Hi everyone,
This is my first post, I’ve been lurking for about a month. You guys have a great site here.
I’m in the process of building my first board. 7’11" x 22.5" x 3.75" funboard, slight rocker (for east coast and great Lakes)and stringerless. I’m going to glass with 8 Oz bottom and top, with 2x4 Oz extra on deck ±45. That’s almost a SUP, but I’m a big boy (250lb) I can’t seem to find the blue or pink xps, but did find some GreenGuard 2 lb xps insulation in 2" sheets at lowes that I’m laminating.
There are probably a hundred other questions i should be asking, but from reading and using search i think I’ve got most of them answered already. Except tinting epoxy. I want to red, white, blue on the deck like a rocket popsicle. But i don’t want to cut lap, i want to blend the colors and have a fuzzy transition. Any suggestions on how to do that?
More info:
I got the idea from this article http://www.westsystem.com/ss/adding-pigments-to-epoxy. I was thinking a nice translucent sky blue on the tail third, blending into white middle section, and translucent red at the nose.
I’m planning on doing the bottom with clear and wrapping the rails. Then after cured, masking the bottom about 1/2" in from the rail to stop the color at a clean line. I was thinking I could mix white, saturate the middle, and squeegee it out, and wrap that section of rail. Then mix the blue, saturate and squeegee, then finish with the red at the nose. I figure after the epoxy starts to gel, i should be able to lift the masking and very care fully trim the glass with a razor at the edge of the tape.
It seems that since I’m going for translucent look, i could add more color and depth in the hot coat too.
I think you have the right idea on the lamination technique.
I’d suggest however that you mask off the bottom first and laminate one layer of the deck with the tinted resins. Trim the overlap, clean up the trimmed edge and then laminate the bottom with a freelap on to the deckside. Pay attention to your cut lap edges on the bottom and don’t be afraid to pour some extra resin along the cutline to fill in along that edge under your bottom glass. It’s easy to get linear air bubbles along that trim line.
I’d go ahead and fill coat the bottom as soon as the laminate is semi-fully cured. Let it cure completely before scuffing along the bottom overlap area, scuffing and cleaning up the deck rails, as well as the entire deck. Now go back and finish laminating your deck layers with clear. Fillcoat the deck as soon as those laminate layers semi-fully cure. At some point I suspect you’re going to add some fin plugs, so do that too.
Once fully cured, sand the whole thing and apply some sort of finish coat to both sides… another layer of epoxy, polyester or spray finish. As Stingray would say, “Seal the Deal.”
I like that idea John! I was trying to figure out how to get the colors and the strength of free laps in the rails. I was thinking I’d have to color the rails my way, but your suggestion means it can be a lot neater like a deck inlay and would still give me almost all of the same coverage for freelap on the rails. Much Thanks!
Seeing some of your posts reminds me of myself a couple years back, including being ‘thrifty’ and having a catastrophic glue failure (still have wrecked carpet in the living room to prove it).
I really hope you have a fun build. If I could do my first build over again ( well OK I did but that is a different story) I would change 3 things after learning the hard way. First I would be 100% sure the design is spot on for rider size/skill and home spot conditions. I made mine a little small in volume w/ a non-useful giant tail (I am your size). Second is I would skip any experimentation with resins/epoxies and go right to a surfboard specific epoxy that has a long track record. Third is not to buy cheapest available on fins and boxes, go with a known brand name with decent install instructions and a low-exotherm epoxy. As your skill and confidence rises then start mixing in new and experimental techniques.
Thanks for the advice jrandy. What do you think of the board size above? My plans are 7’11" 19.5" 1ft from nose, 22.5" in middle, and 15" pin tail. I’m shooting for flat bottom with slight v in the last 2 ft., 3.5" thick through most of the length, fairing the front 2 ft and last 2 ft. The rocker will be continuous, 3.5" in the nose and 1.5" in the tail. 50/50 rails blending to 80/20 where the v bottom is.
Do you think that’s enough volume and good stable shape for a beginner riding knee high to waist high waves?
I was toying with the idea of putting a very stubby point on the nose, keeping a very wide nose except the last 2" that would taper to a steep 110 deg point. There’s no functional reason, just thought it would look distinctive.
For fins, I was just eyeing up probox 4.5" thruster set and 4 degree inserts earlier today.
Too late for the epoxy though, 2 gallons arrived today. I’ll just have to make due for now
Thanks again.
If you ordered WEST, don’t fret. Just pay attention to the ratios (5:1) and follow their instructions for each subsequent coat. As far as I know it’s not ‘blush-free’ epoxy so you will have to pay attention to detailing between coats. It is also prone to exotherming on fin box installations so do those with multiple pours or use something else when you put in your boxes. See “Surface Preparation” on WEST website.
It is also not as UV stable as some brands so again, follow their instructions on UV protection.
Lots of people have used it for lots of different projects. Just follow their specific instructions.
I am not much of a board designer (yet… I hope). Your basic numbers sound like my board, and my board sit/rides lower in the water than I would like unless I am prone paddling with a thick wetsuit. I would search Sways for ‘big guy’ and ‘big boy’ designs and look at some boards by Tom Mahady, Joe Blair, Steve Boehn, and Albert Elliot. Also check out outlines on blendingcurves.com My next one is going to be 10’ x 24’ x 4" or something like that. The 8’ length of building materials is not a good constraint for big guy beginner boards.
