With all the recent posts about “Home Depot, EPS” boards I decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a try. I have shaped the board and will soon be glassing. I normally use two six ounce layers of cloth on the deck and one six ounce on the bottom but the EPS foam seems so soft that I am not sure that it will be enough. I am concerned that the board will flex too much.
Any suggestions on the glassing schedule that I should go with? The board is 7’6" 2.7 inches thick and has a 1/2" ceder stringer.
Do a search for “Home Depot Blank” in the archives. There are literally 10000000000000000000000 posts about it. Sorry to sound like a grumpy old foogie - but - you know, I gotta live up.
EPS foam… the kind of stuff that comes inside the box with a TV. “normal use” of this stuff is for insulation or for sound proof barriers, or whatever you want…
The blocks at my home depot are anywhere from 3/4" to 1 1/2" 4’x8’ sheets. I bought two sheets of 1.5 inch and it cost me around $30… so like ?$23us.
For rocker, it seems some people glue multiple sheets together and hotwire their desired rocker into the foam.
Or you can put a few 1x4’s under the nose and tail of your “blank” while the glue is setting and put weights on top and let the rocker set as the sheets dry together. I’m doing this as we speak.
Search the archives theres a few threads in there…
I just finished glassing my Home Depot blank last nite.Board is a 9’6".I used 1 LB. foam 2" 4 by 8 sheet. Cut it in half glued together with white Elmers.I wouldn’t use 3/4" sheets. The less glue lines the easier it is to shape.The stringer will keep it stiff enough to shape. For glassing I did a 4 and 6 oz bottom 4 and 6 oz deck with 4 oz deck patch. Glassed with R&R epoxy.I used 2 lb.blue foam for stringer.1/8" plywood on each side.When glueing rocker put more curve in blank .It will spring back a little. Gordon
I’m no expert at this, but I would say that you could use double six, double six and have a nice balanced panel top and bottom w/ super strong rails. The lightness of the foam could be countered w/ a heavier glass schedule.
You need triple 6 or double 10 on the deck. Then go double 6 or 10 + 4 or something similar on the bottom or it will be too weak & unbalanced. You’ll still have a lighter, cheaper board than if you’d gone poly/poly.
Glassing, I used double 6oz bottoms, single 6 decks, then 3/4 cover the deck with 1/8th veneer/ply, oiled and glued to the single 6 deck. Don’t noseride.
For one pound I always glassed double 6 bottom, triple 6 deck. This holds up reasonably well and and I always liked how these rode. No problem with noseriding these.
1/8" veneer/ply is close to two layers of 6oz for EPS blanks, but possibly adding some weight and decreasing stiffness.
More a cost cutting move than sheer techno exercise, I like messing with wood laminates mainly because the previous board builder I was involved with was so anti natural materials and pro multilayered carbon.
Since I don’t noseride OR ride logs, I’d rather get a lighter swing weight nose with the 3/4 length wood.
About to glass the deck of my HD board and have a question regarding the balance issue. I was going to go with single 6 on bottom and double 6 on top, but when I had the two deck layers cut and ready to go, I thought about a deck patch and checked how much glass I had left. I can make about a 5’ deck patch to put on it, but will that throw off the balance of the board? And should I epoxy on the two layers on the deck, fold the laps, then add the deck patch? Or should I do all at once? For that matter, is the deck patch even necessary?
For a HD foam board you want to glass heavy. The foam is 1-lb and will fall apart sooner if it does not have enough glass. Even if you put in a stringer the deck will crush quicker. Do the glass layers all at once with the patch on first…then the full length cloth.But for a board that long…you should go with 3x6oz deck and 2x6oz bottom as GL suggested…he would know…lol. You will not feel any imbalance. Have fun…
*my HD fish is almost 2yrs old…ridden/abused a lot (to see how durable…) and looks great. No stringer,6’2" , 3x6oz deck and 2x6oz bottom…no dings or delams…a few small pressure(quarter sized…) dents thats all…rode hard and put away wet…
Well, the double 6 on the bottom is pretty much out of the question, at this point, as the bottom’s already single glassed, lapped and set. The laps have been ground on top and it’s ready for the deck glass. The board’s a sandwich construction with epoxy gluing the sheets together. Plus, it’s got an extra wide stringer (5/16"), so hopefully, that’ll give it enough strength to not fall apart after one season. The bottom seems pretty solid right now, and I haven’t even added a hot coat.
So I guess the deck patch will go on, in the schedule you recommend, to give the deck enough glass to hold up. I’ve already added 9 extra ounces of epoxy to the recommended amount to deal with the blank not being sealed and the double glass layer, how much more does the deck patch require? My first guess would be an additional 9 to wet out the patch, as it’s not the full length of the board.
You can still easily add a layer of glass to what you have done…your choice.The deck takes much more of a beating than the bottom. The board will be lighter(if you don’t add…)…but not last as long…good excuse to build another. Not sure how much the patch will require…what you mentioned should work…actually more than enough. Thats what I love about RR epoxy…I mix my stuff close…and if I run a little short…just mix a bit more in the same container, simple. Have fun…
I may think about another bottom layer after the deck glass and an assessment of how much epoxy I have left after that stage, but I don’t have any more glass, right now, so the board is going to progress with what I have, so far.
Thanks for the info, it’ll help. This board may see water, yet.
