Historical wood

Home of the wood board. Its a little draughty though.

Woodspotting

Its Alive! My wood lady, spotted somewhere on the north east coast of New Zealand!!

Happy to know she is getting a working over!
 Some action shots would be great.

Shakas and Single Fins

The super talented Ryan Tatar has a great blog i cant help but check out daily, Shakas and Single Fins.


I was feeling a bit uninspired, so i thought i would make him a few doodles for his header, there have been a few great blog headers floating around and a couple of my favourites are:

Adrian Knott, shakas and single fins:



and Jeff Canham for the swallow tail society:

Wood waxing

The drying period is over, i have pugged all the leaks (hopefully) and had a test run in the bath tub..

She is all waxed up now, awaiting the next perfect opportunity to get wet.

Maiden voyage

The maiden voyage of the wood beast was an epic mid winter session, water temp 8 degrees, swell 3-4ft and light offshores.

On the first kiss of the freezing water she floated like a dream, paddled like a long board, and rode like a short board. I was a bit skeptical of the rails, but the held and could easily string a few turns and beat the sections with the speed these boards are famous for.

I only managed to catch one wave before tragedy struck.. i felt it was slowly feeling heavier and heavier as io paddled out and my suspicions were correct it was LEAKING..

I could barely lift it out of the water.. but i managed to drain it pretty fast and get it into a wood drying room for about 2 months.

Heres the shots from the maiden session.

Ready to roll

Here she is all ready to get wet..

Air vent installation

This was tricky and after going around every plumbing and hardware store in chch, i went to a boating shop and they had exactly what i was after.

This is a water tight bung that can be undone by hand.

I plan on rounding down the edges so it is not so intrusive and save my feet from being chopped up on it if im unintentionally hanging ten.

I installed the plug by screwing in place and sealing it with resin all over. If you have built your board using the hollow web method be careful were you drill your hole, as it can damage the supporting struts on the inside.