We are delighted to be enjoying something of a renaissance to supply our natural finished boards, so firstly a great big thank you to you good people who bought them last year.Natural Grain finish Adult Short Board
As a result of your advice and feedback all our traditional “Dancin Dolphin”™ board artwork will be hand painted as shown on this original board, using original blended Yacht & Seaplane Varnish (Scrumble).
In essence returning to the traditional design on our steam formed, hand painted boards that our amazing historic machinery first made.
please do contact us for further information Contact
To Celebrate the refurbishment of our wonderfull 63 year old Cornish Electro Steam Body Board Press Heritage we produced these amazing “St Perran/Flag” series boards.
Unique design, blending the Union and Cornish St Perran flags and each board complemented with its unique tear off detail.
Strong yet Lightweight, Sustainably sourced 9mm 7Ply Okoume Plywood offers us the opportunity to marry the very best1960’s Surf Bodyboard Press with todays racing yacht spec. materials to produce incerdibly strong yet lightweight bodyboards.
High Gloss UV Stablised, finished in full colour resins that will look great for years.
Steam Bent, using our orignal vintage Bellyboard Press enables us to create your totally original shaped Bodyboard that will give a lifetimes enjoyment.
Hand Made, other than cutting out the basic board we take pride in finishing your board by hand.
Design and masking
Tear out masking being removed prior to dressing and compounding
Red P101 Resin being appliedBoards 6,7 and 8 of 20 showing unique “Tear Off”artwork
The build sheet, All our boards now come with thier original build sheet, this contains all the product manufacturing and design details.
So during the launch of our first “Flag Series” boards Heritage Flag Boards a celebration we were asked if we would produce a vintage looking VW themed Herbie “53” board as a birthday gift?
It was our first VW themed project and the board, now graces the owners Man Cave most of the year and the rest touring beaches in the UK and europe.
Sue's retirement Board
Number 73 London Bus,
We met Sue a recent retiree on holiday on Polly Joke beach, Cornwall.
She wanted to re engage with her body boarding childhood and seeing our Herbie 53 board, asked “could we produce a bespoke similar style board but re-badged 73?”
For many years her daily commute had been courtesy of London Transports no.73 Red Bus
Well in future Sue would still literally be “Boarding” the no.73 but in an altogether more memorable way. Shop
The Wedding Gift
This pair of mirror imaged Boards were made as a special wedding gift for a couple whose romance was triggered by a VW Camper restoration.
Finished with vinyl rather than hand painted, these Lightweight, Fast & strong boards honeymooned with the happy couple, touring Scotland with lots of wild shoreline boarding and camping.
Wedding Gift mirrred 53's
The Ultimate Karmann Ghia Accessory
A Vintage VW deserves a truly Period, relevant, super smart accessory that is as iconic as the vehicle.
so when we were contacted from an owner for “a Karmann period board” with mirror logo this is the result.
The nose has subtle translucent pierced VW image, whilst the Chrome Karmann artwork (Image Below) makes a splendid tail logo.
your wishes.... made reality
Beutiful Vee Dub & smart board
Customer Who?
So if you are in the market for a unique and original gift and would like to explore your possibilities please get in touch Contact
thank you for looking.to continue shopping click here Shop
Without doubt one of the most rewarding aspects of my work is producing your bespoke boards, with that “special message” that acts as a reminder of good times. Whether you would like your “What 3 Words” or Geo location, printed on yours or maybe a name that links you to that special person place, event or moment in time.
Well, I’ve had this piece of Great Western Memorabilia on my wall for ever.
The bathers all appeared to be having so much fun….and not a wet suit in sight, that I thought why not have a Surf Classic™ version of a traditional timber plank board?
Build Brief
Reclaimed or sustainable hardwoods to be used
Must be the Lightest and strongest in class, finished weight only 1.72 kg
Must be formed on the Ken’s original 1961 Briereley Steam Press
Great in the surf and also a beautiful piece of surf Wall Art for the other 50 weeks of the year.
Manufacturing
The initial board and its jig modifications have taken a little over 4 months to design and construct working at home outside my normal production schedule, and given me some fair challenges along the way ultimately great joy seeing it through to fruition.
This is its story
Modifying my venerable 60+ year old original North Cornish Electro-Steam Press to accommodate the bending of 30 pieces of varying strength hardwoods required us creating a larger timber infeed and re-designing and manufacturing an additional steam generator to provide the increased volume of steam now required.
In case you’re wondering the base Aluminium former used for the curve here is part of a Front-Line millitary aircraft fuel drop tank circa 1957and was re tasked in 1960 by the press’s original maker Top Bloke and gifted Cornish engineer Ken Brierley.
A defunct cold former served well for gluing the bead & cove strip planks
Timber snail cams gave lateral pressure and the strong backs hold the planks true whilst the glue cured.
After cleaning and sanding it smooth instead of the usual “Surf Classic™” Logo burnt in with our copper branding iron this special has a trademarked inlay.
Challenges along the way
As with all things experimental particularly when juggling those three critical elements of weight, strength and beauty, there is usually a shortcoming.
In this case, it was its torsional strength allowing the board to bend beyond normal limits along its axis.
Challenge
The limited shear strength of the central 12mm Red Cedar plank was a possible weakness for axial strength with it possibly breaking along the grain under stress.
Solution
4oz Fibreglass was used to strengthen the board surfaces, this may have compromised its overall weight but as its initial weight was less than a kilo (942g) it still finished out at only 1.72Kg which is still less than conventional plywood boards of the same size.
The Future
We will be scaling up and manufacturing these boards in 2022 we think they will be a great addition to our range.
Designed and made our own Cauls (4 way clamp)
We will be sourcing and milling over 50% of our timbers for strip plank boards from reclaimed hardwood.
The Cedar and Mahogany on the prototype came courtesy of a school laboratory demolition and American Poplar strips are essentially offcuts from a professional Boat Builder.
Bespoke Cauls in use for the first time
Build Information
Timber 12mm Paulownia with Bead &Cove, 12 mm Red Cedar with B&C, 12mm American Poplar (Tulip Wood) with green and cream graining B&C
Sustainable timber and Fibre Glassing materials -sourced from Phil at Fyne Boat Kits www.fyneboatkits.co.uk
Preparation and final professional surface finishes -P101Clear from Teal and Mackrill www.teamac.co.uk
Glassing guidance from Dave Butler professional Boat Builder www.butlerboats.biz
Silver Paddleboards web site was a mine of information for designing the clamps.
Paul Fishers book “Strip Plank Boat Construction” ISBN :978-1-898909-18-7 has provided all the information we could have wished for and whetted our appetite for designing a proto hollow board that will provide additional buoyancy and open up life beyond the breakers (watch this space)
Thank you for taking time to view this article, please use the contact page for any queries or information you may require.
