Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

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Poobah
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Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#1

Unread post by Poobah »

As of this writing there are still 2 openings left in the Bodypo shaping class at the California Surfcraft factory in San Rafael. Who knows what sort of custom boards will emerge from this Cork Think Tank. I'm already signed up, are any of you?

http://californiasurfcraft.com/products ... ping-class
soulglider
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#2

Unread post by soulglider »

Hey Poobs,
make me one, i dont have any money but, i would really appreciate it!
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Poobah
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#3

Unread post by Poobah »

Sure thing. Did you have any particular shape in mind? The current blanks are 47 x 23 inches.
soulglider
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#4

Unread post by soulglider »

hahaah, thanks but actually, the blanks are too dang short for me.
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Poobah
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#5

Unread post by Poobah »

That raises the question...what length blank are you looking for?

Right now I think Dave is working on the backlog for his production boards. Maybe down the road he can make some longer blanks. It might involve more layers, because the stuff that comes in rolls is thinner.
Poobah
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#6

Unread post by Poobah »

More layers would mean more glue joints, and a difference in stiffness. I haven't discussed this with Dave. The length issue was either mentioned on his blog or newsletter. The constraint was the availability of the 1/2 inch cork in longer lengths.

Longer 1/2 inch cork could be too expensive. I think the best path would be a butt joint near the nose. Say you want a 5 foot blank. So you have a 4 foot piece and a 1 foot piece. The butt joint doesn't have to be straight across left to right. It could be an arc, or a wavy line. Possibly cut like the mating pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The joint would need to be reinforced with more internal glass and/or and a custom panel stringer (dorsal bump.) Like maybe a stinger tail template for the dorsal bump.

So I think it's possible to make a longer blank with the same tail flex as the standard Bodypo, but you'd have to accept a stiffer nose. And you'd have to accept it as being experimental.
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#7

Unread post by davehahn »

I can get in on this.

The joint wouldn't be a problem, and it wouldn't stiffen the board the way you might think. We used to have to join two sheets together on the Bodypo 1.0 design, as the sheets only came in 39" lengths at that time and we'd have to extend them to 44". Joining is easy — it's the sheets of fiberglass are what holds everything together, not the cork, so as long as the fiberglass sheets are extended, uninterrupted over the joint there was never any problem. And no change in the characteristics of the cork, either.

Bodypo blanks can be made as long as you want. I could make them 12 feet long if that's what was called for. The challenge is in finding the right amount of strength to add as the length is increased. As the board becomes longer, the more and more load is carried by the board, and the more it flexes. The more flex a Bodypo has, the more strength is required. If the Bodypo flexes beyond it's strength characteristics, it eventually (or maybe immediately) snaps under the pressure. That's always been the challenge of this cork construction - finding the right balance of strength via fiber reinforcement.

I should also note that the dorsal bump is about stiffness, not strength. In this construction method, strength and flex/stiffness are separate issues. You can have a board that is very stiff but not strong (*snap*) or a board that is very strong but no flex (if this is what you want, you should just use wood). The charm of this cork construction is finding he right balance of stiffness/flex and strength. The next Bodypo 2.0 boards and blanks are really superior in this way. I thinned the dorsal bump (more flex) and increased the internal fiber structure (more strength). I'm really happy with them.

I've been getting some new photos out of Australia lately, I'll attached a few. The prone rider is Heath Werner, photo by Riko Knoxy. The DK rider is Matt Sullivan, photo by Heath Werner.
Screen Shot 2015-12-28 at 1.32.20 PM.png
Screen Shot 2015-12-28 at 1.32.34 PM.png
davehahn
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#8

Unread post by davehahn »

Oh, and I'm happy to say that I'm caught up on my backlog. I've been able to increase my production from 2-3 blanks a week to 20-30 blanks a week over the last 6 months. The wait time on blanks & boards has gone from 6 weeks down to 1-2 weeks.
Poobah
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#9

Unread post by Poobah »

Is there a special sandwich for the drop knee riders?

I'm also curious about putting the panel stringer on the bottom. Surely people must have ridden the boards upside down, but have there been any customs with the bump on the bottom? I thinking of something like an edge board, or a stepped-bottom board.
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#10

Unread post by davehahn »

No special sandwich, not even a special shape. Matt (dk) is riding a stock 42" crescent tail Bodypo there. It's the same board in both photos.

There's a little rocker through the nose of these boards. Not much, but enough that it'd be hard to ride them upside down. The blanks come off the mold with flat bottoms. If you wanted a significantly different bottom contour you'd have to make a new mold. However, it is possible to sand some subtle contours into the bottom of the blank after it's off the mold - I've seen guys shape concaves and channels. The bottom cork skin is only 3mm thick, though, so you don't have a lot to work with. (The bottom skin could be thickened, though.)

I've also seen guys add strips or nose bulbs to the blanks, and in that way add new contours to the top and bottom of the boards. The images I'm attaching are all from Patrick Dolan in Huntington Beach (who's driving up to attend the 1/24 class!). Cork is an amazing material in this way. You can employ both additive and subtractive manufacturing, and continue doing it throughout the lifetime of the board.
adding cork.jpg
12376535_10208663737095034_3324049404878415512_n.jpg
12002095_10208040214227352_2971114639201767160_n.jpg
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bgreen
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#11

Unread post by bgreen »

Dave,

Given production has ramped up does tis mean there's been a lot of interest? How much was shipping to Oz?
davehahn
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#12

Unread post by davehahn »

Yes, it's going well. There was a time this last summer that I felt hopelessly behind on orders. At least 30 orders behind at one point, and making maybe 4 a week. A few people had to wait over 2 months to get a board. That was not good. I guess what I've learned is that it's not enough to invent a new kind of board, you also have to invent a way to make it efficiently. So that's what I've been working on for the last 6 months and I've made some great progress. Like I said, I could crank out 20-30 Bodypo a week now just by myself.

I've sent about a dozen down to Oz - including a few to the Riptide Magazine offices, see:

https://www.instagram.com/p/_JNb1ekFgk/

Those guys have been really supportive and are planning to review them when they get a good feel for them. The Bodypo are low-volume surf craft, very paipo in that way, so I'm always nervous about what bodyboarders are going to think of them. But the feedback has been really positive from my Australian customers. Everybody seems to be willing to adjust their paddle accordingly, and they like the benefits of the design.
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bgreen
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#13

Unread post by bgreen »

Dave,

I sent you a PM.

Bob
davehahn
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#14

Unread post by davehahn »

Hey Bob - I didn't get it, but maybe it's in its way?
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bgreen
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#15

Unread post by bgreen »

Maybe this time.
davehahn
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#16

Unread post by davehahn »

Super fun day at the workshop with Poobah and the other guys. Here's a photo of everyone with their boards. Check out Poobah and his fish tail!

The next Bodypo shaping class is on 3/19 at the California Surfcraft workshop in San Rafael, CA. Register here:

http://californiasurfcraft.com/products ... ss-on-3-19
Guys-with-their-Bodypo.jpg
soulglider
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#17

Unread post by soulglider »

noice! larry long time no see, hope alls well up yonder. is that a pair of hahns?
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Poobah
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Re: Cork Shaping Class on Sunday January 24th

#18

Unread post by Poobah »

That's kind of a Where's Waldo picture...can you tell which guy in the photo is originally from San Diego? I wanted a deep fish tail, because that's something you don't get on a stock foam bodyboard. And thanks again to Dave for catering to my inner mad scientist. He made me a custom blank with a tapered oval in the dorsal bump (panel stringer.) I'm going to do some more shaping on it. That's one of the neat things about these boards...you can easily make changes to the rails and template. I really liked Patrick's slab with the parabolic rails (far left board in photo.) I had too much fun to take pictures.
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