How to make a wooden surfboard: marking the planshape.

When one makes a wooden surfboard, the blank is built with the final design in mind. One has to plan ahead and know where to put wood and where to build air into the structure so that just the right weight and buoyant volume are achieved in the finished board. With a Roy Stuart design the planshape is marked in bold on a stiff piece of cartridge paper. The maximum blocking lines are dotted inside and outside this bold line. Fin positions are marked and blocking is drawn for the fins and vemts.
After all the panels are made on top of the paper plan, the paper is rolled up and stored out of the way. The board is laminated into a curved shape. Once the board is removed from the mold, the paper is unrolled again over the bottom of the board. It is time to transfer the design from paper to reality.

The paper plan is unrolled over the bottom of the board and bricks are placed to prevent slipping.

The line is transferred onto the wood with a ball point pen with which an impression is made. One has to push firmly, hence the writer's cramp at 00:19. After the paper is removed, Roy will go over the line again with a marker pen and then cut to the line.

Using a paper planshape like this takes away the guess work

A clean line appears on the surfboard

Fin positions are clearly marked where they are built into the board

This design includes hull concave which tilts the rails up at the corners.

This step is vital in the process of making a wooden surfboard. It links the shape from a theoretical design world to this physical reality. It can take a whole hour, but it cannot be skipped as a shortcut. Of course time can be saved by buying the complete plans. And if time is if the essence and money is no object we can recommend a finished million dollar board.