My new camera

Not too much to report recently as I've been busy getting started on several new summer projects which will be coming to fruition shortly. In the meantime here's some snaps I took on Saturday, trying out my shiny new Fuji X Pro1.

  

Jubilee Sims Maiden Voyage

Managed to take the Sim out for her début yesterday. 30 mph onshores and choppy swell meant conditions were far from ideal and naturally the wave of the day was caught after I'd put the camera away, but I got a taste of her future potential. A bit twitchy in the rear but she's certainly got some speed.

Jubilee Board - Day 4

Congratulating myself today as I have now managed to knock out a surfboard in the record time of just 4 days,  knocking weeks off my personal best and all done with remarkably few cock ups! Wasn't much left to do today, drilled and glassed in the leash plug this morning, using some foam dust to colour the resin before sanding it flat this afternoon. 


Absolutely atrocious weather today so will take some better pictures when the weather picks up, and hopefully I'll be getting it wet on the weekend.


Happy Diamond Jubilee!

Jubilee Board - Day 3

Good news, I have enough hardener! Can still finish the board tomorrow after all. Going to skip the gloss coat, but the hot coat looks okay so far so should be able to get away without the need for sanding.


Cut out and sanded my fins this morning before glassing on, 4 inches from the base and 3/4 inch in from the rail toed in about 1/3 inch and with the same cant as my Nugget, 3 or 4 degrees I expect. At any rate she should have a bit of manoeuvrability. 


Final sanding of the base and fins this afternoon before hot coating the base so all in all she's looking pretty good if I do say so myself! Glass in the leash plug tomorrow and let her set for a week and she'll be good to go, just got to hope for some waves next weekend.

Advice you probably already knew, don't cover your shaping stand with a patterned plastic bag for glassing, unless you want to transfer the pattern to the bottom of your board. Had a small fit when I first saw it!

Jubilee Board - Day 2

So today's the big day, as the Queen gets shipped down the Thames with her entourage. Meanwhile back in Swansea it's glassing day. Starting early I gave the board a final eyeing up touching up areas I missed yesterday, sanding back to 120 grit and writing the all important dimensions on the bottom.


The warm temperatures and long hours of sunlight make a big difference to the glassing (one thing I learnt last winter is that fibreglassing in a dark shed when the temp is 5 degrees and falling is not a good idea, trust me). Managed to get lay cloth and top and bottom this morning and and gave the deck a hot coat this afternoon, as well as adding the funky Jubilee logo (designed by 10 year old Katherine Dewar from Chester apparently. 


The one possible snag on the horizon is the lack of hardener I have left, may not be quite enough to finish the job. Plenty of resin though. Not sure how I managed that.

Jubilee Board - Day 1

Well one day into my mini sim and with the distractions of a trip to Caswell Bay, lunch in town and the Wales V Barbarians match out of the way I finally got the shaping done.

I have to be honest and say I've been winging it a bit with this board. I had all intentions of being accurate, building a pair of callipers and using a 24 inch quilting ruler to ensure the thickness and width are perfectly symmetrical.

But in the end though, after extensive reading of the Soap Bar threads on Swaylocks, and having a picture of the final shape in my mind I've just been plowing away with by power planer, sure plan and sandpaper until it matches.

Given it a nice concave which runs most of the length of the board with a bit of a belly at the nose. Scooped a lot of volume from the top of the nose too to help push the lil' beast under waves. Round rails for the first third, quite hard through the middle and very hard for the last foot or so.

Quite liked the deck concave on my No 7 board so added a bit of a concave to this deck too. Feels a lot more comfortable to stand on and seems to give me a bit more control so can't be bad.


Logos are now printed out too. Fibre-glassing starts tomorrow, so far still on schedule to be finished my Tuesday.