Clamp Down

Sorry its been a while since my last post. Don't worry, progress has been made. The deck has been glued down with 5200, titebond and a ton of clamps. This is a pretty big step and requires planning. I was short on clamps and made a run to my local Job Lot and picked up some nice 6" spring clamps for about $1.75 each. They were important to pull down the edges of the deck thus forming a crown. The deck really gets bent in 2 directions; the rocker from nose to tail, and the crown from rail to rail.

Rail Strips

The Waterlog is off the rocker table and now sits on a couple of saw horses while I build up the rails with long cedar strips running from nose to tail. Each strip has a bead on top and cove on bottom so they stack up like Lego blocks but also allow the stack to follow the rail shape built into the frames. It will take approx 12 rail strips on each side. Each strip requires a ton of clamps and Titebond III glue to hold the contour. The nose section is pretty tough as the strips get really bent.

Waterlog on the table

This is my second hollow wooden surfboard. First one was built using plans bought on eBay. This next board is from Rich Blundell's 10' Waterlog plan. Mike at Grain Surfboards did me a huge favor and sold me just the cedar planks and rail strips I needed. Frame and keel are cut from marine plywood. The clamps are off now the keel to frame glue (3m 5200) is cured. It took 1 week to fully dry as I should have bought the fast cure version.

Next step is lay out the chine strips. They will fit into the small notches of the frames and ultimately define the shape of the board.