1. Your Name: Dana Blocksage
2. Your Brand name: Dana Surfboards
3. How did you hear about us? Swaylocks
4. How was your initial experience at Foam E-Z? Everyone was very friendly and helpful and they had everything I needed in stock to build my board.
5. Why did you want to build your own board? This board was actually shaped for a customer who wanted an unusual shape somewhere in between a longboard and shortboard with a fish like tail (actually his dream board).
6. Shape of finished board? I named it “The Fatty Fat Fish”. It is a truly unconventional shape that incorporates elements from several different board shapes. Goes against the norm but does everything the customer wanted it to (even nose rides).
7. Size of finished board: Length7’6” Nose 17 ¼” Width 22” Tail 18 ¾” Thickness 2 3/8”
8. What blank did you use? This board was cut form a US Blanks 9-3Y (so I could get the wide inverse swallow tail)
9. How was your board building experience? This board was a little trickier to shape than most I’ve done in the past, especially the inverse curve on the tail. I added a generous single concave to the nose and a slight V in the tail, which has lots of flex.
10. Did you use videos, books, web, other? My board building experience has come from scrolling through the pages of Swaylocks, trial and error, and then back to Swaylocks for answers.
11. What videos, books, web, other did you use? I have seen the JC Shaping 101 and Glassing 101 which are good for reference.
12. Do you recommend these resources? Absolutely! They make you want to go out and shape a board.
13. What do you wish you knew going into this project? I wish I knew it was going to be windy the day I did my glassing, so I could have waited for better weather.
14. What would you recommend to someone else for their first time? Take your time, have fun, do lots of measuring, and where your mask!
15. What tools did you find most useful? My Clark foam planer was a must. The Milwaukee grinder with 8” Flexpad “Softie” was an absolute for shaping and sanding the hot coat, and all my templates for creating this unusual shaped board.
16. Where did you run into trouble? The only trouble I ran into was the cold weather. It made for extra sanding to smooth out the hot coats that didn’t pour as smooth as I would have liked.
17. What kind of fin system did you use and why? I chose the Futures Vector 2 Quad setup for hold and drive and placed the front fins about ¾” higher to give it a little looser ride. I prefer the Futures installation jig, its like second nature to me. I have always been pleased with Futures fins and that is why I use them on all of my boards.
18. Did you glass the board and what was that experience like? Glassing went better than previous boards (I think it always does though). I did a 6+4 on the deck and a 4 on the bottom. I added a lot of laminates so I had to pay close attention to drying times and work fast, but it turned out really well.
19. Where did you shape and glass your board? My garage/shop. I had a commercial site with a sweet shaping bay but my operation got shutdown by the man (I guess only a surfer appreciates the familiar smell of catalyzed surf resin).
20. What type of board do you want to make next? My next board is going to be a 9’2” longboard with a step deck and then a super wide 5’ fish.
21. Extra Info... The nose and tail blocks are actually balsa end cuts that came from the old Velzy Jacobs shop in Venice. I bought a big box of it from a guy who used to shape there in the 50’s. This board surfs amazing! I just happened to be there the first day it was taken out. Since then the shape and paint scheme have gotten tons of complements and head turns every time it’s ridden.
