Save a Surf Kit

In diving, you are always recommended to take a "Save a Dive Kit" with you, with o-rings, extra fittings, etc.
I thought for the holidays, it would be nice to make a fellow surfer a handy gift they may appreciate, but won't break the bank for you.
First, I picked up a small plastic pencil box from any local store- they usually cost no more than 99 cents, if that, and are a nice compact size, to fit in almost any glove box or console box in most cars.

Small pencil box

Next, I started collecting items that I thought would be handy if you pulled up to a break, and SOMETHING's wrong, missing, or breaks. First, I thought of these items:

A bar of wax, a ding repair kit (really, a small roll of duct tape can take it's place), a sunscreen face stick (NEW please!), and a wax comb (or you can make a comb yourself...ahem.
Next, I chose:

An extra side bite plastic fin (probably err on the side of 4", and try to find out what system your buddy uses who you're giving this to, a longboard screw and nut, screws, a fin key (not shown), and some quarters...especially if they want to surf the CB Streets. Hey, at least they MIGHT get 5 minutes of surf. The quarters, screws, and fin key can fit into a reused Altoids Smalls tin box.
Next, I put in:

One of my leash strings (OK, you don't have to make your own, just get some nylon cord and knot it with a generous amount of loop, a double ended pocket screwdriver (I got mine as a promo at a trade show, but they have them for cheap at the hardware store), and a copy of their car key, if you can snag one long enough to get one made. If they have one of those electric doo-hah's, well, the Beemer's just ASKING for it.
All of this fits quite neatly into the pencil box, with room to spare, even putting in an additional bar of wax. This box is really meant to be stashed away, and forgotten until the need comes up. I have one in my car, and would really appreciate the thoughtfulness if someone had made up one for me. It's saved me time and gas going back or canceling going out.

The finished kit

Now, tell your gift recipient they have NO EXCUSE. PADDLE OUT!

Tropical Palm Frond Boot Reindeer

One of my favorite Christmas commercials in the one for Corona where there's one tall palm tree next to a modest tiki hut that becomes lit up with lights, just at the top of the tree. That's the way to spend the holidays, if you can.
Around here, seeing lots saying "REAL Wisconsin Christmas Trees" is really out of place. I bet they were beautiful in Wisconsin, but they just don't seem right here. Still, a lot of people enjoy decorating for the holidays. This craft is like a traditional Christmas decoration, but done the coastal way.
Around here, Cabbage Palms are plentiful, and are beautiful trees:

Young Cabbage Palm (older one on right)

As a Cabbage palm grows, the branches break off or are pruned off, leaving "boots" behind. A lot of times, these boots can be found shed off a tree on the ground, so there's no need to wrestle one off the tree.
Here's two boots I'm going to use, one from a Cabbage Palm, and one from a Washingtonian Palm, turned upside down to resemble (loosely) reindeer antlers:

Washingtonian boot and Cabbage Palm boot

Next, I picked up some seeds to use for noses. I got some Live Oak acorns, and a Coontie cone seed. If you don't have any, fuzzy craft pom-poms work just as well!

Live Oak Acorns (brown) Coontie (red)

On one reindeer, I used two oak acorns side by side to make a deer nose, and the coontie seed to make a Rudolph nose and glued them towards the base of the boot. I painted eyes on either side, keeping the face towards the bottom, so they'd have HUGE antlers. I even put a little Hibiscus flower on one:

Hibiscus and Rudy

You can hang them up by drilling holes into either edge of the boot, and running a piece of wire between the holes to hang. Here's one mounted up in our front door wreath:

At least I didn't have to string lights on the 25 foot palm in the front yard to be festive!

Handplane. Just Handplane.

If you're going to do this project READ all safety instructions on your tools and wear safety gear!!
Ok, so I wanted to go ahead and get this done start to finish on the new one instead of boring you with my lengthy glass-and-wait, glass-and-wait. I'm glad I did- and I've got some things I've learned I'd thought I'd share.
Of course, in Part III, I decided to change to wood for making this handplane instead of foam since the foam scrap was just way too coarse.
Turns out, poplar is very interesting to work with when putting resin on it directly. I did put a coat of West System ultra slow cure epoxy resin on, and found crazy dry patches plus parts where the wood grain stood up like little hairs even after having sanded it thoroughly before the resin. At this point, I wanted to put some changes in the shape anyway, so I got out the belt sander and the edge sander and put more prominent rounded rails on the front top edge, and put a much more pronounced concave out of the bottom, in the hope of giving it more lift.
I decided to re-coat the top side first. I put the board up on little wood blocks to allow the resin the drip over the sides.

Top Side Coated

Board on blocks

Ok, so the first coat did have some dry spots again, plus an unfortunate mosquito that landed in the resin. I did sand out bumps lightly with some 60 grit (plus the resin drippings on the bottom side), and sanded the rest with 120/220 to smooth out some of those "hairs" that popped up. The resin took 24 hours to dry (extra slow cure).

For the second coat, I thought I would be clever and put painter's tape on the underside edge so I didn't have to sand off all those bumps again.

Bottom side taped- resin bumps around the edge

It worked ok- but unfortunately, I did end up catching some tape into the resin, so I had to sand anyway. Duh.

Not as planned....

I did the bottom next just the same, two coats, sanding in between.

Bottom coated

For a final finish, I sanded out some of the bumps again lightly with 60 grit, then sanded all over with 120, 220, 320, and 400. The 320 and 400 I used water when I sanded (the sheets were wet/dry).
Once I finished sanding, I was ready to figure out how I was going to attach the hand strap. At first, I had wanted to drill holes, epoxy them, then drill in the epoxy to set screws into some webbing with an adjustable clip. I didn't like the idea of drilling and epoxying since the poplar was a bit of a trouble to get the resin right.
Many of the handplanes I've seen have your hand slip onto the board flat. This seems a bit strange to me- I thought it might be better controlled by gripping the handle and allowing my forearm to steer the board. Ok, maybe that makes it a forearm plane. Either way, it's an experiment, so we'll see.
I picked up some 1" brown flat nylon webbing to use for the handle. To make a more comfortable grip, my husband found some scrap 5/8" braided hose tubing from our vacuum chamber project. I also gathered up a lighter (to singe the ends of the webbing so it won't fray), and my E6000 glue, plus a threader to run the webbing through the tubing. I cut the tubing down a bit to the length I thought would be a good location on the board.

Getting the materials together

Threaded the nylon webbing through the tubing

Next, I cut the ends of the nylon webbing off to about 1/2"- 3/4" past each end of the tubing and singed the ends. From there, I glued down each end with the E6000, gluing down not only on the bottom, but I also but glue on the top side, sort of sealing in the ends. E6000 takes about 24 hours to fully cure.

Handle glued down

How I'm planning on holding it

So anyway, here's some more pics at different angles:

Back edge (pretty towel, huh??)

Bottom side

Top of board towards nose

Ok, so now's the test. We've got some semi-windy mushy chop happening for today, so I may try it out this afternoon, since that's the kind of typical local conditions I made it for. Will let you know if it works- and I come back WITH the board, hopefully.
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Noon update:
So I went to South Cocoa Beach to try out the board, hoping to find not only a little bigger waves, but a good spot that may have a little more push. Took the trusty Churchill's for my surf fins. The surf was messy and mushy, but I went anyway just as an experiment.
The board floated on it's own, but was not floaty like a surfboard or bodyboard, where you can rely on it for some support. Essentially, it IS just an arm extension, but you've got to swim on your own. What's great about this is, it's the ONLY board I can duckdive! Getting under waves with the handplane is just like ducking under waves when ocean swimming, instead of wrestling the cooler lid I'm used to with the bodyboard. The handle on the board allowed me to hold on with both hands and just kick, but an adult man would probably just use one arm.

I came in a little to try some of the sand bombs that happened occasionally, and that was fun! The handplane allowed me to angle and added a lot of speed than when I just try to bodysurf alone. This does seem like a fun board for shorepound, without having to worry about popping up to get the 1/4 second ride.
I did use my forearms to keep the back of the board angled downwards in the water, with the nose barely out of the water, if at all. I did feel a lift from the board, but I don't know if that was more the wave or board, so I'll take it out in some different conditions, especially when my legs aren't so weak.
So, the handle held fast, and I didn't lose it. I'm happy. :)

Decor Your Board...Change your mind later

Ok, I love the rice paper, spray art, etc. that can be glassed in your board. I've had it done on several boards, using scans of paintings I've done on rice paper then glassed into the board. These are by far the longest lasting- let's get that out of the way first.
The problem with this is, if I fall out of love with the board, or want to move onto something different, when I go to sell the board, the buyer may not have the same taste as I did. Now, I can spray paint over the board, but that only lasts so long.
If you want to express yourself, but not regret it like that Corona tattoo, maybe try this option.
These days, I'm feeling nostalgic from my early days in Kentucky, so I was feeling like representing the Colonel on my board- even though I'm a vegetarian. Such a hypocrite. I found a logo on the internet (I know, I know, just don't go selling these things or you may get in trouble).

The Man

In my editing software on the computer, I kind of played with the colors a little, and cropped just to the Colonel.

My personal interpretation of "The Man"

I picked up some Bumper Sticker Labels at the office supply store that can be run through the ink jet printer (crafts are the ONLY thing I use my printer for anymore! How times have changed!). Now, these things come 2 bumper stickers to a sheet, so you may have to tile a bit if you want a bigger image. Also, they claim to be water resistant, but I'm going to make some crafty insurance.

Bumper stickers I used

After printing out the image, I cut it away from the sheet- I can use the sheet again for other images. The most important part is that you LET IT DRY!

Cutting the main image away from the sheet

Like, I said, after I let the ink dry (3-4 hours is good), I took an extra precaution and covered the image with clear shipping tape to seal the ink in. It's probably not neccessary since these ARE bumper stickers, meant to be out in the rain, but just in case.
I decided to cut out the image's background so it was just the Colonel. The sticker is a PITA to peel off the backing when you've cut into the image (no perforation anymore), but I got it evenutally.

Rockin's the Colonel- the Palm tree is glassed in, oh well.

Obviously, you can do this with about any image, drawing, photo, whatever, and about the time you're bored with it, you can peel it right off and make another statement.
For now, I'm going to tell people I'm sponsored by KFC and they give me a bucket of chicken every week plus sides. Who am I kidding, I can't get away with that, I stink at surfing. Maybe I'll say I got a two piece and a biscuit for free once.

DIY Towel Seat Protector

It's getting to be that time of year- that time to be wet-suiting up for some (me) to go surf. When it gets cold, I stop being so green and start taking the warm vehicle to the beach equipped with the heater.
When it gets REALLY cold, I'll get lazy and just get into the car without doffing the wetsuit, it's just too cold to take the time. The problem is, I'll get the car seat all salty and nasty, and if I need to take the car back out after cleaning up and putting on a change of clothes, my rear's and back's going to be reminded of the cold surf when I get back in the car.
To solve this problem, I take towels and throw them over the seat, but they tend to fall and shift around when I get in and drive, and the seat still gets wet. Bummer.
So, I took a fluffy- but not new- beach towel that was large enough to cover the car seat:

Big A-- Towel

Next, I laid it over the car seat, making sure it could cover while still leaving a flap over the top back of the seat. I found about 12 inches would do the trick.
So I folded over a foot of the towel to make a flap, and pinned both sides, ready to stitch the sides together to make a pocket to slip over the top of the car seat. I'm using a heavy needle and 4 lb fishing line.

Getting ready to stitch up one side

I hand whip stitched each side up the 12 inches to secure the sides of this "pocket". I made sure I made good knots at the top and bottom and that I stitched closely in case I feel like plopping down into the seat pretty hard. Huh huh...I said plopping.

Whip stitching the edge

Once I'm finished sewing, I can take it out to the car, and voila, it slips right over the top of the seat, and the towel won't fall. I can also secure the bottom by sewing a length of elastic, shorter than the width of the seat, to each bottom corner of the towel to keep the seat part from moving around by slipping the elastic piece under the seat bottom.

Pocket over the top of the seat to keep it secure from falling down

Easy to make and use anytime of the year. Helps keep your excuse intact at work that you really DID go to a "Board Meeting", without it betraying you on your khakis and button up.

DIY Board Wax Cleaner on the Cheap

I like the "Pickle" Wax Remover, it's really a genius idea. But they are expensive, and always come with a wax scraper comb, another piece of plastic I don't need. However, they are better than using chemicals to get residue off of your board.
Since I've had some trouble this week with my foam handplane project, I decided to recycle that foam for this project. Since this foam is a lot like styrofoam that can be found in shipping containers, packaging, etc., this should be a timely project for the holidays since most people will be getting and sending packages.
First, I broke up the foam/styrofoam in chunks:

Chunks of foam

Next, I took a trouser sock to use as the casing. Most guys and gals have a pair of trouser socks which are thinner versions of regular socks, used for dress occasions, with the office suit, etc. A sock that's been washed and worn many times is even better, since it will be a bit thinner but not so thin it will rip through.

Foam and the white trouser sock

Knot one end of the sock well, and break up the foam into smaller chunks and place inside the sock. When you have quite a bit, make a single knot on the other end, or hold the other end closed.

Sock with styrofoam inside

Next, break down the foam some in the sock. You may even want to play "Homey Don't Play That" with your sock (if you don't know this reference, look up In Living Color TV Show). Once it gets broken down more, you'll probably need to make another knot a bit tighter into the foam as it gets compressed more finely. Even if it's still kind of grainy, it'll still work, it doesn't need to be powder fine ground foam to do the job.

Sock O Foam

After that, scrape the majority of wax off your board, then use this foam ball to get the residue off.

Works pretty well!

Remember to WASH the trouser sock before starting this project. You already have enough random foot leavins' on your board....ewww.

Handplane or Handboard? Part III

Ok, when something just isn't working, it isn't working. I was NOT happy with the way the foam handplane shape was coming out- I think the 1.5 pound was way too coarse, and I was trying to do something with it that just wasn't going to happen.
So, let's start over again. This time, I picked up a scrap of poplar from Home Depot for a buck. It's 1/2", about 16" by 12".

Poplar piece

Once again, I made a template, but more in line with pictures I had seen of wood handplanes (thanks Wavegeek!). So here's the next attempt at an outline, and the result I cut out on a scroll saw:

Outline for handplane

Piece cut out

I did sand a little concave into the bottom with a rotary sander, but nothing extraordinary. I curved the rails by hand sanding, but for the most part they're straight, so we'll see how that goes. I used 60 grit mostly, then 80 and 100, proceeding up to 220 to finish.
I decided to glass this board with some of my slow cure epoxy:

Preparing to glass

First side glassed, not cured yet

So, it'll take a couple of days to get this glassed and cured. I did mount the board on a couple of scrap pieces of wood to let the epoxy drip without sticking.
For the handslip, I'm going to drill shallow holes into the deck, fill them with epoxy, redrill and screw the strap down on either end- but I'm going to put in one of my adjustable plastic buckles so more than one person can use it. I'm also going to use on of the fin heel guards I made from a past project to overlay the strap so it doesn't tear up my hand.
Something I haven't seen is grip on the deck for your hand.....hmmm...still got some SeaDek around here somewhere.....

Handplane or Handboard? Part II

So, after hacking away at my handplane shape in Part I, I'm ready to start putting a little shape into this foam.

The basic shape I started with

I started off with 50 grit sandpaper and sanded the edges smooth. Except they didn't come out as smooth as I thought they would. The foam was rather coarse, so one side would sand well, but the other seemed the slough off easily, which made for a real challenge shaping, especially on this scale (approximately 1 foot square).
I used a sanding block to scrape the bottom, then smooth out where I didn't quite hit the lines with my initial cut. I went up to 60 grit and really found no difference in the sanding quality, so I stayed with the 60 grit.
Honestly, I eyeballed much of this project. I don't have shaper's calipers, just my "calibrated" eyeball. I tried to put some even curves on the rails, and prevent them from being too squared off. I didn't think too much "hold" was necessary, in fact, I thought the ability to turn would be much more handy.
I also thought that when I block sanded the top and nose, I could sand better by using double stick tape to secure the foam to my working table. Wrong. Although I was happy with the way the nose was coming out, when I carefully lifted the foam off of the table, two little chunks of foam stayed with the tape. Whoops. Luckily, they make a fix for that. Spackle.
Anyway, as I was shaping I decided to make a little well on the deck of the board on the fly that my hand (actually, for me, hands) could rest in below the rails. Here's some rough shaping I did on the deck:

Rough handwell on the deck

I tried not to get into over shaping, which I can really appreciate now with working with foam.
I did shape my channels into the bottom, as well as putting a little curve into the bottom outline. Here's the final rough shape- I think:

Top of handplane

Bottom of handplane

Now, I need to apply some spackle to even things out before I glass it. This process feels like icing a cake, but I'm no Pastry Chef. The result was messy, but I was hoping it would even out with some sanding. And maybe a little paint later on. Ok, maybe a lot.
After letting the spackle dry, I tried to sand it smooth, but it just wasn't happening. I thought that I was hoping for too much out of this coarse foam on this small scale. After I sanded, I put some spackle on little places where it still seemed a bit imperfect.
I think I'm going to have to hand lay up the glass job instead of vaccum bagging it. I'm afraid of the fiberglass wrinkling too much with the channels, and I'd like the control for such a little project.
I've got to wait on the additional spackle to dry, then I'm trying the glassing by hand. Fingers crossed.

Handplane or Handboard? Part I

Sometimes, it's just fun to ditch the surfboard and go for a swim in the ocean. Well, not so much this time of year, but bodyboarding and bodysurfing can still be fun if you've got a good wetsuit. Around here, we can get some big waves that are nearly impossible to get a board out into- at least in one piece.
Something I saw recently was this thing called a handplane (or handboard). This has become popular- although quite controversial in the bodysurfing world- from what I've seen on the internet. Bodysurfers claim that true bodysurfing is only to be done with fins, while handplane and handboard proponents claim if you can use fins, why can't you use a little help on the other end?
Either way, handplanes/handboards seem like a fascinating ocean toy to add to the quiver. I've never seen one in person, only on the internet, so I thought it would be a neat project to make one, and make one that may work around here with our mushy, whitewatery waves. I know, I know, not the best time to do this project (would be more fun in the Summer), but there's no time like the present.
A while back, I visited the local fiberglass store to pick up some things, and I asked if they had a scrap piece of foam around I could buy for cheap. They gave me a 1 foot square piece for free, at about 2 inches thick. I was going to use this to make a fin core, but then I thought it would be good for shaping a handplane.

My free piece of foam

C-Bead must mean "cooler lid" consistency

To start, I made a template from paper folded in half and I drew an outline and cut it out. I tweaked it a little here and there while it was folded in half.

Half of the template

Template cut out

After finishing cutting out the paper template, I taped it to the foam block to draw the outline of it in pencil on the foam. I did this on both sides of the foam to make sure I was going to make a straight cut.

Drawing the outline onto the foam

Ok, so here's the fun part. I needed to cut out the shape but I didn't have a hot wire, didn't want to use a big saw, so I actually used a serrated bread knife. Hey, whatever works, right? I started by cutting off the corners, and then I began to fine tune the actual outline.

Hacking away at the corners

It's taking a while, but I'm getting there....

After wrestling a bit with the foam (which was quite coarse, in my opinion) I finally had the general outline cut.

General outline of handplane

The backend I made pretty wide on purpose since I thought it could use some "push" in these waves....like I even know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I knew some of the handplanes I saw online had fins, or even channels on the bottom shaped out to give the board some lift. Since I wanted to try this, I drew an arc on the half pattern, cut them out while folded so they'd be symmetric, and drew the outline of them in pencil on the foam so I knew where to sand the foam away.

Arc for channel- sort of

Now, I'll get ready to actually shape my handplane. Luckily, the foam was free. :)
In the next entry I'll show my shaping job- let's hope it's worth showing....
On to Part II