Turner SummerSki Downhill Gun: Primed And Loaded!

[Marty Agather]

Chris,

I swear I didn't think of this til now: that's a pic of a gun-packin' Gun!

Wes,

You've never heard the old saw:

This is my pistol,

this is my GUN,

This is for Shooting,

This is for FUN!!!

?????

Stick to the fall line,

M-

[Jonathan Harms]

That's a rarity: a gOaD sighting and a Seeger sighting!

[Eddy Martinez]

Bara I believe Goad agrees with you sentiments. Thanks for the welcome it feels warm in here. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

[Christopher Bara]

yep....that's Steve.....the big gun is nice, but the board that puts Turners name back on North American hills is going to be the 33" Hybrid deck....

Welcome to the site Eddie

Put your legs together Wes, we dont wanna look at that

[Wesley Tucker]

Is that Steve Church selling a Gun on eBay?

Nice to know I can help SummerSki move a little product!

[Eddy Martinez]

Nice call on the Gun Wes. She is a bute dude. I found this topic today on the vintage skate section of Ebay. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

[Carsten Pingel]

To protect the nose and the tail you can also use the nosesaver and the tailsaver which are made for surfboards.

[Ricky Byrd]

Wesley, Nice gun!
You ride that thing parallel?

[Wesley Tucker]

Kevin,

The pics I posted yesterday were kind of early in the process. What I wanted to do was get the post up. As you can imagine, I was a bit excited about my new toy and wanted to share the love.

Later, I finished the job on the nose and tail. I don't know how others have done this, but what I did was treat it like making candles: dip, wait about 30 seconds and repeat. i did this ten times yesterday afternoon and then did again ten times last night before I went to bed. When I checked it this morning, I found solid, thick, resillient and rather unobtrusive bumpers firmly adhered to my board:





If anyone wants to try this, don't dip the nose and tail in the can of plastic. What I did was hang the board and then bring a can of the plastic UP to the board for each "dip." I found a big round shallow tuna can squeezed together in an oval shape worked as a good reservoir to apply the liquid plastic. Nice and wide a couple of inches deep let me get good coverage far up the board in both directions. It only took about five minutes each for the nose and tail and I let it dry over night. Just be careful to watch for any drips. Little rubbery pointy thing sticking off the nose of the board would be a turn off. And after all, as several have said, this is a sexy board. A turn off would be so uncool.

[Kevin M. Gamble]

I'd like to see some evidence that the Plasti-Dip bumper idea has actually saved a foam-cored deck from serious damage. All of the impact force is still transfered to the point of the deck's nose, and I don't think that it is thick or resilient enough to absorb/dissipate a good smack into a curb. But, hey, what do I care? Its not my deck, nor my sheckles to replace/repair it. If you go to sleep at night with the secure knowlege that your very expensive deck is well protected from nose-impact damage, who am I to ruin your dream?

There is a better way.................

My 2 cents.

[Justin Pannulla]

Coolness, thanks for the info Wes, i was going to ask about colours, so it looks like you read my mind!

[Marty Schaub]

Tuck,

Taking the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition with you to bed does not qualify as spending time in bed with supermodels. Neither does Cosmo......

[Wesley Tucker]

Justin,

It'll probably peel off like any other rubber/plastic material. I don't think it alters or bonds anyway with the top coat of the board. It's almost like the thick rubbery wiring insulation. If you want to take it off, Just get a razor and carefully slice it then pull it off.

If the nose or tail take a lot of abuse on my board, I'll probably take the time to remove the banged up bumper and replace it with another one.

Oh, I also edited my first post. It's not called "dip-n-grip." it's called "Plasti-Dip." Also, it comes in colors: red, blue, green, yellow and the black I got.

[Justin Pannulla]

I like that big offset, and that dip n' grip shit is a good idea, but is it possible to take that stuff off again, just incase you would want to?

[Wesley Tucker]

hey, on a different note, does that Seismic up front really work good on that board?

Uh, compared to what? Like I said, this is my first longboard. I've spent more time in bed with super models than I have riding anything over 33". So knowing if a truck "works" or not is something I don't know yet.

I've ridden it a few times in the street (between constant rain this week,) and it feels good. Now, will it bomb a hill at 45 mph? I don't know. I haven't gotten near a good grade yet. Don't forget, for me that demands a road trip. I just got the board Monday

I've had a couple of different recommendations to change out the Seismic for a Randall DH, but I'll consider that later. Right now, what I want is a board that's a bit of a compromise between a bomber and a longboard slalom machine. If the Seismic works, that'll be good. If not, I'll go truck shopping.

[Christopher Bara]

hmmmm.....your theory of northern crooks would hold water, except you missed one important detail...

Canadians are always well stocked with cold cold beer......so we WONT be overheated by the time we get there.....and a stumbling runner is a hard target.....

hey, on a different note, does that Seismic up front really work good on that board?

[Justin Pannulla]

Just dont bleed on those boards!

[Wesley Tucker]

That plan has merit. The one advantage Sydia would have is my hesitancy to blow a hole in his gut for fear of getting blood and organ matter all over my carpet. It's always the mess after a good shooting that ruins the spirit of the occassion.

Of course, I have nothing to fear. I could just see the Yankee and Canuck driving down South to my house. As we all know, people from up Nawth never get air conditioning because "we'd only use it once or twice a year. It's just a waste of money!" Right around the time they got to South Of The Border, they'd be hanging their heads out the window panting like two ol' blue-tick hounds. After about an hour of that they'd start to literally melt in the car, never to be heard from again.

At which point I make my move and snatch the Eurofighter with the Rad and PVD. You got anything worth grabbing, Rob?

[Robert Sydia]

Chris:

Let's work together on this.

You run all over his front lawn and let him try to shoot you. In the meantime, I will go through the backdoor and steal every board he owns, including the new gun.

If you don't get shot, then we will split them up. If you do get shot, then they are all mine.

All the best,

Rob

[Wesley Tucker]

Chris,

I swear I didn't think of this til now: that's a pic of a gun-packin' Gun!

[Christopher Bara]

funny


So you send a pic with a 357..............and 10 complete boards in the pic?....

That's like sending a crackhead a picture of a 10' glass pipe with a "no trespassing" sign taped to it!

[Wesley Tucker]

Chris,

I got rid of the dog because he kept slobbering all over my .357 Magnum.



Hey, this is the Deep South. Did you think Hollien was the only guy around here packin'?

[Christopher Bara]

what's your address and do you have a big dog?

[Wesley Tucker]

Chris,

Light as a feather. It has a certain amount of heft, naturally, because of it's size, but it's really light. Even with the oversized trucks, (re: heavier) and Avilas, the board is not all that heavy to carry back up the hill.

Terry,

The price on the Turnersummerski.com website is listed at 345 Euros, which today converts to $422 US. The website, though, is two years old and hasn't been updated in that time. I think Steve quotes each board to order.

[Terry Kirby]

Money?

[Christopher Bara]

Dang Wes, that things actually too beautiful to ride...and too beautiful to NOT ride
Decisions decisions......

That may be the only Big-gun stateside

The finish is beautiful and it's got nice clean lines...

how much would you say that deck weighed?.......did you think the box was empty when you picked it up?

[Martin Drayton]

When last I heard, while I was riding for Turner last year, the boards were made in France, but by British builders...

[Robert Sydia]

WT:

That is one incredibly sexy board - this is the first downhill gun I have ever seen.

Ride it with pride

All the best,

Rob

[Wesley Tucker]

Dan,

It's French made. About the only difference I can see in the French boards and what either Bobby or Vince did is the rails are a little bit "thicker" than the traditional Turners. Gilmous has (or had) a cut away that Bobby made which JG characterized as "high-cap construction." The rails of his board were almost angled like the side of a stealth fighter. The nose was a little thicker but the response was incredible. (That's the board I'm proud to say I ALMOST beat TK on at the 2002 Boston race )

Anway, this board and the other one I saw from France (66's cutaway) seem to have similar lines to the high-cap board. (the Eurofighter, of course, is compeltely different.) Other than that, the finish and the "seams" where the top blends into the bottom glass is as extraordinary as what Bobby achieved.

[Daniel Gesmer]

Wow, gorgeous! Was this made by Vince, or by the fellas in France?

[HUYNH BACH SAC Frédéric]

This is a pure black beauty !!!!!!! congrats !!!

[Alex Walters]

That is one HOT longboard.

[Rick Stanziale]

edited for content by the author

[Wesley Tucker]

I don't know if I got the fastest or most responsive longboard, but I do know I have the most beautiful skateboard ever made over 36" long!



After 30 years of skating, I finally got a longboard. It's the 44" Turner SummerSki Downhill Gun. For those who don't know, it's classic foam-and-glas construction with some exotic materials thrown in for structural and flex support. Don't ask me what all is involved. All I know is that it's a big, long foam board that flexes and responds like a 29" cut away.



I've set it up with 155mm Seismics in the front and Chicken's "custom" custom 150mm Indy Offset spaced to 155mm in the back. 4mm-shaved Avilas with PTs round it out.



I don't know if this is a 44" downhill board that's good for slalom or a long slalom board that's stable for downhill, but what I do know is that it's a longboard that doesn't ride like a tanker. The response, flex and acceleration from this exotic really feels like my old short SummerSkis. Getting used to the new monster turning radius, though, is going to take a while. I'm stoked on it and glad I spent the extra dollars (pounds? Euros? whatever,) to make it happen the way I wanted it.

One thing I did for this board I haven't done before is buy the plasti-dip for nose and tail bumpers:


Anyone who has a foam board and doesn't know about this stuff might want to check it out.


I got a can Home Depot's paint department for $7.00 and it works great. Just dip whatever you want rubber coated and it sticks and hardens to a really good bumper. It's supposed to be for tool handles, but it also works great on fiberglas skateboards.

So, 27 years after I got my first Turner in August of 1978, here's my current SummerSki quiver. The vintage boards are officially and irreversibly "retired," but I still like to look at them:



One last thing. Anyone who doubts or is irrationally opposed to Turners from Europe, all I can say is that Steve Church and his crew are building magnificent racing machines. So far I've seen three of the "Europe boards," (mine, Chris Bara's Eurofighter and 66's cut away,) and all meet Bobby's demanding standards for construction and finish. There are no compromises with these boards. We all know there was a lot of drama and issues after Bobby's death when it came to continuing his legacy of outstanding racing machines. I'm not going to say one way or the other what should have been or could have been. The one thing that matters, though, is that in 2005 there are great racing boards coming out that are everything a Turner SummerSki should be. After all, isn't it really all about the racing? If you get a chance ride one of the new SummerSkis before dismissing it out of hand because it's not made in California. I'll go so far as to guarantee you won't be disappointed.