Hey mate, super inspiring stuff. Question, how do you do your channels? Some paint a small batch of resin I’m before proper lamination. I’m keen to give channels a burl
NDS,
Thanks. I did these ones normal with tinted resin. The toughest part was the deep points at the tail. The double channels in the middle of the board were no worries. Doing the two color bottom took a little extra time though. But I got some good tips from other sways peeps on how to keep the lam down.
Oh like old mate was saying with a freezer bag? Sucks it in to the channel?
How do you find your FCS 2 go with just the football patch and hotcoat? Flimsy or all good?
Yeah man- Yorky had that gem for the plastic bags! Great tip.
On the plugs- The depth has to be spot on. If the depth of the plugs are done right the install is totally solid with a good set of patches to seal it up. Since I put mine in AFTER lam and inside channels I knock off the edges of the plug that stick out with my sander before putting the football patches over the two quad plugs and center fin plug. This helps smooth the whole thing and prevents extreme sand through of the patches (which makes them useless). This is just my process man.
There may be other ways dudes are doing it more effectively. This particular board has a SUPER light EPS stringerless blank. I glassed it (2) layers of 4oz S bottom and (3) layers 4oz S deck- Still light and VERY strong. Love this little 5’ 11" board for sure. I probably pumped a little too much volume into it to be honest… Which is unusual for me at 215Lbs! Ha ha
NDS,
In this pic of the final board you can see how the plugs are sanded down just slightly to match the curve. sanding them down before hand made the final come out way smoother and very stronger. (learned the hardway from previous builds)
Whats the plastic bag tip?
Here is Yorky’s comment from way earlier in the thread when asked how he keep the lam down in funky spots-
“I was using epoxy and 4oz, any way the glass wouldn’t stay stuck in the tight spots. I didn’t wan’t to stand there so went and go some freezer bags ripped the bag so it’s one thin piece and stuck it over the wet wing area. The plastic sucked to the area like it was under vacuum. Easy peal off and stuck tight with no bummble.”
I didnt get to try it yet but will on the next round of wings I will be doing!
Yeah I’m hearing you about the sanding of the plugs, I was just thinking about the strength of that football patch and not under the whole lam, but I guess it’d have to be stronger than factory churned out boards. I’ve installed 3/4 sets of FCS2, yet to have any pull thru the glass or crack. So frothy over this home build shit, shaped my first twin outta EPS freezer panel foam, (first few were just glass jobs on machine shapes) suprised how it has turned out. Now I’m so inspired and addicted I’m planning the next build! Sways is frothing me out!
Just wondering about the glassing tho, why not 6x6? Instead of 444? Or does the 6 soak up more resin? Remember I’m all new to this so go easy!
I had 4oz S glass on hand and used it to do the deck patch and then went with two full layers over top. So where my feet go there are 3 layers. I could have easily just done 4/6 and called it good but I wanted to keep the whole board Sglass and I am glad that I did!
Stoked for you and getting into building boards… yes its addicting and will consume your thoughts and dreams if not careful! Ha ha. Personally I design all of my boards in AKU shaper (there are multiple CAD programs out there to use). I use it to print my templates and board data sheets (which I load up with notes and fin placement). Im getting pretty fair at AKU now and can really dial a board idea in to what I want. Here is a series of screen shots from one of my last board builds with some notes.
I do all of the my shaping by hand. AKU helps me visualize deisgns, dial in measurments and print out data. I now have hundreds of board files catagorized in all differnt genres and styles (Im kinda OCD with it). Then I have my sacred “box of scrolls.” Since I dont have a lot of space in my tiny shed for large masonite templates I keep all of my paper templates rolled up neatly in a box (again OCD). Its not great but it works for me and keeps my equipment and shaping footprint small. I try to save what little storage space I do have for blanks and boards that are in progress.
If you start another board make sure you start a build thread and post pics. Thats what this site is all about! I leanred pretty much everything I know by reading from the dudes here on Sways. Through the process I have grown as a shaper well beyond anywhere I coud have without all of the assistance from this community since I live in the middle of nowhere! Ha ha
Good luck, Stay stoked.
If only I was as organised as you mate!! I’ll get there tho.
Yeah used boardcad to “copy” the rocker of the al merrick twin and used a blending curves template.
Going to try copy an existing board of mine next. Prob just roll with FCS fusion plugs to keep the costs down a bit! Attached is the first handshape. Hot wired and hand sanded.
Well done man. yeah the Fusion plugs will save you about 2$ per plug the way I buy them here in Japan. Different install jig same process and (IMO) same strength on install. Have had friends that have had trouble with the FCS IIs and fins popping out but I havent.
For some reason I can only get FCS 2 thruster set for $44 delivered to my remote lil fishing town or $12 for a set of fusion off eBay! I figure while I’m honing my craft (! A joke in itself) if I can save a bit of coin here and there it’d be good.
Unless anyone else has a better source of fcs2 boxes out there? I can only find surfboard studio in Australia.
Love this thread thanks for putting it up. How did you see where to cut the carbon ends?
wonder if this could help with tenting and bubbles around fin box installs.
i’m always fixing bubbles after the sanding…
Ahhh. After a lil bit of research, I’ve discovered these “fusions” are crap. The dude is selling sets comprised of three different fin cants!! Haha! I think I’m gonna roll with the shapers “stubby” boxes but make my own jig up.
Anyone used the shapers stubbies? They look like surfinz, only can be obtained with way less hassle, so I’m told!
So I taped the outline of the carbon all the way to the end points. I should have listened to the AndHil and used a fabric cutter with a wetout table (which I dont have, ha ha). My version worked fair but could have been executed WAY better and cleaner. I plan on doing rail carbon kinda like a Vulcan hear in the near future on a stringerless EPS. I will post that one when I get to it.
