just lam.ed the bottom of my board, first one.
i know i was supposed to fully saturate the weave, which i had done. i see no dry glass. but how much resin do i leave on the deck?. should i have pulled the resin out enough so i could see some of the weave when light is shined on it? i tried to leave a thin layer over the glass so you wouldn’t be able to see the weave but that was pretty hard, so i ended up with a few parts where you can see the pattern(but it is fully saturated. I guess i didn’t fully understand this before i layed the resin. i am curious before i go on if i should be sanding down the thin layer parts or adding a little to the parts where the weave is visible.
Sorry for my ignorance. First timer. Thanks for the help.
Hey Flatspell,
What you need to do when you laminate is first wet out the entire board, this means work the resin all around the board so the glass is saturated. Once that is done, you pull resin off the board and back into the bucket. Now, take that resin and wet out the rail laps, run a bead of resin along the rails, and pull it slowly like a dirt grader over the side of the board. Make sure it flows over the rail in a nice even smooth sheet. Now go back and work the squeegee at about a 30 degree angle on the board, this will “glue” the fiberglass to the foam. remember resin is just the glue for the glass. You should be able to see the weave, but there should be no puddles, bubbles, dry spots etc. Now, once that is done you go back and turn the rails. Start from the middle and work out. Flip any strings that you can’t cutback onto glass. Once that is done, flip board and repeat. When you hot coat, the resin fills any air pins that have occurred from the lamination process. The hot coat is just a filler/sealer to the lamination, and most of it will be ground down in the sanding process.
Long story short, sounds like you let a little too much resin stay on the board during the lamination process. no worry, just make sure you don’t puddle it up on the deck and it will ride just fine. Also to save resin weight, do both cloth laminations on the deck at once. First cloth gets cut to the deck edge, and the top piece free laps around the rail and on to the bottom…Dam I’m long winded.
-Jay
I didn’t even answer your question: Q: should I sand it down. A: Leave it be, carry on with the lamination. Hot coat, sand, gloss, and go surf
thanks, i had all that down but was a little lost as to how much resin to leave. i just found my answer in the archive(wish i thought of it earlier). my guess now is to just leave it as is, since i cant sand the bottom now. it doesn’t look horrible. you can just see where the cloth is fully covered when a light is shined on it. my hot coat will cover this up so it will be nice and smooth, right?
Hot coats are wonderful things. If it looks pretty good now, it will look even better with the hot coat. And best when it’s glossed.
Just make sure to spend the time doing a good sand job, too many guys don’t sand enough, they leave the board with lumpy rails and pock marks. You never want someone walking up to you on the beach and say… “hey guy, did you make that board”
-Jay