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Curtis’s New board.

December 13, 2009 by · 3 Comments

Curtis Cromwell, who does all the glassing here and works in the shop, likes his boards a little different than most people.  He really likes the raised deck idea ( having had several of them), so this one is no different but this one comes with a much flatter and fuller raised deck than his past ones trying to gain a little extra paddling power for the up coming winter in 5/4/3′s. This one was also designed with a much deeper single concave than the past ones so a little more rise in the deck should help the float out also.  We’ve brought the tail in fairly thin so hopefully it’s not to “corky” feeling and hold in on the steeper and more powerful waves of winter. We like the epoxy construction and the blank is a 2 lb density EPS.  The rails are wrapped as you can see with a 6 lb. density  MDI urethane foam.   We have been doing this to all of our EPS blanks, it is stronger against rail dings and if you do get a small ding in the rail you won’t have the problem of it soaking up to much water unlike the straight EPS foam.  Dimensions, 6’4″ x 19 3/8″x 2 1/2″. It has a 12 1/8″ nose and a 14 3/8″ tail.

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Custom New 80′s Twin Fin

August 14, 2009 by · 2 Comments

retro twin fin surfboardsRoss Byrd who runs the Goodtimes Surf Camp in Rodanthe brought me an old board that I built probably in 80 or 81. He said it is one of his favorite boards and rides it a lot in the summer when the waves are small. This one had a pretty boxy rail and even had a little bit of deck concave in the tail.  His request was to copy it but update it also and he thought he would like it a little thinner.

The new one doesn’t have the concave deck, not quite as thick and we updated the nose.  It doesn’t have the old school thick down rail nose. Color wise as you can see it was very similar.  Fun to do as I don’t get to do those kind of color jobs to much these days. It’s glossed and polished just like the old one and Curtis said it was a good one to polish because it really made the bright colors pop.

The old one I felt had some really small fins on it for a twin so we increased the area of the fins a little bit also. Dimensions are 5′ 7″ x 20 1/2″ x 2 1/2″  It has a 13 3/4″ nose and a 15 3/4″ tail.  The wing is up 10″ from the tail and across the tips of the swallow it is 4″.

By the way they do a good job at the surf camp in the summer if your looking to send someone, check them out at SurfHatteras.com

old and new noseold and new bottomold and new tailold and new nose 2

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Joey’s New Red Fish

July 4, 2009 by · 1 Comment

Joey's Green SurfboardHey this board is not red, it’s green. It’s a surf shot of Joey Crum on his old green fish.  We built this one for Joey about 5 years ago and last year he finally retired it “last” summer. Many hours were logged on the green fish and it has seen all sizes of waves and all conditions. Some days it was well overhead and closing out, not a fish type wave at all but Joey would take it out and still surf it well.

If you have been to Hatteras any time in the past 5 years and there was a swell of some kind you probably saw Joey out on his green fish.  Joey  rides short boards also but likes his fish designs done old school.  The green one was glassed with all 6 0z glass ,  Green resin tint, cut laps, glass on twins, gloss and polish – the works. I think he rode it so much that it had been delaminated twice and repaired twice gaining weight each time and it was never a “Super Light” to begin with. Last summer he ordered a new fish and this one was to be a little different than the old green one. This one had the old school nose but a modern tail with a tri fin, not a twin like fish usually are done. [Read more...]

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EPS FOAM

May 25, 2009 by · 5 Comments

foam-blockEPS or Expanded Polystyrene is associated with Epoxy surfboards. There are 2 types of EPS blanks being used today. EPS that is extruded (XPS) and tends to look more like Polyurethane foam and the Bead foam which is more commonly called styrofoam.  Even though most people call it styrofoam it is actually a trade name used by Dow Chemical for their EPS foam. Most epoxy surfboards being made today use the EPS bead foam so that is what we will focus on.  The EPS beads are put into a mold and using pressure, steam and a blowing agent the beads are fused together to take on the shape of the mold. Most of the foam is made into large blocks and then are cut using a hot wire into either smaller blocks or what ever shape the customer may desire. The smaller block can then be cut into the shape of a blank using rocker templates and a hot wire.

After the blank has been cut it can be cut lengthwise to insert the stringer or stringer combination of your choice. This is more work for the shaper but the benefits are all the rocker templates are your own and you can design and adjust the blank to your liking. It is a great tool for any shaper as the product is completely your own , not a reshape of whoever shaped the plug in other foam blanks. By doing it this way, the blank is very true [Read more...]

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PU Blanks

March 13, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
PU or Polyurethane blank

PU or Polyurethane blank

The traditional urethane foam has been around since the 50′s when blanks  switched from balsa wood to foam and gained in popularity with the lighter weight surfboards. It is a closed cell foam that is poured liquid into a heated concrete mold. The liquid expands rapidly filling the mold and after time the mold is opened and out comes a raw surfboard blank.

Later the blank is cut in two and re glued together with a stringer added to the center. The stringer adds to the longitudinal strength and also provides a focal point for the shaper to use. The molds come in many different shapes and sizes and when deciding which blank to use when shaping a board you try to pick one as close to the desired finish shape.

There are 2 reasons for this, first it requires less effort to get the desired shape and second the foam on the deeper interior of the blank is slightly less dense and the closer to the skin it is more dense creating a stronger finished product. The way to create a lighter core is to make a blank that is less dense but lighter also equals weaker.

The age old question is how strong/ light do you want your board to be. There are 2 types of urethane foam on the market today the most widely used is TDI which stands for Toluene Diisocyanate. It is one of the essential components used in the making of urethane foam. It is also toxic and is the chemical used which was giving Clark foam issues with the EPA.

Also urethane foams can be formulated using Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate or MDI, this is more commonly used and you may ask why use TDI when MDI is available.  The TDI foams can be formulated lighter while retaining their strength.  The MDI foam blanks will be slightly heavier and not quite as white in color, but they would also be more “eco friendly”.

Most customers demand a lighter weight board and the costs are the same so TDI is the most used in surfboard construction. Urethane foam is what we are used to, we know the way they ride, we know how to glass them and we know how to take care of them. They are relatively low cost and easy to shape by hand or machine. Most boards in the world are still made the same way they were 50 years ago and you know what to expect when you buy one.

- Scott

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Custom 6 Channel

March 5, 2009 by · 3 Comments
Deep 6 channel single fin

Deep 6 Channel Single Fin

Today I shaped a board for a customer from NJ, Michael Letso.  This board was a little different than most nowadays, first being a single fin that isn’t a longboard and second we incorporated a design made popular by Alan Byrne of Australia back in the late 80′s and early 90′s.  Michael is a pretty big guy and the board is 6’6″ x 21 3/4″ x 3 1/8″ with a double wing swallow tail.  The basic design is forward of center with good volume under the chest and nose which will facilitate better paddling.

I even shaped that old school “beak nose” to get the most volume out of the blank.  The 6 deep channels are cut to run right out of the tail are designed to help create a little lift in the tail and channel the water flow directly off the rear of the board.

Mike's board

Mike's board

I’ve had many of these myself over the years and have liked them all. They tend to have good drive off the bottom and feel positive through the turns. They take a bit of extra time to shape and I had to bring an old custom made sanding block out to do them but it was fun to do one of these again.

Curtis may not be so happy when it comes to glassing and sanding it but we long ago learned a few tricks to make that a little easier also.

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