Skin went on perfectly. I finally learned after almost 20 years of vaccum bagging, to put the breather cloth on the side opposite the skin I'm attaching. That way I can see all the bumps and bubbles. There would have been two bubbles related to the grain (one on each side, bookmatched) that I could nurseas the resin set (when the resin got really sticky I could press them down).
I normally like lighter woods, but this walnut was a deal. Usually the leaves are 9 to 12 feet long and so you're always paying for an extra 12 feet of veneer (4 leaves per board). But these leaves were just over 6 feet so I paid no extra.
I'm afraid the board is going to be about 1.5 pounds heavier due to using a stringered polyurethane blank vs a stringerless 1.5 lb EPS....
The whole time I'm thinking about some of Greg's ideas.
I remember Oneula talking about how Greg had him run his hands down the rail the see what rolling the edge in the tail felt like as opposed to how having a pure squared rail produces two competing outlines...I lightly rolled the edge in the back.
Greg saying how the flat bottom release after the rocker apex as opposed to a concave. I was wondering why he never(?) put vee in the tail (maybe he did?) because as I flet the board it seemed the vee after the fins would increase the release/low pressure.
Someone should collect all his design teachings and make a book, or at least a thread...
ps his fins will become like the work of a famous artist...now a limited supply, they will increase in value over time...