Showing posts with label restoration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label restoration. Show all posts

Sunday, May 12, 2013

New Life for a Classic '62 Gordie

A couple of years ago my brother Frank brought this early 60's Gordie to my house.  He had found it at a garage sale and purchased it for .......ten dollars.  Frank left it with me and asked if I would do some ding repair whenever I had the chance.  I immediately admired the board for the memories it evoked of my early surfing career and for its classic style, including the wide balsa and redwood T-band stringer, the curved outboard stringers and the custom fin that so identified the elements of surfboard design that were emerging during the first few years of the 60's.   The second board of my young surfing career in 1963 was a Gordie, a 3-stringer with sky blue resin panels on the outside rails and the same template fin, with a different glue-up pattern, as on this board.  I wanted it!

Fortunately, Frank was not similarly attached to the board as I.  I traded Frank a Simm-21 as I recall for the Gordie and it became mine.  This board was very straight and solid with no delam issues and the stringers and logo were in superb condition.  It was a great candidate for a like-new restoration.
So that is what I did, including Gordies original fin.   Check it out.











Monday, December 20, 2010

New Life for an Old 9'6" Hobie

Many are the debates over whether or how much to restore an old board to it's former glory.
In the case of my '62 Hobie it was an easy decision.  This board was super solid, i.e. no delam, solid foam everywhere under the double-10oz or 12oz glass, and after a few repairs, water-tight all around, with a fin, stringer and logo all in superb shape, but......UGLY AS SHIT with discoloration.

I decided to go for it.  I sanded off the gloss coat and most of the sanding coat, filled minor defects in the surface and then block sanded it for straight-as-new surface.  I applied a new surface-coat, pigmented to achieve the color panels, pin lined it with resin and gloss-coated it....just like it would have been done at the factory.

Is it worth more.......or less than if I had left it alone?  I don't really care.  It's beautiful (to me) and it's good to go for 50 more seasons.  Check it out.




This began as a humble, 1962 Hobie, 9'-6" x 22" x 3-1/2", standard shop model. 
Below are some "before" photos.



Taped off - ready to color coat
The weight change resulting from the restoration seems to be about zero.  It's still as heavy as boards were back in the day.