and i thought the leash cup would be the easiest part

General Discussion
1

well, today i decided to put in my leash cup. on paper and video it looked extremely easy, and i still maintain that it shouldn’t be that hard, but as all things have gone with these beginning stages of my surfboard development, all that could go wrong has.

problems today:

  • i probably used way to big of a hole saw (im using the ~1" cup, and i used a 1 1/2" hole saw because when i compared the 1 1/4" hole saw next to the cup, it appeared as though the cup wouldn’t fit.)

  • i drilled too deep by about an 1/8"- 1/4"

  • my resin/fiberglass/cabosil mix was acting up and wouldn’t cure. i think my resin may be contaminated with water or something, as it wasn’t the same consistency and it had an oil/water look to it

  • because of the above problems, i couldn’t get it to sit flush, the bubbles wouldn’t come out, and resin kept flowing into my cup, but if the other problems are solved, i think they will take care of this problem.

i think thats all, but because it wasn’t curing, i just pulled it all out and wiped the hole clean. so now i have an 1 1/2" hole on my deck and am wondering where to go from here. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

2

O’fish’l capped plugs. Use a 1" router bit, place preglassing, straight up resin or an epoxy paste, place a fiberglass patch dry, lay your cloth, cut cloth directly over capped plug. only need at least 1/2" depth to fit. You can be glassing your board while the plug resin is still curing. super tight fit.

3

If you have some time on your hands, cut out a 1 1/2" circle out of some scrap foam to fill your hole, shape into place, paint the sides with resin, then glass. Then you can can start on the resin leash loop–very simple to make, especially if you scan the archives first, and very cool looking. Of course, you’ll have to get your hands on some fresh resin first…

Good luck!

4

to cap the leash plug, use some wide tape, and use a razor to cut around the edge of it, then when you grind the area, it should just sand off or something.

to deal with the large hole, just use a few scraps of cloth, like you would do a finbox. besides, itll be a lot stronger that way! if you dont kno what im taking about, heres a rundown:

try maybe three scraps, cut them into squares, then make relief cuts, to make it look kinda like an iron cross. put them into the hole, then put the leash plug in there, to see if thats enough cloth. if not, then add more to your liking! once oyu have enough, put a small amount of pigmented resin into the hole, then put the first scrap in, then a little more resin, and keep doin that till all your scraps are in there. if you dont think theres enuf resin in there to fill the voids and soak the cloth, use more! if you wanna just go overboard, you could always just tape around the area, and pull the tape when the resin gels. anyways, sink the plug, and make sure it doesnt float! once the resin gels, cut the excess cloth away, then once its totally dry, grind the area, and make it all flush.

hope that helps!

5

Retrosexual and Yeahdanny got it right.

I’m all for glass loops and fully against those GD plugs. I’ve had three plugs pull out. None on my boards, of course, cuz I don’t use 'em and never will.

Hey, we are here because we are making our own boards, why use a manufactured item like a plug?

That said, whether it’s a plug or fin box your inserting, the routed hole or slot you make should be a real close fit. The reason for this is that the weak point of the overall installation is the foam/resin bond. More resin around the insert DOES NOT make it stronger, only heavier. Big as the hole may be, the weak point is still the foam/resin interface. Similarly, adding chopped glass to the resin you use around the insert DOESN’T make it stronger, it just makes the resin thicker and more workable. Thickened resin stays where you put it.

At some point, making a huge hole increases the surface area of the foam/resin bond, and a larger area distributes stresses more, so the installation is “stronger”, but I don’t think this justifies a large hole.

If you really still have to use a plug, I suggest to fill the big hole with a resin/Qcell mix, and use a router bit that’s closer to the plug size. If you REALLY still HAVE to use a plug. Oh yeah, clean the hole first, and the plug, with acetone real well because if non-hardened resin stays in there, there’s zero strength at the interface.

Really though, I’d fill the hole, put two layers of 4 or 6 ounce over it, and lay a nice glass loop over the stringer. It’ll be much stronger and look better. It will be a little more work, but the end result will be “better”. To me, anyway.