I’m going to put a strip of carbon tape on the rails of a 9-6 to provide better protection for the rails and to stiffen the board. The tape will act as half of an I-beam (a channel in structural lingo). It will also provide a cool black rail band. I hope. I need a critique of my plan: 1 Mark off the rail with a light pencil mark equi-distant from the edge along the deck. 2 Turn the board so that one of the rails is up using my shaping rack covered with plastic (to keep the resin off) 3 Stretch out a full length of tape (one person on each end) until it cups a bit and forms around the rails, and even it up to the pencil line. 4 Apply epoxy resin with a brush and saturate the cloth tape. 5 Razor cut each end (don’t need to cut the edges, it’s tape) 6 Allow it to cure, flip it over and do the other rail. 7 Finish the board with two layers each side of 6 oz and free lap. I might try to do the first layer on each side as an inlay and cut-lap it using the carbon tape as a guide. What am I overlooking? Should I use spray mount first to put the tape on? Will the spray mount interfere with the bond of the epoxy/tape to the foam? It seems like it would be easier, but I’m afraid it will keep the tape from bonding fully Is the whole thing a nutty idea?. Can I ever really be happy as a laminator? Will my friends be jealous or will they laugh? Where is this all going?
Spray mount sounds like a reasonable idea. If your using EPS make sure you have the right spray mount. I would personally also use rail channels with the carbon folded into the channel. This would serve to enhance the effect your shooting for. Scott Bouchard built one for Pipeline with carbonized rail channels and rode it there for over 4 years. Never broke.
Greg, I read your (long ago) post about using 3M spray. Good stuff. Yes, I’m using EPS. Should I worry about not getting a good epoxy bond to the EPS “through” the spray? And thx for the tip about rail channels. It will be a stretch for me, but stretching is good.
Just dust it with the spray, not a heavy coat. I’ve done it this way and never had a problem. Your enjoying this surfboard building stuff, aren’t you?
Enjoying it way too much. Can’t get in the water nearly enough so this gives me a partial fix. But I don’t think I’ll be a threat to anyones livelyhood anytime soon. 10 boards a year, max. thanks for all your help.
Just stumbled onto this forum for exactly this kind of info! I have made 5 or so boards using the clark foam blanks and polyester resin. I have recently been making model sailplanes using west epoxy and extruded foam and have become interested in making an epoxy surfboard. The model airplane world uses kevlar tape to reinforce the leading edge of our wings. Very similar to the rails of a surfboard. We tend to buy or make “bias” tape for this because it wraps the curved wing tips better. Bias tape has the “threads” oriented at a 45 degree angle to the edge of the tape instead of at a 90 degree angle. We also use the 3M77 glue technique. And even though 3M apparently changed their formula, I have not had any problems using it this way. Very light mist of glue is enough! Mike Ackerman Freshwater CA
If you are building boards, you will want to use Greg Loehr’s Resin Research resin. Scan the archives for testimonials and tech info. Bias kevlar tape. Interesting.