Rail building finished time to start shaping them!!! Made a couple of STUPID mistakes and had to do some infill and repair work. starting to understand why they call ,it a "Torture Board"
1bonehead...looking good....enjoy the rail shaping - it's time consuming, takes lots of beer/wine/rum/whatever
You feel like you're a sculptor.
I'm hoping to finish mine off soon - just waiting for a trip to civilization to purchase yet another litre of resin.
Going to hold an official launch for it when ready (hope it floats)
Will do Brenno.
Just have to get off my butt, go to Bundy (or get someone else to) and get the last bit of epoxy I need to finish it.
You might have your new baby by then too?!
Finally finished (almost) What a job! Hoping to try it out (in surf) this week if surf settles down enough. “Official launch” next weekend in the calm waters at 1770 (along with a few beverages and bbq)
Looking for a bit of advice from the experts/pros out there…. I will probably never try the glassing/resin side of things again (damn stressful – nothing like what you see on YouTube). I put my final resin coat on today and it’s a bit lumpy/runny looking in places – particularly along the rails. And there’s quite a mess around where I taped up around edges. My question is – do I just sand it all down with lots of elbow grease now to try and eventually get a nice smooth finish?
Ps. I know the fins look a bit odd - I was only going to make the one big fin, but enjoyed it so much I subsequently decided to make the other 2 side ones. I guess it will be easy enough to cut down the big centre one a bit if need be.
Looks sweet ET, i'll be there, and after a few surfs i'll wrestle it away from you for a go......and you can grab my deep boards whilst i'm preoccupied. 
Gday Brenno, you back in action? Have you got your deep now?
Do you know anything about finishing off the glassing? I'm not sure what to do at this stage.
I assume I just get a pile of fine wet & dry sandpaper & start sanding, but will I lose the nice glossy look?
ps. have you looked at the AW Van boards that have been advertised on these pages ($999) ?
ET, I know nothing about glassing, but a bit about timber. Don't worry about losing the glossy look, a 'satin' or even 'matt' finish will look much better and highlight the timber moreso than gloss will. Gloss tends to reflect light off it, whereas satin & even a satin/matt finish will allow you to look into the grain, and see the timber. At worst - if you really want that glossy look afterwards, a fine wet & dry with some cutting compound/polish (make sure it's compatible with the glass) will get it back - and smoother than the actual glass finish.
Sweet looking board by the way.
Hey ET. I'll be back for days off tuesday night, and back in the drink wednesday at dawn. I don't care what it's like, i'm having withdrawals!
Mate i'm no fibreglass expert, but have had to polish scratches out of fibreglass, perspex and paint on aircraft many times. The trick was to start with a fine wet and dry and get finer and finer, changing direction by 90º with every grade change. Also use mild soapy water, helps to flush out all the fines, and rinse between grades.
I have a product called micromesh which is a high quality wet and dry on a rubber backing. Starts at about 300 grit and ends up at something silly like 18000. You can borrow a pack if you like. You'll be able to see your face in it!
Should be picking up the deep boards at the end of the week, Yeeeeeewwwwww!
Mate looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great that you got it off the walll and will get it in the water!
Thanks guys. I hit it with some 1500 wet & dry for about half an hour this arvo (just the rails so far - they were the bit that really annoyed me) and now I feel a bit more confident that it will work, eventually. As you said sailhack, it will probably look better with more of a satin finish anyway.
Holy crap it has ended up a bit heavy though - weighed in a bit over 16kg - will be interesting to see how it goes in surf.
Brenno, it's been pretty damn big here (our beach break) last few days, and I've got to go to Rocky Wednesday, so may not catch up until Thursday or Friday.
1 Bonehead, we wanna see your final photos up next.... and where is mackntracks? He's the one that got me going in the first place.
Well its about 7kgs with the rails still to sand off! Just waiting for a bit of help from a mate. Second opinions are always good!
Rails all done and they look good, time to try and work out the fin placement for the 5. Any advice would be appreciated, the choice and variety is mind boggling 
Well all finished and done, dodgy glass job (2 weeks of torture board sanding) but very happy with the results! Bit of a step down in size for me from the 9'5" Manna, so I have to put the time to get stronger. A mate, who is used to shorter boards, had a go on some 3' - 4' waves the other day and the board went well. Thought I would post some pics before the deck grip goes on, wax is hard on the knees!
1Bonehead, holy crap, that is a complete work of art. Makes my effort look very plain.
Is that cork you used around the rails? You must've used a bucket load of glue to join all those bits together?
How'd you end up weight-wise?
That has to be one of the best shaped Hollow Sup's I have seen , plus it's a work of art. I didn't you could get tail rails like that. The fin box positions look spot on as well and great fins BTW .
Nice looking Boner.
Thanks guys, the VP fins look just right in it thanks Rob and they work unreal with the board. So far have only used the Quad set up and am going to give the Thruster set a go this week end after the deck grip goes on. Yep the rails took me ages (Bout 7 cases of beer!) to shape but once I got the idea from my head to my hands they went well! Yes its cork, I used floor tiles and cut them up, very easy to do. Probably wouldn't use a cork rail again though as they are very, very hard to sand down evenly, you can't plane them as they chunk out but when sanding the timber deck and rail tend to sand down quicker leaving the cork rail high.....very annoying!
ET your board looks awesome! How does it go?
The dimensions on mine are 9'2"x30"x4 1/4", 125litres and about 12.5kg with fins and leggy on it.
If we hadn't stuffed up the glass job (was 15kg and I had to sand the crap out of it and then re-finish coat it), I think it could have come out around 9 - 10kg. The hollow rails seem to make a big difference to the weight. I stole MOB's idea for the loop instead of a leggy plug.
Again thanks for the fins Rob and for the encouragement ET, now I have to get my act together and ride the beast.
