I started my fast n final application for my latest eps board and a thought came to mind… If Fast n Final is water soluble, and you get a ding, wont the water just make the fast n final mushy and possibly delaminate the glass if you get a leak in the board?
I had a ding on my mid simms a few weeks ago and it looked fine, yet when I got to land, it was full of water, I had sealed the blank with epoxy and qcell… I ended up drilling some holes in it and boy did it drain, it took a good week to dry out… If I had used Fast n Final, would the board be shot if water got inside it?
Many will disagree.........
Fast and Final is used to fill all the little voids in the EPS foam so your backyard glass job will come out light. Without F+F your blank will suck up a whole bunch of resin. You only want the F+F to fill the voids. Your glass job needs to bond to the foam. Do not use F+F as some sort of barrier coat. Dings are dings and have nothing to do with your blank sealing....
Talk to JimP or GhettoRat and they can walk you through how to seal an EPS blank with epoxy resin and microballons.....
Surfboard blanks are getting better all the time. With the tighter fused EPS many people build nice boards with no blank sealer.....(microballons or Fast and Final)....................Stingray...............
Thanks Stingray,
Thats what I thought, just to fill in the tiny voids, but still, if you gte water inside, whats inside will get wet and you will lose the grip in those spots the F&F filled. I live in Mexico, and the best foam I get is 1.2 lbs eps, so I have to live with what I have…I triple 6 on deck and double 6 on the bottom… Actually I am happy that I can get foam here…
Part of my business is custom airbrushes for many here in Oceanside. When my customers ask about painting EPS, I tell them to try some acrylic instead of water to thin it out. It works great. Since I have to tape over multiple layers of paint. The acrylic acts like a Binder. Makes it stick.
I mix to a cake batter consistency, apply with squeegee, sand back to bare foam again with some screen on a padded sanding block.
That way, the F&F only remains in the voids.
I still believe the Pressure Molded EPS is best. Way tighter. Less voids. I too have made them without F&F.
Good luck.