beginner glassing - sanding (epoxy)

So I finished 2 boards and glassed them with 1 tint epoxy, free lap rails.

The boards are solid and look OK, but I still have a lot of defaults especially on the bottom and rails (drips, bumps, holes, shiny spots). I don’t mind to much, since we don’t have much tradition in boardbuilding in Belgium and most ride popout or shitty boards (including surftechs haha).

Can someone with some experience please look at my glassing schedule and advise me on the sanding?

This is how I glass:

TOP

  • First I prepare the top, seal the ventplug and the leashplug with stickers;

  • Put the glass over it and cut it about 2 inches under the rails;

  • Epoxy the top first coat with squeegee, let it go tacky;

  • Do a second coat with a 4" brush, let it go tacky;

  • Wetsand with 40 grit on the bottom to get the glass down;

BOTTOM

  • cut the bottomglass to match the border of the topglass;

  • Laminate with epoxy (squeegee), let it go tacky;

  • Wetsand with 40 grit to get the bumps around the edge of the glass out;

  • Apply a second epoxy coat with 4" brush;

FINISH

 

This is about the result I get (board is wet on the picture). The top is pretty good, but the bottom and rails are not.

 

I want to sand my boards, but I hate the epoxy dust so only want to do wetsand. Can I start at a low grit to get the drips and bumps out? Is that even possible? I don’t know anything about sanding, so please excuse me if I ask dumb questions.

 

I don’t want a high gloss look, actually I prefer a mat look kinda like this board:

 

 

Thanks in forehand for any help I get, I will be truely grateful. I just love building boards so much I want to have a nice finish.

oops i ment after the hotcoat, not after laminating. thanks for the kind words.  poplar ply shouldn’t be hard to find in belgium, in germany nearly every hardware store has cheap poplar ply. make some deck reinforcement (some glass patch inside also) to prevent damage if you use 3mm or 4mm poplar, it’s light but not so durable also. and post pics, haha:) 

hey no_rocker, the first pic doesn’t show up. 

It shows up ok to me?

This is the link:

http://users.skynet.be/synthesizer11/IMG_3245-s.jpg

I’m no expert by any means, but to improve the finish i guess you have to do the first sanding after lamination with 80 grit dry (with electric sander), to smooth out all the drips and stuff. don’t leave any shiny spots but avoid sanding into the glass. I know that’s hard… After that you can go with wet sand paper like 120, 200, 320, 400, … all the way to 1000, than polish with wool pad and automotive polishing compound (if you want shiny surface). Probably no polishing if you want to end up as your second pic.

Thanks Florian. I don’t have any drips on the first laminat actually, they basicly come at the fillcoat.

 

 

PS dig your boards from Munich! I took some inspiration from your work to make a hybrid wood-xps board:

 

http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/62-hollow-poplar-xps-surfboard

 

Now I am looking for some lightweight poplar ply like you to get less weight (used hardwood ply on this one).