Gluing Up

The first real step is gluing up the top and bottom deck planks. I laid the planks out as bookmatched by the Grain Surfboards staff, taped the seams, then applied glue and clamped. This was a fairly easy step and it was satisfying to see some progress.

Horizontal pressure is applied with bar clamps, while vertical pressure to keep everything level is applied with strongbacks applied across the planks.

I made one mistake here. I may have been a little careless with the vertical alignment of the planks near the tail on the bottom plank. It came out a bit uneven. However, it is over the slot where the finbox will eventually be. Instead of freaking out and shaving it too thin, I trimmed it down enough to accommodate the keel in the next step.

I cleaned up the interior face of the planks and trimmed the bottom planks to allow for easier clamping.

Setting Up

The kit arrived in May and I spent the first couple of days taking everything out and putting everything back. I have a small collection of tools and plan on begging/borrowing/stealing whatever I need to finish the board. Luckily, I have some handy friends and family. I also built a simple lamination table that will eventually serve as my rocker table. Here's how the set up went.

The kit is beautiful. The frames are CNC cut and all you have to do is pop them out of the frame. The planks are book matched by the people at Grain Surfboards and marked for interior or exterior. All of the consumable materials needed to build the board are in the kit, which makes it easy for a first timer like me. The guide is worth the price of the kit itself. It is extremely detailed with great photos and diagrams and loaded with helpful tips.

To get an idea of the magnitude of the project, I laid out the frame and planks on the lamination table. Then, I read the first few chapters of the guide to get an idea how it would shape up. I also studied several other blogs of Grain builders such as Alaia DIY, The Leucadia Project, andThe Summer of Chris.

The Plan

"A man builds the best of himself into a boat - builds many of the unconscious memories of his ancestors... This is not mysticism, but identification; man, building this greatest and most personal of tools, has in turn received a boat-shaped mind, and the boat, a man shaped soul."

-John Steinbeck, "Log From the Sea of Cortez"

I've always been obsessed with the sea and everything on it and in it. My ultimate dream is to build a boat that my wife and I can sail into retirement on. But, my woodworking skills (and space) being limited I've decided on a more practical approach. After years of drooling over the hollow wood surfboard kits by Grain Surfboards in York, Maine, I finally purchased one.

As much as I'm looking forward to surfing a hollow wood surfboard, I bought the kit so I could learn learn about the building process. This blog will be my way of documenting the process for anyone who is interested.

I'm a fan of classic shapes, so after deliberating between the 5'4" Waka and the 6'5" Seed, the single fin (Seed) won out. (http://store.grainsurfboards.com/products/the-seed)