FAQs

Question: What if I don't own a planer?
Answer: "Actually, quite a few builders don’t own a power planer. They have made deals
with places like local lumber suppliers, cabinet shops, friends, even a local High School
wood shop class to plane the wood for them.
Question: "What if I don’t own a jointer?"
Answer: Truth is, I don't own one either, but in the book I show you how to get perfect
edges for gluing.
Question: "Do I need to have a lot of experience building surfboards before I start?"
Not at all, it helps to know about glassing but, for the most part, this is a woodworking
project and if you follow the directions you pretty much can't miss. Check out the pictures
of some boards built using these plans by clicking on the "Customer's Boards" button
above.

Question: "How long does it take to build a 9' 6" longboard from these plans? "

Answer: I can't, only you know that. I show you details on how to build the two boards that
are right for me and then show you how to modify them to suite yourself.

Answer: "Yeah - probably". This project isn't for everybody. Its not the easiest thing you
will ever build, but then its probably not as hard as you might think. Wood is pretty
forgiving to work with I have already made most of the major mistakes. I highlight them
throughout the book and show you how to avoid them - or fix them. Check out the
"Customer's Boards" link to see some actual boards built from these plans.

Question: "How can you know the exact board I want?"

Question: "Could I really build one of these things and have it turn out nice"?

Answer: I get this question a lot and its really hard to answer. I think the first wood board I
built took six months or more to complete. That's because I was learning and making
mistakes. Now I can put a complete frame together in about an hour. Laying out the deck
and back planking takes longer. I'd say I could make a complete board in 40 -50 hours
including glassing.

Question: "What if I want to build an old 1930’s vintage board? "
Answer: No problem, along with the book you get a free set of plans to build a 1937 vintage surfboard.

Question: "But isn't it hard to use an electronic book?"
Answer: Actually you don’t need a hard copy of the entire book. There are really just a few pages that you might want
for reference. Just print out those pages and you save money. Of course you can always print the entire book if you
want with one click. One builder in Hawaii loaded the whole book onto his iPod and took it to a local office supply store
to have it printed. Whatever you decide, the PDF file works on both PCs and Macs.

Question: "Don't I need full size plans to work from?"
Answer: Not really. The ribs templates included are full size but the book has all the measurements you need to lay
out your own main spar. Its easier than you think. You learn the science behind the shape so you are not limited to
one design, you can modify it or change it any way you like. More rocker, less rocker, thicker, thinner, pintail, fish,
whatever!

Question: "Are the plans easy to understand?"
Answer: People are using these plans all over the world. Lots of the builders speak limited English but there are so
many pictures and illustrations that they do fine.

Question: "Aren't wood boards heavy and for geezers?"
Answer: A wood board has "Wow Factor" plus CHICKS DIG 'EM! OK, I made that last part up but they ride solid and
stable - and like one customer recently wrote "Wood boards just seem to have more soul than foamies".