Winter Projects / Glassing Bay

The first two shapes are starting to come together.

The larger board is for the ocean -- although I'm really curious to see how it will perform behind the boat. Probably slow and boggish, but perhaps the wife and I can do some tandem tricks on it like lifts and shoulder stands... ha ha! It is almost 3" thick so it should have enough float.

Also, I scored a major victory when the wife said I could use the guest room as my "glassing bay" for the winter. Yeah!!! I'm not sure how I pulled that one off, but figure it is better not to ask questions and just keep moving.

I built some glassing racks out of some old 2x4s and scrap wood that I found underneath our deck. I'll have to post up some better pix later, but the idea behind it was that there is a 2x4 connecting them on the bottom that can be slide /adjust so I can either pull the racks closer together for shorter boards, or spread them apart for longer boards while still providing some stability. I found that a few strategically placed bricks also help with the stability.

The bigger board is 8 inches longer and at least twice as heavy just as foam.


Rocker on the fish -- the center of gravity in the foil is just past the middle - hopefully that means easier to catch waves. The deck is very flat.


The glassing room with the scrap wood glassing racks.

This is what you were referring to in the secret from the other thread. I see rolls of 'glass in the corner. Nice job of convincing your better half you needed to move this indoors AND of drop cloth arranging.

It is coming along.

Fiberglass on both sides (1st pic) and hotcoat on the deck (2nd pic). Tomorrow I'll flip it and hotcoat the bottom and gloss.

I can't wait to ride this thing!

Matt that is looking sweet. What did you use for paint?

Thanks Jeff!

The foam was sealed with DAP Fast n Final, then I painted the colors using waterbased acrylic paints from Michaels thinned with Future floor finish. Pinstriping is an exercise in patience, frustration, agony, and relief.

By the way - 3 layers of 4oz on the deck. Well, two full layers and one deck patch (you can see the point of the deck patch if you look closely).

Nice!

I can't do artwork to save my life. I'm impressed with yours. I saw your thread on the zits over at sways. I've found a couple of things that work really well. I've never had a problem with bubbles using really thin epoxy. I've read that the ADD F is 9:1 Xylene / wax solution. I have been thinning with DNA with excellent results.

I also heat everything in my hotbox before coating for a bit...I crank the temp up to about 85 or so and put the board and epoxy in it to equalize. Then apply the epoxy...after it's all painted and starting to cure I artifically drop the heat down - there are several folks that recommend hot and gloss coat on falling temperatures, so I do that artifically, 5 degrees or so every 1/2 hour. Then lastly, I keep a butane tourch around - if there are any bubbles that appear, I quickly pass the torch over the surface - no closer than 3 to 4 inches. I believe it was in "the epoxy book" that indicated there is something in the exhaust of the burned butane that helped pop the bubbles.

Polyester sure isn't this hard!

You have to keep us posted on things that you find that work.

You've been using DNA in the mix? hmmm... I'll have to try that out. I used Add F - but maybe not enough - followed the manf instructions though... maybe i'll just double it next time and see what happens - that stuff does make your head spin a little though...

I had the room nice and warm - prob about 80F. Some guys say to pass a hair dryer over the spots and that seemed to work on the last board a bit...

I'll let ya'll know if I figure some other things out...

It just struck me - you're using that in your home! It's my understanding that Xylene is a possible carcinogen and is known to have neurotoxic, hepatotoxic, and nephrotoxic properties. I use a respirator with organic filters when working with that stuff.

You might want to check on some of the cautions with Xylene.

Anyway - remind me not to sleep in your spare bedroom! I used to struggle with the stupid air bubbles. Everyone talks about never mixing a solvent with the epoxy and then in researching the penetrating epxoies and additive F that's what those folks use! Anyway, Isopropyl alky has water in it, I think, and that doesn't work Trust me. DNA works like a charm and once it's fairly thin, it flows remarkably well and the air bubbles don't get trapped.

Like you found also, the heat gun or a butane torch gets rid of any stragglers.

That looks nice. Is that the fish you're making for California?

Thanks Matt. Yes - hopefully soon I'll be riding the waves in socal. Woo hoo!!

Jeff - yes it is kind of funny folks say don't add any solvents, but Add F is 85% Xylene (the same stuff you used to dissolve the EPS in your hollow carbon testing, right?

I'll post up a pic of my TPV (temporary portable ventilation system) later.

Excellent! Glad that you are venting. The testing I did with the hollow carbon it seemed that it evaporated pretty quickly - plus what are you using 4 cc? Probably not enough to be problematic for you. It is such nasty stuff though.

where do you get the epoxy to glass the surfboards?

hey Joe,

I ordered directly from Greg Loehr's company Resin Research, but a better bet would be Fiberglass Supply. I think Fiberglass supply is a bit cheaper even than RR. If you need some fast, Foamez is the quickest / best customer service / ease of ordering, but just bit more pricey.

Jo I bought RR from Fiberglass supply.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas yesterday!

I forgot to post up a pic of my "portable ventilation system"

Since it has been quite cold outside, I cracked the window and just happened to have a piece of scrap foam that fit in the window next to the reversed fan.



(Message edited by smedman on December 26, 2007)

Here's a pic of the finished board and a goofy pic of me at the beach. (dang - looking at that pic of me at the beach it looks like I've already put on the holiday 10lbs)

The board was extremely fast the Orange Co breaks - almost too fast. Like a freight train. I think it had more to do with the flat rocker than the quad fin set up.

Next one for the ocean I'll put a little more rocker to slow it down and allow for easier turns. Just for fun I'll have to try it out behind the boat... but I imagine it will be quite quite stiff -- although would probably be able to do some good tandem rides when our little guy is ready to get behind the boat.

That turned out really nice. Any pics of you surfing it? I was watching sprout last night (a great flick) and there was this one guy just carving on a fish like yours. It looked like it was 5'6 maybe 5'8. Just the long sweeping carves he was doing was amazing.

thanks Matt. my buddy took out a waterproof cam that we traded off -- we didn't get any spectacular shots that I can recall -- it is one of those disposable cams, so i'm waiting for him to develop... there might be a few good crash shots...

i've definitely lost my paddling strength and quick to stand up reflexes after 3 years in austin... i got a few OK rides, but i can't tell you how many times i "banana peeled" it -- stood up and the board shot out in front of me... my buddy thought that it was partially due to the flat rocker just wanting to take off. (for my ego's sake - i tend to believe him)

we got one decent day, the other few days were mostly blown out.... just to give you an idea - we were out at Lowers (which tends to break at least OK when everywhere else is crappy) -- there are usually at least a few pretty good guys there - often pros.... well we paddled out Friday with only about 6 guys out --- after about an hour or so of fighting the wind we looked around and we were the only 2 guys out.