Hello all,

Things are coming along on the "Bullet" displacement hull SUP that I am building the prototype of. Here is a link to the whole photo album.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Schweizer-Surfboards/128321053895315#!/media/set/?set=a.393089724085112.88467.128321053895315&type=1

You may be interested in seeing how this is built because the strongback is mounted directly to the building table. I really like this method because it ensures a straight and level strongback. You just have to fill in the gap in the forms with scrap wood when you flip it over. For this build I did an internal frame that will remain since this is a SUP and you need support for the deck. I glassed inside and am putting a forward hatch for storing lunch, gear, and (hopefully) lobsters. I built a "lobster fence" to keep them from crawling to the aft deck and getting stuck where I can't get them out! You can see it in the photo album. I didn't want a full bulkhead, so I just put some thin strips to keep them at bay. It has been dubbed the "lobster fence."

It's a huge step away from the flat-hulled SUP's on the market today. Soon we will see just how tippy it is going to be. This was designed in Kayak Foundry, then converted into a CNC Cad program for routing the forms as well as a little tweaking. If all goes well it will be marketed, and if it turns out to be too tippy it's going to make a lovely wall hanging. I have always wanted to push the limits of the displacement hull design. Everyone out there is doing flat-hulled SUP's and putting tall rails and a pointy bow and calling it a displacement hull, but this is much more a true displacement hull. The question will be how tippy it will be with the vee keel. The vee is very shallow and also is deisgned to give more secondary stability so even if tippy at first it will not be overall as tippy as a flat hull of the same width. ... or so I say. Soon we will see. Certainly it's going to be fast, and the lines are very appealing. I love the looks and am really proud to see this one go from 2D to 3D. I am really pleased also with little things that I tweaked on paper that came out exactly like I was envisioning them. So far so good. I have a lot of travel coming up so it will be a couple of weeks before I get it wet for the first time.

By the way, if you go to the album please note that I had a horrible time ripping the strips and being fir, which is very finicky, and being that I had limited supply I did not run them through the planer. I have ruined mahogany strips before in the planer and not having much of this salvaged fir, I decided to just use them as is without running them through the planer. Now I wish I had planed them. The thickness of the strips was not uniform, so if you see the hull before planing you will see it looks pretty horrible, but after planing it all came out just fine. Stripping with fir was a challenge to say the least. I feel like I can build anything after working with this stuff. It is very splintery, and does not like to bend. That said, it's insanely beautiful when wet out, and pretty lightweight. The deck is paulownia and walnut. For those of you who have asked if you should thickness plane your strips, I used to say no, just get them in close tolerance on the table saw. I think after this build I will always thickness plane my strips. It would have saved a lot of hand planing the hull. Another thing to note, the forms are only 1/8" plywood, which will be increased to 1/4" for production. The forms are actually designed to stay inside the board for deck support (Keep in mind, you stand on the deck), but the option is to use deck beams (which is what I did) so that you have room below deck for stowage. Also the deck beams should save a little bit on weight. Brad at Wood Surfboard Supply wanted to use 1/8" to cut down on weight. I built the prototype with 1/8" forms. The building table method allows you to hot-melt glue temporary braces to the forms to keep them stable during the build. With the "surfboard method" you leave the building forms inside, so 1/8" would give lighter weight, but I have asked Brad to do 1/4" because the 1/8" was pretty flexy. So all that said, if I can build this thing with fir strips on 1/8" plywood forms, it should be a really easy build with cedar or easier wood to work with and 1/4" forms. I thought you guys would be interested in seeing some slightly different build methods and using 1/8" building forms.

A sudden storm came up, which is why the hull is in the living room. Building outside is a pain in the butt. I later found out that the darned thing would have made it around the L-shaped exit to my tiny kitchen workshop, and I could have built it inside. I have since moved it in for now. Originally I did not think a 14' hull would make it around the corner to get out of the shop. I was wrong. By the way, YES, I have a pool table in my living room. NO my wife is not too thrilled about that, but it was there when we met, and so far I have won the battle to keep it. Also yes, that's a VW cat house in the foreground of the picture. One of my crazy creations!