4/10/2022 Fin Foiling
This week I decided to tackle something I’ve never done before and lay up a fin panel and foil my own solid fiberglass fins. I was in the process of building a collection of three twinzer surfboards and thought, that since they shared the same color palette, matching fins would tie the whole thing together.
I chose a mocha-tinted brown for the first color(10 layers), followed by an ivory white(5 layers), and then another 10 layers of mocha. This made for 25 layers of 6oz fiberglass cloth. I laid the pieces on a waxed pane of glass so the panel didn’t stick, leaving me with a solid piece of fiberglass about 1/4” thick. I cut and foiled the fins using a ceramic jigsaw bit and 60 grit sandpaper on an 8” sanding pad.
I made surprisingly quick work of the foiling, since I’ve foiled dozens of wooden fins, and am quite satisfied with the result. This is something I’d love to do more of, and can’t wait to make another fin panel for my next project.
4/18/2022 : Twinzer Twinzer Twinzer
After 3 long weeks, and plenty of troubleshooting, I finished my 3-pack of twinzers. For this project, I wanted to work on creating consistency among surfboards, essentially creating a “model” though I prefer to make one-offs. I learned a lot from this process, and am decently satisfied with the results.
I built three boards based on the same outline, rocker, and fin setup. A 6’0x20” board, a 6’6”x20.25” board, and my favorite, a 7’x20.5” board. These boards have a medium continuous rocker for rail-to-rail transition and to fit in some curvier waves. My goal for these boards is to make an all purpose surfboard that you can always feel comfortable bringing without knowing what the surf is like. I can't wait to get a group of guys to beta test these boards and improve on the twinzer fin concept.
The twinzer fin setup is based on the idea of the front smaller fin breaking up the flow of water and reducing the friction on the rear, controlling fin. This loosens up the feeling of the board, allowing the rider full control of the craft, rather than musceling around the board by force, creating a looser, more free flowing lines.
3/24/2022: Edge board impressions
This week I had the chance to test out another experimental board. I shaped and glassed a 5’10 edge board a few months back and have been putting it through its paces ever since. This board is a whopping 22.5” wide. I did this because in order to experiment with the edge board concept, I wanted to push it to the max. The tail is about 10” wide at the end.
With this much width, I knew this board would be fast, but my concerns were the agility. On my first session, I paddled out into 3-5 foot, mushier waves, with the occasional double-up. I had no issues with paddling and this board blew my mind with its agility. I had no issues surfing deep in the pocket, jetting out to the shoulder, and cutting back to the foam. While the board is 22.5” wide, it surfs like 19, but without losing any of the speed generation or paddle power.
I’ve found this board to excel in any waves from knee-high peelers, to head-high mushballs.
