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Mini Paipos
Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2021 9:28 pm
by Mercury
Hi everyone, I just stumbled upon this forum in the last few days so am really excited to see some great paipo enthusiast contributing.
I have been on a varied surfing journey riding a wide variety of craft, in more recent times I have been focusing my energy on bodysurfing and construction of handplanes about a year ago I made what I call a mini paipo which is somewhere between a hand plane and a paipo. After having an absolute blast I have since made a few more and varying the dimensions a little. The two shown in the photo are prototypes one is 24" long and the other 20" and both are around 15 1/2" wide with hard edges and deep double concaves. I will post a couple more photos when I get a chance.
- protos.jpg (51.25 KiB) Viewed 98581 times
If there are any Paipo enthusiast here located on or close to the Gold Coast (Australia) reach out as I know a couple of folk who would be keen to catch up for a session.
cheers
Mercury
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 12:25 pm
by kage
Greetings Mercury!
nice looking boards I'd like to see the bottoms.
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 6:19 pm
by Mercury
HI Kage
the photo at the bottom is from one of the more recent ones I have built, I am also in the middle of completing a channel bottom.
- glassing channel.jpg (41.78 KiB) Viewed 98569 times
- channel.jpg (37.06 KiB) Viewed 98569 times
- bottom.jpg (25.3 KiB) Viewed 98569 times
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 10:20 pm
by Papa Paepo o
Awesome Mercury Mini's.... would like to see them in some epic surf sessions...
Keep up the good work..... mahalo
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 10:57 pm
by Mercury
Here is the view created on one of the prototypes recently, the sand through first point at Noosa has been phenomenal
- views.jpg (13.53 KiB) Viewed 98566 times
and looking back for riding position, as I mentioned in my first post these boards are somewhere between "riding" a board and bodysurfing with a handplane
- riding paipo.jpg (18.05 KiB) Viewed 98566 times
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2021 5:52 am
by bgreen
Gday Mercury,
I live in Brisbane and usually surf south of the border but with the exception of a few brief windows, haven't made it down that way much in the last couple of years. I grew up on the Gold Coast but rarely surf there. I've been rediscovering the Sunshine Coast and am heading up there for a few days on Sunday.
Global Ernie who occasionally posts here is making a shorter paipo, I just can't recall the length offhand. One photo was about the length of two duckfeet fins.
I'm happy to catch up for a surf but usually steer clear of crowds.
Send me a pm or my email is above the BOAC poster on this site:
http://home.brisnet.com.au/~bgreen/bgpage/
Bob
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2021 3:15 pm
by kage
Dang. That is a lot of channels. And a lot of craftsmanship I suspect. Could you say anything about how you arrived at this particular design? Riding characteristics, previous shapes, stuff like that?
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2021 3:41 pm
by zensuni
Nice kickboards !
I like these little planks, simple but efficient.
I usually ride plywood kickboards but yours seem more evolved.
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2021 11:23 pm
by Mercury
@bgreen: it would be good to catch up at some stage I sometimes hook up with a bunch of bodysurfers at Narrowneck and we usually find a peak or two to share, a couple of them also ride bellybaord/paipos. They are a group known as Goldiesliders on instagram and have fortnightly meet ups.
@Kage: I based these designs on the handplanes I have been making for the past few years, basically pretty paralell rails and deep concaves and hard edges. The prototypes dimensions were scaled up to fit my arm length, so I could ride with a hand on the nose but I have found the two hands on the deck to be better position for me. The channel bottom idea is more or less the same as a concaves but may have a bit more edge hold on the channels (I cant wait to try it out).
I have been messing about with some other concepts and sizes as well and will post on those as they develop. If you are on instagram and interested you can find me at @hg_mercurysurf
(disclaimer: I am not a commercial operation though I do make small numbers of customs for people who are keen and can wait for extended lead times as I do this in my very limited spare time).
This is a photo of the deck of the channel bottom board with a fresh filler coat from the weekend:
- channel deck filler.jpg (31.19 KiB) Viewed 98470 times
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 12:17 am
by bgreen
Gday M,
I had a fun bank to myself up the sunny coast this morning. I used to go to the spit a bit about 10-12 years but crowds just took the fun out of it.
I'll look at instagram when i get home in a day or so. I need to find my password, its not something iI ook at much.
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 8:25 pm
by Mercury
I dropped in to my parents place over the weekend and grabbed a couple of photos of a Paulownia paipo I made my mum about 9 years ago. I got the blank from Geoff Moase (RIP) of Dovetail surfboards (an absolutely elite craftsman) and shaped and it up, i refurbished it a bit a couple of years ago with a bit of sanding and re-oiling.
- wood 2.jpg (145.94 KiB) Viewed 98431 times
- wood 2.jpg (145.94 KiB) Viewed 98431 times
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2021 11:38 pm
by Mercury
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2021 9:47 pm
by bgreen
It will be interesting to hear what difference the bottoms make on this style of board, especially given your riding position isn't on the board as such.
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2021 12:27 am
by Mercury
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 2:43 pm
by zensuni
Wow, Nice boards
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2022 1:39 am
by Mercury
I was fortunate enough to go and try out the surflake facility in Central Queensland recently and rode my original orange mini paipo it was a great experience and really proved the design concept works well
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2022 5:35 am
by bgreen
So how was it swimming into them? Looks to be a peaky wave.
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2022 1:28 pm
by Uncle Grumpy
Of all the wave machine's around, that one looks the most fun to me.
Looks like you took full advantage.
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 12:58 am
by Mercury
HI Bob, It was just like catching a normal wave really, the marshals gave a bit of advice on where to sit in relation to the plunger.
Re: Mini Paipos
Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 6:59 pm
by Mercury
here are a couple more I have been working on
The yellow and red mini paipo has a narrower tail and bevelled/chined bottom rails, the checker and flame board is a prize for an upcoming bodysurfing contest (the decal artwork is by Allan Wrath not me).
- fire paipo 2.jpg (102.64 KiB) Viewed 94953 times
- fire paipo.jpg (115.77 KiB) Viewed 94953 times
- CW paipo 2.jpg (96.11 KiB) Viewed 94953 times