I have an old fish that don’t float me as much as I would like to. It is in bad condition after an unfortunate handling on travel and is not in use anymore. I’ve been thinking about trying to add a little extra volume to it. Is it possible to add extra foam to a glassed board. either by removing the glassing on the deck or just gluing and glassing the new foam on top of the old glassing? Anyone tried it?
hi PSH !
interesting subject / idea , mate !
a coupla questions , first , if you don't mind ?
1. the board in question ....how long is it ?
2. how long are boards that float you "better" ?
[my thinking ? ... this has also been something I have thought about , once or twice , over the years ]
....extending the LENGTH of a board , via an 'add on foam tail' ...
this of course , being dependent on the width of the existing tail ,
the ability to remove [?glasson ?] fins ...
and ,
most importantly .... "IF " all the extra work , and hassle , would end up yielding a better [?cheaper ?] result in the end , than just biting the bullet , and spending the money on buying and shaping a new blank into , hopefully , exactly the board you require ....
this is coming from a bloke who has stripped 15 old boards , then reshaped , glassed , finned , sanded them , into "new boards" ...all just "to save a few dollars" on a blank each time [?!]
Would I do it again ?
.... no , probably NOT !
I would have got much better results with a fresh blank , each time ....
but ,
anyway , it's all up to you , mate ...
I WOULD like to see someone here modify a board by lengthening it , in the tail area
And , I wonder , if it needed quite a BIT of "extending " , if you could perhaps make up nose and tail blocks from foam ? [extend both ends a bit that way ...it would depend on rockers available / wanted , as much as the existing tail and nose widths of the existing board ]
question no.3 :
please , can we see a few photos , and maybe have the measurements
a] of your existing board
b] of an existing board that you DO like and ride , which floats you well ?
...THAT may help US more to be of more help to you !
cheers , 'PSH' !
ben [' tinkerer ']
if it IS a "fish" , as you mentioned [hopefully with a wide FISH tail [not a narrow swallowtail thruster ] ,
then , depending how deep the fish tail goes , you 'could' cut the tail square , just up from the apex of the fishtail [what some here like to refer to as the "buttcrack :) ] , and glue on a big bit of foam . Reshape it into a wide rounded square , or a chopped square , or maybe even a diamond tail , perhaps ?
There is always the risk of it being a wak point in the board , and snapping , I guess ...it depends if you want to take that risk ??
Again , buying a longer [? maybe wider and thicker?] blank , is actually to my way of thinking , a better solution ...you will have a NEW board that way , rather than [like all my " homemade boards" in the past were ! ] , a 'butchered' board ...
by the way ...
is it a polyurethane or a polystyrene core board , your 'fish' ? [important to know , to avoid meltdown[s] ...I "could ' tell you why I know that , if you need a laugh ?! :) ]
cheers !
ben the butcher
You’re going to want to extend the stringer somehow as well unless you want it to be a flextail this way. What we do in the shop with snapped board is use a dremmel to route a couple channels next to the stringer on each half of the board. Then, when you bond the board together, you can glue a popsicle stick or tounge depresser on each side of the stringer to act as a sort of “splint” between the foam. It’s conceivable that you can just run a channel down the foam this way and make a “resin stringer” but it will be brittle and weak. I suggest using an end-cut from another board that has a stringer you can fuse to the existing stringer.
Rip the glass off and vac bag a sheet of EPS to it. Shape it down by hand and glass it with epoxy.
I was thinking of doing the same thing (adding 1/2' sheetfoam, glass and ride) to a 6'6" x 18" tri fin I have laying around for 6 years. I'm not as lightweight as I was, out of paddling shape, can't get to the beach nearly as often, and some added float would help lots. The board floats me armpits just out of the water, nipples under, so great for duck diving. I think I need about belly buttom floatation, or at least my chest out of the water. Strange, the new 4/3 wetsuit doesn't bring up the floatation whatsoever over just trunks.
hi Lee !
did you go ahead with that idea ?
if so , HOW did it turn out ?
And ... how THICK is the board in question , by the way ?
my brother Simon ,
55 years old , and in great shape , rides 6'2 - 6'4 boards [ and , occassionally, 6'6" s , when he is in indo for three months at a time . ]
When I quizzed him on how they floated him , he commented
"they are 2 1/2 - 2 3/4" thick "
when I asked the width , his answer was interesting and , [being Simon , a thinker !] , thought-provoking ....
" they are 21 " wide , Ben ...21 " is the new 19" , for over 55's .... "
And , I gotta say it ....
looking at the width , thickness , or length increases of MY boards over the last ten years , that I am beginning to agree with him .
I am turning 52 in a few weeks , and probably not quite as fit as him ....
I guess there are a few ways to skin this cat eh , as we get older and heavier / less flexible / stiffer / 'surf less frequently ' ?
Some options....
1. increase length
2. increase width
3. increase thickness
4. any combination of two of the above
5. play with different rockers , curves , outlines , foils , materials , etc
6. ALL of the above
to some extent , that will depend on WHAT exactly we are hoping to achieve / what we hope to 'get' from our boards , and our surfing ...
For example : -
more glide ,
better wave catching ability [therefore more waves caught .... and more fun had , hopefully ?!].
still being able to turn .
less 'sore back' days [caused as a result of earlier injuries , combined with paddling boards that don't float us properly] .
still being able to duck dive
cheers !
ben
[ 18" wide DOES sound " just a wee bit narrow " , for a self-confessed , "out of condition" , older guy , yes ? :) ]
Boards that float my armpit out of the water by 2" max is a little sinky for me to paddle around and try to snake waves
6'6" x 18 is less floaty board than 5'6" x 20.
I'm close to 64 in terms of years.
Got a 7'2" x 21.5 funboard, still tough to paddle around, catches waves easily.
Got a 7'9" x 22.5 funboard, almost too easy except when waves get over 6'.
Got a Plumeria 8' x 19.5, but it don't paddle or float, for the 10' waves it's expected to see.
I've had over 6 BrewerMorgans that do everything well, from 8'4" thru 10'2".
cheers Lee !
the 7'2 x 21.5 sounds good ...why is it " tough to paddle around " ?
what sort of thickness are the boards you mentioned ,
and how tall and what weight are you , if you don't mind me asking , please ?
'PSH '...
Same questions for you ....
cheers guys
ben
[quote="$1"]
I have an old fish that don't float me as much as I would like to. It is in bad condition after an unfortunate handling on travel and is not in use anymore. I've been thinking about trying to add a little extra volume to it. Is it possible to add extra foam to a glassed board. either by removing the glassing on the deck or just gluing and glassing the new foam on top of the old glassing? Anyone tried it?
[/quote]
US Blanks has a really nice "Big Fish" blank. I think it's 6'8" or 6'10". Most foam companies have a blank this size. Read your own words....at what point does a $100 blank fit into your world? Anything is possible. yes, do what you said...
some old foam..a little glue...a quart of resin you found somewhere.....re-glass the whole thing...big ugly mess.
to be honest I don’t really remember the dims on my board. except its 5,7 long. The board is kind of weird looking. a really stubby and kind of wide nose, and narrower tail with thruster fins. A guy once called it a spoon(?).
for the moment a don’t have the board at my house. it is in the other side of the country, but i have been thinking about things to do with it.I allready have epoxy, fiberglass and a block of EPS (the market for blanks here in northern Norway is non existing and ordering abroad is expensive) so building my own board is the plan, but i have enough epoxy to make something out of the old “fish” aswell.
I have been thinking about the method NJ_surfer suggested, but any suggestions would be appreciated.
see if you can get in touch with haavard , and other norway swaylock's guys , they may be able to help you out [? blanks somewhere , perhaps?]
what weight and height are you ?
cheers
ben
if you dont care what it looks like and you just want to do a kind of quick bodge job you could sand the deck through to the foam if you wish, then get some A and B pour foam and add some extra foam to the deck and try and blend it in to the deck as best as you can by sanding then just laminate and surf it.
you could just add a bit of foam to the outside area of the board (i.e) not add foam to the stringer area and this would create a concave deck- but careful not too add foam to the rails as this would completely change the feel of the board when turing.
I know its a bodge. but by the wording of the post it sounds like you want to bodge it.
Of course you could just glue a a bit of eps on to the deck if you have any laying around and just seal it with a bit of epoxy to stop it from /beading/tearing just for a surf test, cause my thoughts are that what you want to achieve probably isnt woth the hassle, at least you would know if it would be worth your time to do a decent job of it.
There are plenty of second hand boards going cheap these days, if I was you I would just keep my eyes peeled untill I found something I liked.
It’ll weigh a ton when you’re through with it, and you’d be better off stripping an old LB if you can’t get a blank. Also about pour-foam, you can’t just laminate on top of it. There’s a zillion blow-holes that have to be filled and the weight will significantly increase. The time/cost of the rework vs. what you end up with is a no-brainer. You could make a new one in much shorter time for slightly more cost and a lot less effort.
As for the other comments regarding boards that float too low, here’s my perspective: As you get older, you begin to develop your personal board museum. The exhibits are those which you probably will never ride again, some that may be ridden if you get back into shape (or go back in time), and those which are destroyed or just bad shapes. My 21-3/4 wide performance LB recently went there as it was replaced with a 23" wide; there’s no shame in this, just an excuse to make another. Keep making new ones, repair work sucks especially major work.