Author Topic: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me  (Read 3263 times)

surfcowboy

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Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« on: July 03, 2020, 05:06:35 PM »
Ok so if this offends, think of the tiny child who could SUP this 5'6" x 20 1/2" x 3" foil board.  ;) It's Home Depot HDX orange in honor of its humble hardworking origins.

This is #2 of my Covid C-uiver project. It was shaped at the same time as the blue SUP foil then I glassed them one after another so the garage could be converted from one mess (dust) to the other (resin.) My hands got sore before I could finish the tow foil board that's coming next so I'm taking a break and learning to foil. Besides, the lockdown and pandemic has limited my boating offers for this season.

So I'll start with the stats and then run the images down with captions, (I hope)

Dims are as stated above 5'6" x 20 1/2" x 3"

Handshaped out of a 48"x96"x4" 1.5 lb eps (cost me $49, so I paid $16 per blank for these boards.) Total material cost (roughly) average $250 per board BUT if you're new to this... I have a grand worth of tools and other materials lying around. My first board cost me $800 and 100 hours of labor lol. These are boards 5-8 for me, I think.

I hotwire cut the base shape then sanded with a 36 grit 14" sanding board I made. Finished the blank to about 220 grit then sealed with fast and final sparkle diluted with distilled water.

Issues I encountered: I messed up the nose rocker and had to glue in a piece and then also had a rail chunk missing (I was cutting 3 boards out of a single sheet so I used every inch. When glueing in new pieces using Gorilla Glue, I'd recommend putting the glue only in the middle so the top layer can be sanded easier. Live and Learn.

That takes us up to the Box Install section, I'll add pics and do another post for that.


surfcowboy

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Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2020, 05:30:37 PM »
Notes on shaping pics - It's crazy how much more you can see with shaping lights. Mine were from a buddy's garage given to me. I clamp them to my bench when I need them. Need to make a tiny set of LED ones actually. The weird shot with batteries and laundry detergent is the fix of adding a foam block back into the nose.

Ok, not on to the controversial part. Boxes... get ready for some heated discussion. lol Paging Beasho, this one is for you man.

Let me start by saying that this is v1. I learned a lot and think the next one will include HD foam for the boxes, as well as the stringers you see here. But I weight 140 and this is my beginner board so I'm pretty sure it'll last and we will all learn something either way so there's that.

I guess I should mention that this was designed to be the easiest foil board to learn on. That's why it's 5'6". I wanted the foil version of a 9'6" longboard. Also, this will likely be the board that all my surf buddies learn on once they see me do something other than crash spectacularly, which is their current experience of foiling.

Boxes are Chinooks, slightly cut down because I thought I had to? DW, as usual, has set me straight on that one so next ones are going in full depth. My buddy ripped me some 1/4"-ish lol redwood and I cut stringers out of that with a jigsaw, because I'm fancy and demand 100% accuracy. I sanded them straight-ish. I'll use pine trim pieces from Home Depot next time but this was around. Originally I wanted a 4" stringer to go all the way through the board but I realized how much I hate planing stringers so I chickened out and went with 1 1/4" stringers on the bottom. Yes, they could fail. Yes, next time I'll tie them to the deck with HD foam and yes, you can all enjoy the crash story when this thing comes apart on me. (IF?)

About that, I have a nice little paracord foil leash that clips to my leash string and goes around my mast so should my DIY mounts fail I won't be dealing with snorkeling frantically for my foil in cloudy LA water. I'll just have a big dangling fishing lure to swim back to shore. I'm selling these for $400 or you can make your own for $1, your call. (Actually they cost $5 to buy and $395 shipping & handling.) If you guys have sinker foils, this seems like a no-brainer.

Ok so I have boxes, I have stringers, then I Gorilla Glue the boxes to the stringers (because... Beasho.) And then add a layer of 4oz glass to the outside which was way harder than it should have been. Next time I have a better way and I'll shoot it then. This left me with 2 box/stringer units about 42" long.

I routed my boxes in using my jig and then using some straight wood trim as guides I ran a 1/4" x 1 1/4" deep slot down the board. If you look closely you can see a 2" oops I did the first time. But at least I filled 2" and not 42" - win!

Once this was done, I gorilla glued it all in (again, because i'm scared of Beasho and it's clearly the best way too) and then sanded it all flush. I also got to use my little micro plane which always makes me feel like Terry Martin or Marc Andreini.

Then I was ready to glass...

By the way, this thread is done on my computer instead of iPad, hence the epic length and verbosity. Enjoy.




surfcowboy

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Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2020, 05:39:33 PM »
Ok so then I sanded it all nice and sealed it up and it was time for paint.

I got some Montana Orange Acrylic from Fiberglass Source. I didn't think about how much it would take, so I only got one can. I also didn't really want to have some left over and be tempted to paint something else this color.

I taped off my stringers and boxes. The boxes turned out to be for naught since I was PUTTING CARBON OVER THEM. But that's a minor screwup in the whole scheme of this thing. Anyway, If you're doing both sides, get 2 cans. If you're doing a SUP, get 3. It's $8 a can and goes on great and you can glass over it perfectly.

Also, have some left over because when you sand your rough ass home glasser laps you're going to mess up some paint. Ask me how I know.

You can also see that this was done in the part of the yard where my wife never goes. It's where I get to blend my redneck roots with my CA surfer side. They collide to beautiful effect as $6,000+ worth of surf gear stored in the equivalent of a auto salvage yard.

surfcowboy

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Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2020, 05:52:28 PM »
Now it's time to get sticky and itchy. (Truthfully, if you get decent at glassing you really aren't sanding glass much.)

Glassing was 2 layers of 6oz E Glass because Charlie (SUPUK) told me it was fine and I believe him now after seeing my SUP foil. Carbon might enter the picture for fun on my next board. Oh, and I messed up the carbon estimate on the boxes. Originally, I was going with 1 extra layer of 6oz carbon over my boxes. I was just delirious I think.

Once I got it done, I put the foil on the board and flexed it with my hands and could see the tiniest (less than 1mm) deflection between the plate and the skin and I knew that that was eventually going to shatter itself. I'll cover this in the next post.

Glassing was uneventful, but I wanted to show anyone new what an ugly lap looks like so you can not be scared. You just sand them flat -ish and then glass the other side and it all works out.

At the end, you see my leash plug installed with some blue resin. I didn't shoot much of the process. It's just a 1" hole saw bit and then I baste the insides with epoxy and q-cell to seal it up before I put the plug in and hit it with more resin. I used the Greenlight GoreTex plug and vent on both of these boards and I like them a lot. I learned to mark the orientation of the bar inside on your tape or else you can get a wonky angle when you install.

Oh, and I show a shot of me routing the boxes using a 5/16th" trim bit. So fun to do that and it comes out so clean. Very satisfying. Using the router is where I pretend I'm Dwight (DW).

surfcowboy

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2020, 06:08:00 PM »
Ok so here's a little postscript. As I said, I painted the carbon and then tested the deflection and figured I'd better beef it up a bit. BUT - I wanted to show something related to pinholes. If you check the first shots, those were in the paint. I assume that this was caused by a pinhole sucking in the paint. I'd like to hear from the pros on here. If so, for the rest of us, know that those were not visible until I painted the board. hmm... time to eBay a tester.

You can see how clean the routed boxes come out. And I tested my wife's Harbor Freight airbrush painting the boxes. The second time I went with rattle can plastic primer as it seems more robust for having a plate slid over it all the time.

Then we get to the new box plate. I added 2 more layers of 6oz carbon and a layer of 6oz glass over that. So this thing is stiff now. If it breaks, I tried. I also made each one an inch or two bigger so the force is spread to reduce shear points. It now goes about halfway to my front foot. I left it rough looking since it was outside the skin and it's a prototype, and I was ready to be done. I used my aquarium pump vacuum rig to bag it down (I also pretend I'm DW when I bag, btw. Full on Walter Mitty-style. I pretend I'm PonoBill when I sand which is really not a goal.)

And then finally the whole thing set up, and then shots of it with traction. I used an old kick pad I had lying around from a SUP traction kit and then made my own front with a 14" arch bar to keep me in line. I cannot stress enough how much this helps me learn to foil. I almost never am off center when catching a wave. I can't imagine learning without it.

This project was a blessing to get me through a long patch without surf time. Can't wait to try it out. Stay tuned! (And again, if you are worried about the theme of the forum just imagine me holding a paddle.) ;)

As always, thanks to Dwight, JRandy, Pono, Beasho, TooMuchEpoxy and EricFoil (over on another forum) I know I'm forgetting a few of you who help me out. Really all you guys who make these things in their garages and backyards. Keep pushing, keep building, keep trying stuff.

burchas

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2020, 06:12:54 PM »
Fantastic Cowboy! I'm jelly.
in progress...

jrandy

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2020, 06:35:48 PM »
Outstanding!
Thanks for posting another build thread!
Now I want to try selective vacuum bagging.
Nicely done Cowboy!
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Be safe, have fun. -J

surfcowboy

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2020, 07:05:14 PM »
Thanks guys and yes, bagging small stuff or an area is really fun and low risk. Good practice. I’m on the edge of trying this 4’ tow board after 3-4 small projects.

Also foil wings are good practice projects too.

justsomeguy

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2020, 07:36:41 PM »
Luv'n the HD safety orange, go Homer! ... but seriously, I'd never in a million years take on a project like that and I'm totally impressed, real craftsmanship. Think'n every ride you get on that board is gonna be just a little bit more special now.
Fanatic Allwave LTD 9'4"x33"x173L
NSP Carolina 14'x25.75"x299L
+ a few prone surfboards nobody here cares about :)

Surfside

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #9 on: July 04, 2020, 03:20:39 AM »
Looks great!

surfcowboy

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2020, 08:24:01 AM »
Someguy just named the board, “Homer” of course! And yes, it’s fun riding a board you made, when they work.  :D It’s a gamble for sure. But these were fun because I knew they’d be fast and I’d grow out of them and get to make new ones soon. My last Longboard has a little weird rocker and it bugs me. I’ll probably make another next spring if I’m still surfing. Honestly, I may end up with foils and foamies for when I want to surf with my friends.

But we joke, if you made a board, everyone around you will know lol. It’s like being a vegan, it gets discussed.

Surfside, I’ll bet you get to see this one in person. I can’t wait to come foil Texas. A run from Galveston to Corpus to Padre is on my list for sure as soon as I can.

Surfside

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2020, 10:15:43 AM »
Looking forward to it. :)

Wetstuff

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Re: Cowboy Orange (Home Depot) Foil Board - Prone... sue me
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2020, 10:26:41 AM »
Ride'm Cowboy!  Good for you.

Jim
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