Anaya Surfboards

To all the people that have looked at this blog I apologize for not responding to comments about boards and what not.  I have been traveling like mad for work recently and this site just fell through the cracks.  I didn’t think there was really anyone looking at this site at all since I had very little traffic, but it was nice to log on today and see some comments that people have left.  I will be adding board pictures and ride reports on different things that I have shaped recently along with some new things I have discovered with glassing and epoxy.

Once again thank you to all that have come here to check out my stuff.

Cheers,

Mike

Description - The dimension on this board are 5′6″ length with a 19″ nose  x center 21 3/4″ x tail 19 7/8″, width is around 2 3/4″.  This board was my second mini simmons that I shaped.  The difference between this board and my first attempt which I will post later is the fact that this board is more foiled in the nose and tail.  I also went with Pavel symmetrically foiled lokbox fins.  Shaping this board seemed straight forward at first but there is a lot going on in this board.  For instance the bottom of the board has a belly to it which runs from the nose to the tail and with a  very deep single concave running out the back of the board.  The belly in the board helps get the board to transition rail to rail easily with the concave focusing some of the water out the back end and helps keep the wide tail loose.

The ride report – My first impression with having the fins so far back was this thing is going to track and this is the complete opposite case.  The board is very loose yet can hold a critical bottom turn without washing out.  I have taken this board to the cliffs on bigger more critical days and was amazed at how quickly the board caught waves and how well it handled the bottom turn on some of the bigger waves.  This board rides very similarly to a fish with more sweeping turns than your typical thruster.   I think after shaping and testing most of the boards that I have either created myself or helped create this is one of my favorite designs.  Catching waves has been a breeze with the full nose and wide planing surface.  However you will need to adapt your duck dive to this design.  You can duck dive this board but your timing on when you kick your tail will change some.

Construction – I used a 6′2″ C modeled blank that is EPS.  The glassing schedule is 2 layers of 4 oz on the bottom and 3 layers of 4 oz on the top.  This glassing schedule gives the board plenty of strength and keeps the weight down.  Also is it epoxy which tends to flex a bit more than your standard polyester board, but since the board is nearly 3 inches thick there isn’t much flex going on in this particular board.  The lokbox fins give you the option to try different foil types and shapes, the ones currently in this board are pavel double foiled fins with about a 6 degree cant.

If the images are too small click on the image for a larger resolution and a brief description about the caption.  Also I think any version of Photoshop will work.  I did this with an older version, Photoshop 7.

The first step is to save the file from APS3000 or AKU shaper as a pdf.

The second step is to open up the pdf file you just saved in Adobe Photoshop.  When you open the file set the resolution to 300 pixels/inch. Since you are printing it out change the mode to CMYK since printers are set up to handle CMYK and not RGB.

Use the marquee tool to select the outline.  The image below shows you which tool I am talking about.

Once you have selected the marquee tool then use it to highlight around the outline.  Basically, you just draw a box around the surfboard outline.  You should have a box around the outline that looks like the image below.

After the box is drawn then hit Crtl-c to copy the outline.

Click on File -> New and just use the default settings that photoshop gives you.

You should now have something that looks like the image below.

Next rotate the image.

Use the marquee tool to select the outline.  The image below shows you which tool I am talking about.

Once you have selected the marquee tool then use it to highlight around the outline.  Basically, you just draw a box around the surfboard outline.  You should have a box around the outline that looks like the image below.

After the box is drawn then hit Crtl-c to copy the outline.

Click on File -> New and just use the default settings that photoshop gives you.

You should now have something that looks like the image below.

Next rotate the image.

Now that the image is in the right orientation.  Start a new file that will be the proper length, so for the board that I am working on it is a 5′10″.  This would mean a file size of at least 70 inches.  I give myself a little extra room so I would go 72″ by 12″, like displayed below.

Click on the window with the board outline in it and hit Ctrl-a in the window to select the entire outline.  Then hit Ctrl-c.  Now click on the window that has the full scaled blank and hit Ctrl-v and this will paste the small version in the larger one.  You should get this small board in the full scaled view.  The image below shows you what you should end up with.

Now it is time to scale up the small image to full size.  Click on the Marquee tool again, remember it is the dashed box looking tool.  Then right click in the window and you should get a side menu that looks like this -

You want to select Free Transform.  The little board should be highlighted like in the image below and you are now ready to pull the corners to fit the board to the whole area.  Remember you are only going to make a half board template.

Also remember that the board I was creating was only going to be 70 inches to I only need to stretch my board out to the 70 inch mark.  If you do not have the inch marks on you image you can activate them by clicking View -> Rulers.  This will activate the side measurements.

Another note is to make sure that that you keep the board proportional in both the height and width.  You can check this in the upper dialog box.

This is how much bigger I scaled the image to get it to fill out the 70 inches.  Now move the image over so that only half the image is showing.

After you have moved the image over you are now ready to double check that the board is 70

The picture above is from AKU shaper.  It is a program that I use to get outlines on boards.  I will follow up this post with a description and pictures on how to use AKU shaper and print out fullsize board templates to use.

Now back to a description of this board.  The blank I used was a 6′10″ Excell blank just like the previous boards.  I cut the outline and if I remember correctly I had troubles with the rails again, still sort of boxy.  It was also glassed with the bamboo cloth again and I had a much easier time glassing this board.  I placed a 8.5″ single fin box in the board with side bites, my intention was to have either a single fin board or a 2 + 1 board.  So now the explanation of why there are no photos of this board.  After glassing the board I realized that I had really messed up the rocker.  Here is a huge hint for those people first starting out to shape.  When you are going to thin out the nose and tail to get a nice foil on the board -

Never foil a board from the bottom.

I made this mistake not only on this board, but I did it again on another board.  When you thin a board from the bottom you alter the rocker dramatically.  While it should have been common sense to thin it from the top, I guess my common sense was just not with me on this board.  I only noticed how awfully it was after I had glassed it.  This board got the glass stripped off it and I used it to practice some and then used some of the foam for repairs and what not.  I hope that this simple tip saves at least one person from ruining a board.

Cheers,

Mike

These were the first two boards that I shaped.  I shaped them in a tiny garage when Jenny and I lived on Muir Ave.  in Ocean Beach, CA.  From what I can remember about these two boards they were both shaped from Excell polyurethane foam and I think it was a 6′ 10″ or 6′ 11″ blank, I can’t remember now.  At the time I was using MAX CLR epoxy and both boards have bamboo fabric covering them instead of fiberglass.

Board 001 was modeled after a Gary Hanel Bonzer well at least the outline was modeled that way….  Nothing else turned out like that other board.  I remember having a very difficult time with shaping rails and not having them so boxy.  The nose and tail on this board and Board 002 are really thick.  At the time I had no idea how to foil a board and thin them down some.  Also working with the bamboo fabric was difficult getting it to stretch around and stick to the board.  Dimension of Board 001 length 6′6″, thickness 2 3/4″, nose 14 1/2″, center 20″, tail 15″.

Board 002 was suppose to be a single fin, 70’s tear drop style board.  I opted to just use points to connect the major marks for the outline.  I used a flexible fiberglass rod to get the curve for the outline.  I definitely didn’t master this technique, what a nightmare.  The outline you will notice was really off and crooked.  If you are new to shaping don’t waste your time with this method you will waste a blank.  Also this was my first attempt at creating some kind of logo for myself and I used the wrong kind of ink and it bled everywhere.  Never use regular sharpies and rice paper for logos.  Another issue I remember was setting the fin box, I didn’t realize you were suppose to grind down the upper dam portion of the Fins Unlimited box, so I ended up making a 2 inch slot into the tail of the board to fit the box which was all wrong.  Also I think I was using my little dremel router set up to set this box.  Dimension of Board 002 length 6′6″, thickness 3″, nose 17 1/4″, center 20 1/2″, tail 11 3/4″.

So a quick summary of problems I had creating these – MAX CLR is thick and took a while to kick over in colder temperatures, the bamboo fabric is strong stuff, but it is difficult to stretch around the board.  Also with MAX CLR being so thick it was hard to wet out the bamboo fabric.  If anyone is thinking about creating a board you should start with copying the outline from an existing board this will take care of the outline issue.  The Rails being too thick is solved with making more rail bands.  But all in all both of these boards surfed just fine, but then again I am no pro surfer.

The reason for this blog is to catalog shapes that I have tried and to  help my development as a surfboard builder.  I try and do it all from shaping, glassing, setting fins, sanding, glossing and any art work.  Although lots of color help comes from my beautiful girlfriend – Jenny.  So I hope all that read this blog enjoy the boards and photos.  Also this is where I will be posting boards that are for sale as well.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Anaya