Simmons SUP - First Build Thread

[surfcowboy]

Lol I hesitate to mention it again. It's been passed around so many times. It's from Swaylocks and I think BigGreen brought it over to the hot coat thread.

Pour out a couple of oz. squeegee it on and then all off, wait say 10-15 min and then hot coat. Read up on it, it's rad.

[magentawave]

Was this squeegee on and then off procedure discussed in this thread? http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,26083.0.html

Lol I hesitate to mention it again. It's been passed around so many times. It's from Swaylocks and I think BigGreen brought it over to the hot coat thread.

Pour out a couple of oz. squeegee it on and then all off, wait say 10-15 min and then hot coat. Read up on it, it's rad.

[surfcowboy]

That's it. And while we're at it... fins.

I've taken the advice of some wise men and the rear fins are 6" off the tail. I've done the toe in based on a 4.5" distance so it's less (I did it with the shapers marks at 4" first and they seemed, and were, steeper.)

They are toed 1/4" and 3/16" and I am posting for feedback, I haven't compared these to other pics online (headed to do that now) but they seem really toed in. Then again, I'm a newb. I've measured 3 times and from every angle but I'd love some feedback before I route.

I'm not ready to do it on this board but someday I really want to try the zero toe thing that was put forth by Von Piros. I can already sense a serious Frankenstein project coming in my future. Maybe I'll convert my bigger board to ProBox and do it on that to speed it up. Hm...

To those that know, does the placement look solid?

[magentawave]

If that's the same placement that Kurt recommends then it seems that most are okay with it. Me, I think the back fins are way too far back relative to the front fins for everything below head high. It would be really nice if the back fin boxes would allow 1" fore and aft movement and then put a 5th box for a Darcdriver or Nubster for bigger waves.

To those that know, does the placement look solid?

[Biggreen]

You know, it wasn't until Magenta pointed it out that I noticed, but isn't your fin spread more along the Robin Mair lines, Cowboy? I think all looks ok, but I really have no business in this matter.

I would, however, like to thank you Cowboy for such a great thread. It's been a pleasure to follow. And if you don't mind I'd like to suggest you pick another shape so you can start a new one! 

[magentawave]

YES, what he said!

I would, however, like to thank you Cowboy for such a great thread. It's been a pleasure to follow. And if you don't mind I'd like to suggest you pick another shape so you can start a new one! 

[surfcowboy]

I was more concerned about the toe in. I'm following direction and also I'm probably going to run this as a twin in smaller surf. BG, my next set of builds will probably be fins for this baby, I want a few including some large keels and big rear traditional fins.

Magenta, the ProBox will let me slide them forward and back a bit so I have some room. I'm gonna go peep some board shots online and compare the spacing but I suspect the extra room is to give drive to this big skateboard.

[surfcowboy]

Fin boxes are in. Man the ProBox install is really easy. Pics to come but Larry and those guys really made it dead simple. Grind em down tomorrow and then take it to my buddies pool to stand on it and see how far up I need to run the pad. Don't wanna have more rubber on this thing than I need. I think I'm a day or two away from being able to surf this thing. Wow.

[magentawave]

You can save some weight if you do a pattern with little pieces like Casso did in this video. My second standup had a deckpad like that and it worked great and was probably half the weight of a full pad.

Fin boxes are in. Man the ProBox install is really easy. Pics to come but Larry and those guys really made it dead simple. Grind em down tomorrow and then take it to my buddies pool to stand on it and see how far up I need to run the pad. Don't wanna have more rubber on this thing than I need. I think I'm a day or two away from being able to surf this thing. Wow.

[magentawave]

I know it's too late but this is Mo Freitas and this is the fin configuration I was thinking of. Notice how the back fins are closer to the front fins? It will make the board more pivoty which is what you want in small waves but an FCS plug in the tail for a nubster would calm it down in bigger waves.

Notice how he can carry it like a regular surfboard? Crazy, but that's what you get with 24" wide sups!

[surfcowboy]

I totally get the tight cluster. Seems like you'd need it more with that tail style but we will see.

I put my board in a buddy's pool tonight to test how far up to put the pad and I can say that turning will not be an issue for me coming off of a 9'0".

I'm stoked to get it out this weekend. But, one question as I've always had painted boards. Do I need to seal the sanded finish or am I good to go?

I got some weird water marks tonight on the black parts of the board but the epoxy is solid with no sand throughs. Is this why people put acrylic floor sealer on sanded boards?

[magentawave]

If it's sealed then I'd surf it as is or you can make it smoother by wet sanding with finer wet or dry paper all the way up to 600 if you want. The nice thing about wet sanding with finer paper is that it won't attract dirty stuff as much. I think acrylic floor sealer like Mop and Glow is used it to make the sanded boards look prettier in the shop but I don't know if it actually seals anything. It will be interesting to see what others say about that stuff.

But, one question as I've always had painted boards. Do I need to seal the sanded finish or am I good to go?

I got some weird water marks tonight on the black parts of the board but the epoxy is solid with no sand throughs. Is this why people put acrylic floor sealer on sanded boards?

[surfcowboy]

Cool, thanks Magenta, you've been a champ through this.

I'm gonna take it to 400 or 600, the color doesn't need a shine but I can see it being cleaner at higher grit.

[surfcowboy]

Ok the last set of pics. Sorry for the lag, I literally couldn't face the work of posting. lol

Here's the last few items. I found that they don't really make a kick pad that's 15" wide so I had to pull a trick from SUPUK again and get some L400 EVA and make a kicker under my bulletproof surf (Amazon.com) pad. You can see here that I couldn't even leave that easy as I laminated three pieces to get the white stripe in the back. I spray tacked it to a board so I could sand it and clamped my high quality Harbor Freight sander to a shaping stand and went to town making it an angle. Before I sanded I rough cut it with a razor knife so I didn't pollute the world with a ton of eva dust.



Sweet sander dude. Hecho in India.



Here it is. I masked off the board and spray tacked it down.

Here's the Deck Pad and Kick pad install process. (This line included so the google search will bring other backyarders to this.

Lay out the deck pad and masking tape it to the deck with the backing still on to check position and cuts.
Lift the front end of the pads and cut the backing half way with a razor so the adhesive is exposed towards the nose but still on at the tail end.
Lightly and slowly lay the pad down from middle to nose end, checking for bubbles carefully.
Then once this is done the pad is in place and you can remove the masking tape holding the tail end down.
Lift the pad back and mask off the board so you can place the EVA kicker.
Test fit the kicker and the mask around it carefully.
Spray the kicker and the board deck with 77 spray and stick the kicker in place.
Remove the backing from the tail end of the pad (that has been taped or propped back/up out of the way.
Smooth the deck pad from the middle back towards the kicker.
Then carefully check alignment and stick the deck pad to the kicker.
Trim to shape, if needed, with a razor.



Then I masked off the nose and applied 4 light coats of Monster Paint. You need this on a short SUP as you will be perched here to get the board to drop in in all but the most hollow of waves in my experience. Also, these things nose ride really well. (who knew?)



Finally, a fuzzy pic of the whole thing. I'll post some more soon as I really need a full photo shoot on the beach.



I'm calling this thing done but truthfully, I had to cover some sand through spots and other imperfections on the bottom that I still haven't fully sanded down. The top is to 600 and I can't see taking a daily driver further than that unless you have great color.

I'll pick at it here and there as I do ding repair and am home bored but I consider my first one... done. Wow.

Epilogue:

I'm calling it 100 hours for this one. I did that over about 2.5 months (10 weeks.)
I assume the next one will take about half that and I think I could get one down to maybe 30 hours by board 3 or 4. I also know that in the future I'll be building some testers/drivers and some art pieces and they will vary in time and expense.
I have around $800 US into it but I have a lot of materials left over (resin) and a few tools in that cost. Note: I had a lot of tools so as I said, don't get into making boards to save money unless you are making a quiver. (I certainly am, btw.)
If you want one of these, buy an L41 custom, from Kirk, as he's a great shaper and person and you won't get bugs in your glass job that way.

Final takeaway, there is nothing cooler than being asked "who's board is that?" at the beach and replying, "I built it."

Thank you to the Zone, Kirk @ L41, ProBoxLarry, and all the guys who pitched in on this thread and saved me hours of pain on this build. This is your board too.

[magentawave]

Hey I've been wondering how you were getting along with your new board. It looks GREAT and I look forward to reading your ride report too. You must be itching to get that out in the water, eh?

I have a few questions about your stomp pad/deck pad...

1) Where did you buy the L400 EVA and the deck pad material?

2) Did you make your own deck pad using that stuff they sell by the foot (NSI?) or was it an off-the-shelf pre-cut deck pad?

3) What grit did you use to sand the L400 EVA?

Thanks.