the “forty one” – FFW Surfboards

July 28, 2014

Evolution of surfboard design

So, the latest evolution in the FFW Surfboards design process is curing … damn, don’t ya just hate the waiting to cure process!

Anyway, while the surf is not doing much around here today, I thought I would look back at the evolution of the design process for this ‘all rounder’.

It all started with the ‘forty one’ … why that name? Simple. I made it for my 41st birthday.

Then, it was tweaked, to take some “excess” foam from the front third, and pulled the tail in a bit. This one became known as the ‘forty one’ II … pretty simple naming process!

That design was then tweaked further with the addition of the full concaves into the AKU Shaper design software. Now, if you have not read here already, I can not believe how accurate the software, to cut board, process works. It is amazing, so much so, that with the first two boards, I was tentative with what I saw on the screen against what I thought the cut board would come out like … well, no more, and with this evolution of the ‘all rounder’ which I’ve tagged as the ‘forty one two’ – mkII …

Which brings us to this latest incarnation of the ‘all rounder’ … the ‘forty one two’ – mkIII … which has the lower rails, refined concave ‘shape’ and ‘depth’ with a slight reduction in the overall width … but, keeping the volume basically the same as the previous board.

So, what did I learn with each of the design tweaks?

The first board, the ‘forty one’, as I’ve posted on here felt like it had too much foam in the front third and had too much overall volume. It felt too “big” in the front half of the board, and lacked some turning ability which I know was due to the tail, because having pulled that it on the next one, the turning ability dramatically improved. What I also found was in using the design software, adding in concave … yeah, get your head around that first … you add the concave by pulling down the edge of the rail … so, the volume in terms of ‘thickness’ can be reduced when you add in the concave via the design software.

This also, made me realise, that when I did the first board, because it was cut flat, when I hand shaped in the concave I actually flattened the rocker … so, by using the design software and adding in the concave, I ended up with a better rocker. This however, left me with a board that had a funny ‘keel’ under my front foot as I pushed the double under the front foot … only to realise that it could be smoothed by pulling one of the design points, so that now in this latest one, the ‘forty one two’ – mkIII the keel is gone and the shape of the concave has been “smoothed” out …

The current one I’m surfing performs well, in waves that are not flat … it likes a wave with more shape, does not have to be big, but needs to have some shape, otherwise it’s just dead … in small surf, it gets up and goes, actually all of them have, which has been a surprise, but the difference in performance with each is noticeable once the waves get some shape and I can actually ‘surf’ the boards. This last one, likes coming off the bottom and a can fly off the top, when I put the energy into it … if I’m a bit slack, it bogs, but if I can give it the energy and make sure I hit the top turns in the right spots, it comes off the top very nicely. In some running waves during some point surfs last week, it was awesome … I even managed one small little runner that become a bottom turn, sliding, lose fin top turn, slide, back to bottom turn over and over down the line. Fun!

The other aspect with the mkII version, is it’s comfort in tubes … I think I’ve had more green room time on this one board, than any other board I have ever ridden. I seem to get into waves easier (maybe the light weight blank giving it some more zip?) and so can get into waves behind the peak so I can then tuck under the pitching lip … where, previously, I would get pitched, or have to surf around the breaking section having been caught up in the lip …

So, I’m now waiting for this latest one to cure so I can go surf it!

November 24, 2013

Fins = confidence to design?

As I wrote a while back, I have been trying different fins in the latest evolution of the “Forty One Two”. Now that I’ve found the right fins, I have the confidence to tweak the design. Weird I know!

As you may have read, this latest board has a lot of lift, get up and go, but with that, lacking some control.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m no athlete, or high performance surfer. Rather, your average bloke in his early forties, who is lucky enough to get to surf almost every day. So I am “surf fit” and have some experience, having started surfing just over 30 years ago.

As I wrote previously, I started with Performance Core K2.1’s and then put in some of the Parko JP5 fins. I ended up deciding to try some AM2 fins, and bought an “after market” copy of what I thought were AM2’s … the first give away should have been the poor fit, with a gap between the base of the fins and the board. I sanded the tabs so it would fit flush, but the base of the fin had a curve, so I had to give the corners near the tabs a sand too … after surfing the fins for a while I concluded there was something still wrong.

Thinking board issues, I decided to double check the finished dimensions of the board.

Now, that was an eye opener … what it said in AKU Shaper, is within a bees dick of the finished board. I checked the concave shape and depth, both single and double and they were as per the AKU design, and what I had wanted … although, I was starting to think it may have been the depth that was causing the performance issues … more depth, more lift, less control?

Or, maybe outline issues I had not figured out yet.

In the process, I decided to check the fin cant, toe, etc … well the toe was the same as other boards I had, but the fin cant was the shock. I had asked for 6 degree cant (when I had the board glassed) and that’s what I got … BUT, all the other boards that I had liked over the last few years had more, some 8 degree’s, other around 7. Each board having concave, I measured from the stringer across to get a ‘true’ comparison.

Lesson there … check what your riding!

OK, back to the fins.

It was at this stage, I checked the after market AM2 fins against some genuine AM2. They were different, and with that knowledge it filled the gaps with what I was feeling with the board. I had thought the AM2 would add drive, but less than the JP5 fins, and maybe a tad less than the JP5 with K2.1 centre fin combo, but more than all the K2.1’s. Same with the pivot … a mid way solution which was what I needed. What I had found was less drive, like way less, no punch off the bottom and a weird release off the top feeling, like it got “stuck” … I was really starting to doubt my design process.

After comparing the after market AM2 with the genuine AM2, things fell into place. But I still was not getting what I wanted from the board.

So, I went around to see the boys (Tank, Elvis and Foils) at Shapers … As usual they were more than happy to help, well Tank was, the other two were off loafing somewhere as usual. Tank went through a heap of fins and options with me, and after a process of elimination he lent me some Asher Pacey AP02 fins to try …

Whooah, that’s what’s been missing! I used the AP02 sides with a slightly bigger ‘nuke’ back fin … very nice, and just what was missing.

First wave, punched off the bottom, vertical, and off the top with pace. I was not ready for it. Over the session, I found the combination was great and all the ‘issues’ seemed to dissolve. Cutbacks had speed to burn coming out of them and I did not feel like I had to ‘muscle’ the board to get it around … The AP02, being a tad bigger than K2.1, there was no lack of control.

So, now having found the right fins, I feel confident that the design is OK. So it’s time to tweak it … look out MkIV is on the way!

I’m keen to hear if anyone is finding fin changes are radically changing the performance of their boards. What fins do you use? How have they changed the performance of your board? How have the changed the way you surf a wave?

December 9, 2012

Lap … cut & free (not dancing)

On the first two boards I did, the ‘jazz” and the ‘forty one”, I did free laps … the ‘jazz’ turned out quite ugly, and ended up with a very uneven line of cloth which is quite obvious after sanding the filler coat as can be seen in this pic:

It’s smooth, and only cosmetic, but I wanted better. So, with the ‘forty one’ I also did a free lap and tried to get a better line, hoping that would blend the lap better and be less ugly looking, but, not quite there as this pic shows:

Click on any of these images to get a larger view.

So, with the ‘forty one two’ I decided I would try a cut lap. My first ever attempt … so I tapped up the rails on the deck, and went about cutting the cloth more ‘neatly’, I even bought so new super sharp and awesome scissors which made the cloth trimming process much much easier … but, in my usually way, I invited the fuck up fairy back by trimming the cloth so some ended up inside the tapped line, this then lead to the issues when I went to ‘cut’ the lap, since some was overhanging the tape, but other parts were back from it … so I ended up with a bit of an uneven cut. Getting the razor blade to slide along the tap edge and cut was OK where the cloth overhung the tape, but when it hit the spots where the cloth did not make the tape, ah, messy again. Here’ a pic of the lap finished:

That ‘gash’ you can see on the left hand side is where I managed to put the corner of some sand paper into the foam when I was sanding the lap at that point … it was one of the spots where the cut lap did not sit well and needed a bit more effort to sand it down …the right hand side is he best lap I’ve done, and almost blends with hardly (relative to my two previous attempts) any cloth line showing.

So, with the ‘nineteen 97’ the plan is to do a cut lap and I will be taping the whole deck, using butchers paper to stop any laminate resin getting onto the deck, which, on the ‘forty one two’ resulted in a ‘bumpy’ deck … I will also make sure the cloth is well past the edge of the tape. Watch this space … I’m sure the fairy will be back !

PS: My ‘cut lap’ knowledge came from watching you tube video’s !

November 25, 2012

The ‘forty one two’ – sanded and surfed

It’s sad … a 41 year old bloke surfing wind swept wind swell, but still being totally STOKED!

Yep, I had to take the ‘forty one two’ for a paddle … it went well, considering the waves. This board will go … can’t wait to get it in some good waves.

As a refinement of the forty one, I could feel the pulled in tail, and less foam in front of the chest … the tweaked rails were noticeable, but the surf was not the best to feel them come into the equation.

Here’s a couple of pic of it finished:

November 10, 2012

Shaping Tools – the “round” on the rounded squash tail

In the process of doing the tail on the ‘forty one two’ I went back and looked closely at the tail on the board i was using as my guide. I used the yellow plastic saucer from my daughters tea set when did he ‘forty one’, but wanted to double check.

So, I layed the ‘shaping tool’ on the board I was copying …

Yep, pretty close, so I used that again.

October 29, 2012

The ‘forty one two’ has evolved …

I’ve been playing around with the ‘forty one’ in AKU Shaper and it has now evolved into the ‘forty one two’ … I’ve pulled the tail in, as can be seen in the picture, and have taken some volume out of the rails and from the chest forward. Taking that foam out dropped the volume a bit, so I’ve then added some concave into the file design so I will not have to take as much off the blank once it’s cut.

So, the ‘forty one two’ is starting it’s life … I’ve just e-mailed the file for machine cutting … which hopefully I can collect on Friday.

Here’s a link to a full profile of the board …

October 28, 2012

The ‘forty one’ – butcher or not …

The ‘forty one’ has had a work out over the last week … starting within less than a day of it being finished! So much for letting it cure … Anyway, it started out feeling ‘spongy’. which I was told is common for UV resin, but yesterday, it felt more solid. I put this down to it either getting harder (i.e. curing) or the deck depressions compressing the form to such an extent it can not go much further. Either way, it goes OK.

Two things I feel with it … One, it feels a bit long, which I feel is due to the foam from my chest up … the other, is it feels a bit tighter in turns, and with the same fins, same fin positions, and basically the same concaves as the board from which it was copied, the only reason is the tail shape. This pic shows the difference.

So, the question is, do I butcher this board and chop a bit off the nose and pull in the tail?

October 22, 2012

The ‘forty one’ is finished and ready to surf …

So, in short, I’m pretty stoked to have the 1st board finished. It’s taken longer at every step, which is not a big issue when you’re making board for yourself, but it did become frustrating … As you can read from the history here, there’s been some ‘learning’ along the way.

The good … the glass job on the ‘forty one’ is much better than what I did on the “jazz” … that all stems from getting the laps onto the deck wrapped and wet … which then meant I was not chasing the smooth finish sanding and therefore no sand thru’s , well almost none …

The bad … that’s the sand thru at the front of the r’ear fin … as I posted at the time … gotta learn to take my time!

The patch job to fix the sand thru and bubbles holes around the other boxes came up OK.

All in all … stoked … time to go surfing and try this one …

October 22, 2012

Fin install “issues” … fixed

So, I fixed up my sand thru ‘issue’. While I was going I put some resin into the air bubble holes around the other boxes.

In the end it’s come up OK, although the sand thru spot just looks ugly.

Might fix that with some colour, or even white, down the track.

October 21, 2012

Stuffed up sanding the fin boxes …

OK, so, I’ve done it … sanded thru the front of the glass, into the foam, in front of the rear fin box.

Bugger.

Due to the double concave, it was difficult to get the box sanded down, and I ended up taking too much …

Looks like a patch job is needed!