info on eastern surfboards ???

That is most likely a Phillips! You scored!

Challenger Eastern Surfboards, 1109 Ninth Ave, Neptune, NJ. Owned by Carl West. Phillips and West shaped them. In business roughly from 1965 to 1967. So, that board is a mid Sixties vintage.

Not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with Challenger Surfboards of California. Also, no relation to the current crop of fake Challengers that are made in China.

Sammy A WRONG, Bill Bahne and Frank Macleary started Challenger, they were in financial problems and Tinker had a good relationship with Grubby. Tinker was an electrical engineer by education, shaped for Wardy, Hobie and the crew from South Bay. He did some impossible jobs for Grubby and came away with a stash of foam for his effort.
Frank and Bill were back in business, now with a new partner, Tinker.
Frank glassed, Ernie Vohs sanded, Jimmie Dalton glossed, Bahne shaped, wait we have a new shaper, Bill slowly got squeezed out of the partnership.
Frank came to work while still dark and got his glassing done by dawn and was out the door for the rest of the day, a joint and some waves, no time for the book work.
Tinker saw that the lions share of the orders were going to the East Coast and it would be only sensible to have a factory on the east coast and west coast.
Frank didn't think much of this idea as it would require running a business and being a glasser.
Nothing could be worked out, there was a division of assets and Tinker went first straight cross country to Florida, the entire crew landed at Billy Feinbergs Oceanside Surfboards factory in Rockledge. It was a stopping point to put together an additional grub stake. With pockets filled, it was off to Neptune New Jersey, they had plentiful dealers in the area and it was the perfect location to serve north and south.
This was where I first came into contact with Tinker. Up to now I was the shit along Long Island New York and New Jersey beaches. This is where I get chopped down more than a few notches. BUT, this is where there was a MAJOR turning point in my learning how to really SHAPE.
Yes there was a connection between Challenger and Challenger Eastern Surfboards and the deal was Challenger Eastern was to not sell boards west of the Mississippi and when Bobby Thomas took over as the new owner of Challenger surfboards, he considered the old contract null and void and started a campaign to sell to the east coast, but this was at the time of the V-bottom boards and Challenger Eastern was on its decline as a major player on the east coast market.
This was the summer of love, and I have discovered love in many fashions, some still frowned upon by society and the law.
Tinker was not happy that I had brought myself to the attention of the local constablery, he said that I was going to get busted, that I was a walking bust.
I could now do more than the shaping load that was apportioned to me and quite well at that, so I stared whoring my self around to Rible Surboards and Surfboards East in Freehold.
This went over like a ton of shit with Tinker, he felt, rightly so, that he had imparted this knowledge and skills upon me and I was out delivering these benifits to his local competition.
Later that winter I went to California, got promptly busted, needed a job really bad and hitch hiked from Goleta to Del Mar to Bill Bahnes and Tony Chaninn and Diffenderfers factory.
I got hired on the spot to shape, although Bahne said he would have to re-educate me away from Tinkers Evil ways.
Tinker and I stayed on very bad terms for many a year, I went to a wedding for Ernie Vohs, the sander, several years later, and crossed paths with Tinker while riding around puffing one. I saw him running across the road to me from his still moving car, I raised my hand to signal a sort of wave and he was at my open window.
What happened next is not a blur, it was permanently burned into my mind so that lest I ever forget it, I may be struck by lightning.
his hand snaked through the open window and gently cradled the back of my head in the open palm of his hand.
His mouth opened and he said "Your going to burn my factory down?"
"Your going to kick my ass?"
Each sentence was punctuated with his other hand made into a very hard fist that kept connecting with my eye brow.
After more than a few of these "dotting of my eye", it became time for me to say something in return............ and that was....."hey can't we talk about this".
Tinker wasn't finished talking yet and he said "You already done yer talking" and eased his hand off the back of my very beffudled head.
It was a real long time before we spoke again or CROSSED paths for a longer time.
It was one of the first life lessons that ever sunk in, we are once again very respectful friends and I don't need a refresher course.

Jim,
that was a very entertaining read- Thanks!

Tinker, nor myself added any signature to the shapes, only the serial #.
At that time in history, about the only way to try and tell who's shape it might be is by the accuracy, and Tinker's would have still been better than mine. !

Tinker was and I have to say, of all the shapers I have been in the shaping room with over the years, the best mechanical shaper I have seen.
I saw a short clip of Skip in action and he was laying down the clean lines in the same fashion.
Tinker did NOT have surform in the factory, never used one, never saw the need for one.
The Skil 100 was his tool for shaping, no need for anything besides a block plane and the sanding blocks.
This was born out of the era of balsa, if you couldn't finish it off with the planer, what the hell were you going to do then