I have read multiple success stories here at swaylocks about stringerless eps boards with the rocker carved out of a solid block glued up. But i have a board i have shaped that is fine except i wish to add a bit of nose rocker. I am guessing that i can bent the nose slightly while laminating, but i have yet to think of a way to do this without touchin the lamintaion before it cures. Any tips are much appreciated. Thank you.
Well…depending on what you want to get into…you can do that in a vacuum bag. You put your board in with the cutoff piece of EPS underneath or something else that will hold it - then stick a wedge under the nose to bump the curve up a little (Bert did this in his famous d-cell sandwich thread), lay plastic in between so the board doesn’t stick to the form, and vac it down tight. Once the lamination is cured, it should hold the new rocker. It’ll only really be solid after you do the other side too…
About how much will the blank spring back before both sides are done
I don’t know, never done it. You can also (this is probably easier) put your board, resin, and glass in the bag and pull to about 5-6 in.Hg. and shut down the vacuum. At that point, its firm enough in there to hold whatever you do to it, but still loose enough that you can tweak it if you need to. Then you start your pump back up and pull full vac pressure and it should hold. You can even set it in the bag on your shaping stands and put a weight on the nose, outside the bag.
in the late 60s when the stringerless was in , the foam was flat , the boards were shaped then laminated one side , while the glass/resin had just gelled , a brick was put on the nose , ive used this technique myself and it works fine …
if you just want to tweak the nose rocker at the end , hang something heavy by some line with a hook stuck into the tip …
regards
BERT