I’ve recently made the switch from backyard to full time shaper. However the guy I work with hasn’t got loads of experience and board turnover is relatively slow. Now I’ve always glassed 1 layer bottom, two layers top so 3 on the rails, he glasses 1 layer bottom, deck inlay then a clear deck layer wrapping the rails. This last clear deck layer he glasses with hot coat resin, there’s always lumps in the layer where resin has pooled as it can’t soak into the foam. Is this a good way of doing it or stick to the first method I use? It seems like a lot of extra sanding and possibly hitting cloth leading to a weaker board. I’m looking to speed up glassing and sanding without sacrificing quality so any tips would be great.
I’ve also found i’m sanding through hot coats a lot, i lay it on real thin so its completely smooth and light. Should i be going a little heavier to make my job easier?
If your not doing color work I’m not sure why you would use an inlay.
Cut the patch at the apex and glass both layers at the same time.
You can baste your rails, nose and tail (typical burn thru spots) or and other spots you are seeing burn thrus with lam resin, let it gel or use uv and flash it, then hotcoat.
Grind all your laps real flat and smooth and work out any kinks prior to hotcoating, they aren’t going away at this stage, just getting magnified.
If you want a super light board you can skim coat the board with uv resin, flash it and then glass. This will keep resin from soaking into the foam. It’s light… No claim to strength.
Cheers for the feedback.
I know my glassing method is standard, it’s how I was taught years back by one of the top UK guys, however figured it was worth checking here rather than straight up slating him. Unfortunately its a small industry here, and opportunities are rare, I’ve chatted to 30 shapers over 2 years and this being the first offer I had figured it’d be stupid to turn down. But you’re right I’ve learnt way more here than from him and reckon that will always be the way.
Same here. I learned a ton from those Fiberglass Hawaii videos. Wish they were still making them. The Jack Reeves way of saturating rails is easy, saves wasted resin and works fantastic. Since I mostly use UV Cure resin the extra lam resin that doesn’t end up on the board or the floor goes back in the container.
Mako - did you ever see my post about my glassing tray? Super cheap and sime pvc and changeable plastic that if using uv resin every thing that should go on the floor can be captured and very easily be put back in the bucket of you wish.
Years ago a guy named Petey told me to glass that way, but he would fold over the glass and saturate them first. He was glassing for XTR here on Oahu. He’s since moved to Bali and is making board there. Before he left I bought a lot of his surplus supplies. The XTR epoxy and the XPS foam was very good.