BARRY BENNETT NAT YOUNG SURF DESIGNS STINGER

This board is a Nat Young Surf Designs Stinger. It was built at Bennett Surfboards in Brookvale NSW Australia. In 1976 Nat started out on his own after shaping his pintails at Bennetts. So this board would have been made prior this period.

PRE RESTORATION

There is no way of telling if Nat shaped this board, or if it was shaped by one of the Bennett team, as the board was in such a state of disrepair.
According to its owner, it had been laying in the mangroves infront of his neighbor’s house for about 7 or 8 years before he decided to retrieve it from its watery fate. So it goes without saying it was in pretty bad shape when I got it.

ORIGINAL BOTTOM

It must have been laying bottom up. Because the bottom was so badly sunken and distorted, that in some areas it need almost 1.5" of foam replaced to bring it up to stringer level. The original fin had been cut off.

GLASS STRIPPED

The deck was in better condition as far as foam condition was concerned. Though it look like someone had got to it with a pickaxe around the tail. A large area of glass was missing in the area under where your back foot would go.

FAIRING BOTTOM

I decided that it would be easier to strip the glass of the deck and bottom. I left the glass on the rails. The bottom was prepped and replacement foam was bonded, reshaped, filled and faired.

READY TO BE SANDED

The deck needed less work. It was given a sand to reveal fresh foam. The deep holes were filled a little low. Then the deck was glassed with a layer of 6oz lapping onto the remaining glass on the rails. The bottom was glassed with a layer of 6oz cloth also lapping onto the remaining glass on the rails. Then all the remaining low areas on the deck were filled and sanded fair. I did this because if I filled the lows on the deck and tried to sand them fair on the foam, the foam surrounding the filled areas would be sanded away. The second deck laminate was added. 4oz cloth this time.

LOGO UNDER FILLER

A layer of 4oz with the new rice papers then laminated. Then the deck was filler coated.

ORIGINAL LOGOS

The deck logos were barely visible under the yellow and crazed glass. The bottom Barry Bennett diamond shaped logo was completely gone. All that could be seen was the diamond shape.

NEW LOGOS

The logos were removed. The plan was to restore them and rebond them to the board. But this soon changed. I was helping out a good friend who has been in the industry for years. He was working at Bennetts in the 70’s and had shaped some of Nat Young Surf Designs shapes during this period. We were sorting through some of his accumulated clutter and out falls a rice paper exactly the same as the one on the board. I told him that I was restoring this board and he was kind enough to donate it to the project. The NYSD font was sourced online and a new rice paper was made using my home computer and printer.

FIN

A new fin had to be made and set. The template was taken from a NYSD Bennett that I own.

FINISHED DECK & BOTTOM

It may not seem it by looking at the board in its pre-restored state, but the original colour is pale blue. This was revealed after removing the deck logos. So the board painted pale blue. The deck being a few shades darker than the bottom, lapping onto the bottom to give the impression of a cut lap. Once cured the board was topcoat cleared, wet and dry sanded and polished.