First Board

Hello I am new here and also new to building surfboards. This is my first and is for the choppy small days here in Pensacola (more often than not). 9’ 10" and about 3" thick. I still need to finish shaping the rails and then it’s my first glass job. Not sure if I should go with epoxy or not as the board is already built like a tank. Just want a clear finish as I don’t want to hide the wood…

nice! that thing is a monster

Is it me?? Or are the pics not coming through???

It’s not me!

As for the board, looking good! I’d say go epoxy. If handled properly, it is very pleasant to work with. Check out the epoxy primer posted in Resources. Do it!

–Ben

Argh…

I can’t see nuthin’…

oh well.

Thanks for the advice. Will probably go with 1 layer of 6oz on the deck and bottom. Is West Systems epoxy ok to use?

It isn’t cheap, it smells bad, and it will yellow with time. Oh, and it blush’s really bad. If you do use it, you need to put a coat of something over it. Varnish works if it has UV absorbing stuff, but you’ll have to redo it every so often due to sun damage to the varnish. I would say go with the Resin Research (clear), or System Three (which I think yellows a little, but on wood, who cares).

–Ben

I went ahead and ordered the 1.5 gallon kit of Resin Research Epoxy 2000, 1 Pint additive F, and 10 yards of 5.6oz plain weave E-glass.

i’d just go with good ol’ resin. The wood will look great through a decent gloss finish, especially since it is your first glass job.

SD when you say good ol’ resin do you mean with cloth or just resin to make it watertight?

I think he means reason that is well aged? Hence the 'ol? Or maybe pine resin?

I think what he is suggesting is that you use polyester resin, instead of the epoxy resin that you just bought and probably already paid for.

–Ben

Nice work. looking forward to seeing it glassed.

What did you use to skin it, what material did you build your rails and nose out of?

Since it was my first attempt I used wood I already had on hand. Some clear white pine for the deck and bottom and basswood for the rails, nose and tail. The skin is about 3/16". Rails are bent lamination.

Next time I think I’ll use basswood for the entire board. Seems to be light and it has a straight (not busy) grain pattern that I like. It’s not very expensive either.

To learn how to build this board I bought an instruction manual from Jack Young on ebay and I feel it was worth every penny. I did a quite a few things different than his suggestions but he definitely saved me from a lot of mistakes/head-scratching that only experience can gain.

Ron

Well the board is finally ready to be glassed. Was planning to do it this weekend but wasn’t able to find the time. Plan to have it done before the end of next weekend.

GO RON GO! Sorry for the shouting, but I am super stoked for you. Here’s wishing you warm weather, low humidity (haha, yeah right), and low insect/dust density.

–BCo

hi ronkr,

nice board you have made ,i have used quite a few epoxies and the resin research ones are good, very clear and quick setting ,however when i have used the additive f it turns the resin slightly milky and over wood it is more noticable , my advice would be either not to use the additive f or do some test pieces first and make up your own mind, from my own experiance i am not going to use it anymore, its not really needed as long as you sand between each coats , pete

thats a sick board, especially for the first one, good call on the resin research, you’ll be stoked on the extra time if its your first glass job, pete’s right on b/c add. F (especially in the hot coat makes it really milky, which is good on eps as it hides the beads and fisheyes), do you have fast hardener? i would cheater coat the rails (with no add F about 1.5 to 2 hrs after you put the deck on) and then hotcoat the deck maybe 40 min after that, epoxy sands and doesnt gum your pad without F, so either scrap it or use only a little in the final hot coat, or if you dont care about the milk use it exact how Greg L says

Based on this I’ll skip the Additive F all together. I went with slow hardener to make sure I have enough working time.

I’m planning to roll down a thin epoxy sealer coat first over the entire board and wait for it to become tack free. Then lightly sand and lay/wet-out the cloth. Is there a reason not to do it this way? For between coats what sanding grit should I use?

Thanks

hi , you are making extra work for yourself by laying on a sealer coat and then waiting to sand it , what i do over wood is use a squegee to wipe resin over the wood ,use a hair dryer to keep the resin thin ,just a very thin coat is needed , when its semi tacky roll on your glass and lam as normal , when i say semi tacky i mean just about on the hard side of tacky , be careful how you roll your glass out over ,might be easier to have a helper ,one at each end of the board to hold the glass over the board tight and then lower it place ,

the problem if you lay on a sealer coat and sand it is is very easy to get sanding marks in the wood that you cant remove,

use a hair dryer when you are laminating ,it keeps the resin fluid ,

80 grit is ok between the coats ,you need a mechanical key once the epoxy has dried ,

good luck , pete

Got it.

Ok one other thing so I am clear on the process. I plan to do the bottom lay-up first. How far should I wrap the cloth over the rails? Should it wrap all the way around to the top of the board? I envision laying down a tape line on the top to get a clean line and then glassing to that…

I’m assuming I’ll need to sand the sections on the top that have dried and need to be overlaped, because I can’t see being able to get the entire board done in one session.