What materials would I need to make a surfboard from scratch?

Question

How much would it cost to make this surfboard from scratch? Also, could you tell me how many weeks/days it would take me to make it if I work 4-6 hours a day on it, this is my first time ever doing this kind of thing, I'm going to make a retro fish about 5'11 or 6'1 and maybe put some channels in it, I think I'll just start with bi-fin. Also, how would I put color onto the board? Thanks for all your help!

Answer 1

Buy a kit.

Answer 2

I dont know a hole lot about this but i know you need the blank which is easily findable online. Then you need the resin, cloth  and some tools. Check out fiberglasssupply.com/ they have most of the stuff you need. I think you can tint the resins for color. i always wanted to make a board to bad i don't have the time. I watched Tom Neilson shape a board in about an hour. so for the first time it probably take a day and a half to shape and maybe three days with resin. and like a week of fixing the errors.

Answer 3

don't know any information on it but i just wanted to say - this sounds amazing! riding a wave is awesome enough but to do one on a board you made. immense!

Answer 4

Buy a junk longboard, and skin it for the blank. just PLEASE don't skin a classic. E-mail me, and I'll buy it. Sand the glass off the rails first, then peel off the deck and bottom. If you are going to make a FISH, cut off the tail portion, you will need the natural rocker of the nose. You can plane down the fatter portion to give you enough tail rocker.

You will need rotary & orbital power sanders, a wood plane. A Skil saw, a coping saw (hand saw), a Stanley Surform File, lots of wet/dry sand paper, regular sand paper and all of the resin and glass cloth (available from the company in the 2nd link), padded horses to shape and glass on. If you are making a twin fin fish, fabricate your own fins out of nice wood stock.

My pals and I did this a lot in the '60s. We MESSED UP a lot of boards, but we made some neat ones, too.

Practice glassing on you scrap before you start on your finished blank. Glassing is where most dudes mess up. Check out the links: