Hollow 13.9 foot surfboard

[chill]

Here is my surboard. It is a long board...to say the least.
It is called a dragonboard. It designed after a Austrailian lifesaving board.
Roy Steward designed it.
http://www.olosurfer.com/Planshapes1.html

It is 13.9 feet long and weighs 60 lbs.

I had some left over cedar from by Woods Gypsy catamaran build.
Url to cat picts = http://picasaweb.google.com/chill3570/LatestBoatPic#
Since I can only work weekends on the cat I decided to build this surfboard.

I cannot wait to get in the surf with it.

Note it is build with 2 layers of 1/4 inch cedar (top and bottom) and 2 layers of a lattuce frame on the inside. (pine)
So it is hollow. I have a vent at the front.
I put 2oz fiberglass cloth on it.

My kids give me a hard time saying I should put an engine on it. :)

Url for all the surfboard pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/chill3570/Dragonboard_surfboard#



http://lh3.ggpht.com/_CNVgkjcg_4o/Shrz_-fNgRI/AAAAAAAAAQI/Y3vMnMnPWLA/s512/allpics%20155.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_CNVgkjcg_4o/Shr0AJlixcI/AAAAAAAAAOo/4xqVapBJ5Jk/s640/allpics%20120.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_CNVgkjcg_4o/Shr0ih2wTfI/AAAAAAAAAO4/qOVwxsBjbDE/s640/allpics%20113.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_CNVgkjcg_4o/Shr0iz1PqqI/AAAAAAAAAO8/XcbEfCDj6ek/s640/allpics%20112.jpg
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_CNVgkjcg_4o/Shr0jEjoULI/AAAAAAAAAPA/F9rf9Vyp0Bo/s640/allpics%20111.jpg

[Mrleft8]

NICE! I love it!

[David G]

I used to ride a longboard, but that thing is a tanker. Let us know how it performs! And remember... fotos, fotos, fotos :D

[paladin]

Schooner rig?

[Canoez]

Nice board! Have you seen the boards from these guys?

Grain Surfboards (http://www.grainsurfboards.com/)

[chill]

Yes I looked into Grain boards. They are very nice but very expensive.
I was just looking for plans and it does not seem they offer them.

[Dusty Yevsky]

I had the same reaction when I looked Grain board kits. Pretty but pricey. Did you you find plans for your board or did you design it yourself?

[obscured by clouds]

I'll be pleased to see a report from somebody othere than Roy!

If you peruse Swaylocks you'll no doubt remember the whole 'put-up-or-shut-up' saga of a couple of years ago.

Roy's ethos on board building is pretty left field but if it works.......

[chill]

Yes I got the plans from
Roy Steward
http://www.olosurfer.com/139plans.html .

I have seen some controversy on Roy's approach on design on the web.
Much of it came across to me as traditional approach versus something new.
Or mono vs multi in the sailing world kinda thing.

I like his maverick approach. I found building the board straight forward . The board looks good to me and appears like it should perform well. We shall see..I have not had it in the water yet.

I have seen video of others surfing the same board and they speak well of it.
I am looking forward to giving it a try.

[CarlZog]

Wow. Funky shape. From the pics, it looks like it has a pretty heavy rocker, and the outline seems more like an over-sized gun. What kind of conditions are you planning on riding it in?

I look forward to hearing some in-water reports.

Nice construction work.

[kazeai1969]

Yeesh - I thought my 9'6" Tuflite built board was long and heavy!! Great looking board tho....hope to see some pictures of you catching some nice waves!
Alex (Shonan Beach, Japan...about 200m from the 1964 Olympic sailing venue)

[chill]

It has a 7 inch rocker. I saw one guy even built one with and 11 inch rocker and said it surfed well.

There are reports it has been surfed in all kinds of conditions from big wave in HI to small stuff. I am a novice surfer. I figure on surfing light/small conditions at Cape Hatteras NC this summer. It may come in handy as well as a life saving platform. I have had to pull a few people our of the surf there.

I will be sure to take some pictures as well. My kids will for sure..they figure I will kill myself with that big board :)

Here is the link to pictures from the designer.
http://www.olosurfer.com/dragonboard_slideshow.html

[ToddFwbf]

Yeehaw, surfers and sailors.

That board looks very interesting.

I've got a set of plans for Tom Blake's design and have been meaning to do the build for some time. Can't wait to see how your board surfs.

[chill]

This board is apparently interpretation of one of Tom Blake's designs

[bwd]

Hey that's cool.
I just made a NON-hollow wood board, 6'8"x17"
of the alaia type
I had been thinking about it a while, and had some cedar sitting around, but thought it would break on the sandbar, then one day at Lowes I found a shelf board that happened to be made of full length clear SYP, the rest is history. Pine grain looks nice, but requires plane and scraper, cedar would have been much easier....

http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/14503/ppuser/15788

^^that's the picture. Posting pics here still a pain, sorry.
PS -no, no fin
PPS -yes, takeoff is tricky
PPPS -(Come on WB, bandwidth is not that steep these days.)

[chill]

Nice looking board. Did you design it on your own or work off a design

[bwd]

Thanks, it's just my idea, with a bit of inspiration from looking at pictures on swaylocks.com and Tom Wegener's website.
I did the curves off battens, no templates or computers.
May have made a mistake narrowing the front of the concave instead of having it fade out more smoothly across the width of the board, have to see how it rides after a few more tries.

[chill]

Well great job.