I was just doing a lamination (S2 glass 2x 6oz) over an Ofish’l leash plug designed to go under the glass. I had trouble with a bubble forming around the plug. I had pre-cut the glass over the plug but a bubble kept forming. I squashed it down several times but the bubble kept re-forming. Finally I just all the glass out from around the plug which sort of defeats the advantage of having it under the glass. I had similar problems with their fin box. It looked like gas was evolving from the plug area.
Is there a method to avoid this? I think I would use a standard fin box that goes in after the lamination next time.
I was just doing a lamination (S2 glass 2x 6oz) over an Ofish'l leash plug designed to go under the glass. I had trouble with a bubble forming around the plug. I had pre-cut the glass over the plug but a bubble kept forming. I squashed it down several times but the bubble kept re-forming. Finally I just all the glass out from around the plug which sort of defeats the advantage of having it under the glass. I had similar problems with their fin box. It looked like gas was evolving from the plug area.
Is there a method to avoid this? I think I would use a standard fin box that goes in after the lamination next time.
you lay a fiberglass patch on each side of the raised cap. If necessary you can cut a slit in the fiberglass over the cap of the under glass fins system/ plug you are using. Some do it before resin and some do it after. When you have your rail laps pulled and wrapped you then work your squeegie or fingers from the the rail direction towards the capped fin system/leash plug to work any bubbles out. You can take some left over resin and drop a bit on the system also to help. Since you have a nice patch down on the flats of the system, the top layer ugliness is sanded off for a perfect finish.
Another solution for the o’fish’l leash plug is to sand the cap almost flat and tape off the hole if it is violated and exposed. Still fiberglass patch the flats and it is essentially flat for an less dramatic glassing experience.
I think pre glassed boxes and leash plugs are stronger, and saves mega time in production work. Don’t be discouraged if this is your first try.
Thanks Otay for the reply. Having had trouble with the fine box, I did cut the glass over the plug before resin and later after the resin. I had all the bubbles out and I left it for a while and the bubble reappeared. I went through this cycle several times each time re-cutting and even poking little holes in the glass. The bubble seemed to keep coming back.
On the fin box, make your fiberglass cut like the capital letter “I” you would write by hand with the long vertical and top and bottom horizontal. The patch is important. PE resin goes off quicker, Epoxy fast cure you need to baby sit for 20-30 minutes and check again at 40 minutes if you are in a colder working condition.
what I do is cut a window for the rectangular part of plug (air will always escape).babysit and poke with a razor . Crack open plug before hotcoat . (this will expose any unseen air) . Cherry coat. Hot coat. You should have little or no air . Good workings!
Howzit rhodesengr, I wait till I’ve lammed the bottom then cut the glass before the resin kicks, then use your finger as a squeegee to remove any bubbles. If your cut the glass before lamming then the cut may not be right where it should be over the box.Aloha,Kokua
Aaah now I get it the re-appearing bubble. . Let’s look at cause-too much resin accumulated under plug can heat up and disturb already open cell. What I do is mix resin than the First thing I do is pour resin in hole than shove plug in . That way I am not disturbing already open cell structure or “agitating” are. Think…
Aaah now I get it the re-appearing bubble. . Let's look at cause-too much resin accumulated under plug can heat up and disturb already open cell. What I do is mix resin than the First thing I do is pour resin in hole than shove plug in . That way I am not disturbing already open cell structure or "agitating" are. Think.......
Petey,
When we do pre glass installs the boxes and plugs are already set and ready to go before they go to the glassing rack. I have not seen them done the way you describe.
I save so much time doing of this way. The process is so slow it is good to save as much time as possible… Pre -route - cut window-roll back cloth -fill with resin-shove in plug- babysit with razor-line up o-fishl words with stringer…whew lots of steps to put in leashplug into deck lamination…keep em’goin
No patch? Low weight eps can be problematic with fast set epoxy also. Guess it would work great with PU foam.
Also with multiple crew contributing to the board build , it allows one more quality check for the shape or order chit comparison prior to glassing regarding fin placement/plug position.
I followed the procedure in the Epoxy101 video. For the finbox and leash plug, I used the RR resin with slow hardener mixed with cabosil and microspheres. This was still wet when I folded the glass back over and put down the lamination resin (also RR resin and slow haardener). I think that if I had let the plug and box cure, I would not have had the bubble problem. However, a few days later (everything cured) I added a patch over the fin box with strips down each side and sort of had problems getting the glass to really get up against the box. Its not going to look good for sure although it will work ok. I think next time I’ll route through the glass and put finbox in after the glass. It was just too problematic to do it under the glass.
a backyard amateur & I’m used to installing the 1" cups after hotcoat (PUPE). by coincidence I saw the ofshl leash plugs at FGH and I was curious so I picked one up, installed for the first time a few days ago. in my testing with scrap foam/stringer I could not keep the forstner bit from wandering in the foam even so slightly it was not straight and it bothered me. so I ended up drilling the hole after lam, it’s a super tight fit so only a small amount of resin needed to glue it in, then lammed a small 4oz patch over it. feathered it in with the grinder then hotcoated at usual. came out fine, no bubbles.
