OH MY GOD!
howdy resinhead,
gnarly, ain’t it? you’re looking at the pre-final deck surface. while the rails are finally done, there’s still a final woven plant fiber layer to be added to the deck and bottom before glassing. been reviewing scores of glassing resources online and stocking up on 6oz. fiberglass cloth, epoxy resin and UV protection powder. i’ll post updates soon as i find a place to glass this 20kg monster.
cheers,
surfibar im think you are a smart guy for giving it a go, if you ever wanted to come to australia i would give you time in my shed. show you a few things, thats way people learn is from others spending time passing on knowledge, thats how all craftsmen became where they are today. [ if one man can do it why cant another ]....????????
well hmm the 2 years it took me to build this wood + plant fiber hybrid has been pretty worthwhile with all the missteps and dead-ends, now i’m somewhat stuck with the glassing preps so i’ve gotten used to it " ) next version will definitely be quicker. thanks for the offer!
cheers,
heya kayu,
closeup shots taken after the e-wing & tail blocks were shaped (and after final rail sanding) would have shown you why i had to rip it off. i’m sure a lot of folks would have done otherwise but being my first build, i wanted everything done right. the takedown wasn’t merely for cosmetic purposes— given the cumulative weight of everything the board’s made of, i figured i could still bring it down a bit after replacing the final deck layer with a thinner/lighter woven sheet, like ordinary cotton cloth.
cheers,
a blessed merry christmas to every juan! hehe
the owner asked for the full 3-day payment, bummer. spent the entire friday cleaning up, moving everything and doing prepwork :
and yeah, this is the custom-fit boardbag for the planned 8’8" LB gun, which inevitably grew 4 inches during the 2-year assembly period. the bag’s made from upcycled juice packs.
inside, 2 sheets of black foam padding. if that board vent looks ominous to you, you’re not mistaken hehe
test lam to commence soon as i recap all feedback from my glassing-inquiry thread, ‘first-time jitters’
cheers,
Hey Surfiber, the boardbag looks great! How did you build the bag? a building thread for the bag would be great…
merry chrismas everyone
florian
howdy florian,
urban-poor organizations here in manila have long been turning trash into cash :
i contracted a group near my office to make the boardbag based on my design & specs, it took them a few months to gather enough juice packs to finish it hehe
cheers,
some 50 minutes after mixing a 2:1 eyeball-ratio of the clear epoxy and the stale piss-stinkin’, deep amber hardener, the test lam was still in this state :
to get the ratio— the lam resin-- just right, i’ll have to get an accurate, affordable measuring device at the neighborhood grocer, something like an infant milk bottle with volume markings.
btw i just realized, die-hard masochists make good glassers hehe
cheers,
If all you need is a clean 2:1 ratio, use 3 containers - like 8 oz plastic picnic cups - of the same size and fill then all to the same level. Added bonus is that as long as you pour off into a larger pliable mixing vessel like a cut down half gallon milk jug, all the containers may be used for as long as you can take care of them.
Calling me frugal is just the polite way of saying I’m a cheap bastar-, err, never mind.
howdy brian,
i’m sort of frugal too hehe i did stock up on fastfood-variety throw-away containers, except i’m sure to waste a lot of resin without accurate measurements to come up with 18 ounces per lam coat. luckily the nearby grocery stocked a cheap, garden-variety mister-sprayer with volume measurements on the side, and a liquid soap bottle with a pump top that fit the mister-sprayer’s thread so presto, problem solved.
for now i need to determine the .5% UV powder per the resin’s total weight. so if i need to make 18 ounces total (532.32 ml), UV powder should be 2.66 ml, right? i’m assuming the .5% means one half of 1% since the Lowilite UV powder they sold me came in a 100 gram bottle, while their A & B resin comes out to about 1 large paint can (1 gallon ?) when fully combined.
anyone here with experience mixing epoxy resin with Lowilite?
Surfiber, i had a thought about your epoxy mixing dilemma, i had the same problem once so i got a old 2ltr juice bottle cut it half then got a smaller bottle or can cut it in half and used that as my measuring cup. I then used that smaller cup and filled it with water and then poured it into the 2ltr bottle, after i had done that i marked it with a permanent marker to give me my first 1:3 ratio, i then repeated the steps 2:3 - 3:3. basically i use this still today if i dont have a measuring jug at hand and it works perfectly.
sometimes the simplest things work best.............
heya daze,
turns out the pumps didn’t want to cooperate. i decided to cut off the mister-sprayer bottles’ necks, turning them into separate measuring cans for resin & hardener and then pouring the required portions onto another container. at this point i’ve realized board glassing is a necessary evil hehe
cheers,
woven rattan deck replacement with 18oz seal coat + UV protection magic sprinkles " )
months-old masking tape’s adhesive tack on the rails needs to be sanded off too. this board never runs out of glitches for me to fix hmm …
Haha,jeez your making a meal out of that one brother,but hat’s off to your persistance…
got anything lighter in mind…?
greg
If you can find a cheap one, the use of a small digital scale will take all the guesswork out of mixing small quantities of epoxy. Then it won’t matter what types of containers you use. The advantage of being able to mix really small quantities of various sizes without error on the mixing ratios is that you’ll cut way down on your waste, especially for small amounts like what you would use to set a leashplug or a finbox or a patch or repair. You can break down the amount of resin you mix for laminations into 2 or even 3 small batches, eyeballing the last batch so that there’s almost no waste and almost no dripping over the side. Using small quantities on your laminations also makes it easier to spread the resin around on the flat spots so as to get the better resin/cloth ratio and the tighter lamination. Lastly, you can take your time with your laminations and not have to worry about the resin setting as you’re trying to wrap your rails.
Epoxy resin is expensive, so the cost of a small kitchen scale could be a break-even for you on your first board. Not only that, but using one dramatically reduces the risk of wonky epoxy reactions that sometimes occur with inaccurate mix ratios.
howdy greg,
good question ! hehe i did have something lighter in mind when i started this project— purely woven plant fiber deck & bottom layers wrapping around the ribs as a monocoque assembly. problem was, i followed the traditional HWS assembly protocol using wood glue, when all it really needed was ordinary contact cement. i learned this at the very last stage when the board had already soaked up countless bottles of different brands of wood glue, as well as adding ply deck & rail inserts that was eventually covered up with more woven plant fiber (raffia, rattan, grass-- and jute which i had to remove after rail-shaping) and wooden rails. length started at 8’8", ending up as 9’ while width bloated from 19.25" to 22"-ish. that’s why it’s going to weigh over 20 kilos after glassing " )
cheers,
heya gdaddy,
that’ll have to be on my xmas wish list— for next year hehe the seal coat took all of the resin with hardly a tablespoon left to spare. 18oz came out really thin, so when i applied a fresh coat last night to seal all the gaps throughout the weave, i still had a few ounces left in the can, about a cupful this time.
that taught me to reduce the quantities needed for succeeding coats. question is, do i still mix 18oz for the lam coat which needs to cover the rails right up to the inner edge at the bottom?
hi surfiber,
thanks for the reply,i found your thread on wood2sea as well, another great read,further insight into your build,and an eyeopener to forums in general…
sounds like you ballooned a couple of pounds yerself haha,good luck getting back surf fit to get the most out of that board
Wish i’d found these sites 15 yrs back,instead of muddling thro’,theres so much helpful info here from the best in the business!
Back to the question of weight,altho’ i havent done HW build myself(so can only marvel at your tenacity with limited resources),i have made a no. of eco friendlier boards with full woven bamboo wrapped rails and no cloth,came out quite light eg a 7’8 around 4 kg,cant find any links to boards like this here,if anyone can point me to the right threads thanks…
i was thinking they might be the go if you ever want to do a few more affordable boards for the masses,in between your epic and rivetting HWS builds,the next of which i’m sure is eagerly awaited…
now i tend to stick to veneer full wraps
here’s one from last year a 5’6 by 20 around 6lbs in philipino Paldao
hope you get the finish your lookin for,wish mine were more like some of the stunning finishes on here…
cheers fella
