's done.

Just curious about how it's all done- and can't wait to hear how they ride.

Capt Ron said...

Hey John,
My bottom contours are relatively simple. Nose concave, well big nose concave I will try to get a pic, Vee in the nose going into some 3/4" roll through the center and 1 1/4" vee in the tail and last 10" of the tail has excessive Vee and rocker.
The nose concave is working better than I could imagine. Not just nose riding but when I smack the lip on a verticle section, big floater or drop in way to late and stick the nose a bit the concave pops it right out. Not to mention how it paddles its different and it paddles and takes off with the nose high. The 10'er is riding well I am still playing with fins and am going to add a few fcs plugs to it this week and get it completely dialed in. I am riding it 2+1 right now and it drives well and basically when you step down near the tail just think about turning and it does it.
About the stringers. Truely not neccessary on boards this size thickness. The 2.4lb foam is so strong, all the stringer basically does is add stiffness. Stringerless on EPS foam/epoxy gives more of a Polyester/urethane foam board feel and it sucks up shock better. The Parabolic balsa rail is not stiff and seems to have a flexural charactoristic much like the foam has. So what I came out with by accident I may add because I added the balsa to the rail to ward off paddle strikes originally has shown itself to also add strength to the board at the same time but not stiffness.
The boards ride better than any I have rode to date. I put alot of thought in them and it seems I can still build a nice board after a 9 year break from building boards.
Peace,
Capt. Ron

Oh yeah I meant to ASK? Is what deck pad is everyones personal favorite they have used? Not the ones on my boards.

Capt Ron said...

On another note I am working on some paddles also prototypes should be ready in a few weeks. I ordered some different cloths to try colored carbon fibers and Texallum and inegra and a few others to test. They should look real cool. Colored Carbon and wood verneer inlays. I ordered the same filament wound carbon fiber handle material that powerex uses.
About the vacuum bagging on the standup its not real fun or easy lots of cussing. I used a sleeve bag and it was a pain next time I will use a sheet.
My buddy who is a composite genious is coming down in 2 weeks and we are going to do a prepreg autoclave bake board and see how it comes out the foam I have can handle some heat.
Stay tuned my creative mind is going light speed and will have some realy cool stuff coming out. I am trying my best not to release VOC's and minimizing waste while creating my boards and stuff. Even though I used to be a sick airbrush artist I amd trying my best not to atomize paints and am letting the beauty of the woods I am using be the color of the board.
Peace,
Capt Ron