Hi! My name is Kasimir and I’m building my first board. I’m using Resin Research epoxy, Marko EPS blank and I have Hexcel Premium 471 6oz and Premium 1522 4oz to choose from. My first thought was to go 4+4oz deck and 4oz on the bottom so it would be easy to work with the channels but I also want it to be durable.
Does anyone of you have experience with glassing channel bottoms with 6oz compared to 4oz and multiple layers on the bottom?
What would you recommend, 6+4oz deck - 6oz bottom or 4+4oz bottom, other suggestions?
I did two boards with epoxy and it was a nightmare. My advise is… Round off the edges. Use a little epoxy “glue” on the rounded off edges and in the corners first. Wait till sticky. Then glue the fibre to it. Then wait a little more and laminate… It’s not easy for me. I tried spray glue but that glue dissolves in the epoxy so it will let go in the end.
I like my eps with 6oz at least! Especially with channels. It is very likely difficult to sand so a little buffer is a good idea. Yours has a stringer. Daveysky has amount per board length on the green light surf supply website.
Later you build back the edge with Resin. Get it sharp again. But what do I know.
Thank you @janop I will check out these recommendations from Greg Loehr. Seems like 3 layers of 6oz on the deck is quite alot especially with 2 layers of 6oz on the bottom. Won’t the board become really stiff?
This is from newby to newby. I’ve done only one board. It was made with 1,5lb eps from fish boxes. 6-4-4 / 6-4. Dimensions: 6,2” x 20 ½ x 2 ¾. Final weight: 3,25 kg.
Was for my son, a beginner surfer, so I don’t know if he can compare it with another board about flex and that kind of things. All I can tell you is that it seems strong. After some sessions, no dents.
Anyway, according to the link in your original post, your blank is 1,9lb, so in this case you could apply the 2lbs schedule.
Now I’m doing my second. Same EPS foam (mine it’s an “up-cycling” project). I’ll try to make it lighter sealing the blank with epoxy-microballoons-cabosil and doing the lamination “all in one step” when the paste is still tacky (see lemat posts…).
I’ve done some tests and this way seems to be stronger adhesion than sealing-sanding-laminating.
I hope this helps. Maybe some guy with more experience can help you more than me. Sorry for my English and good luck!
Thank you @user5. I will do a test with this method. I’ve seen people recommend 3M spray glue but I rather not introduce anything that could mess with the epoxy bonding to the eps. Rounding off the edges a little seams like the way to go.
@janop! I think that I will go with with 6+4 or 6+6oz on the deck and 6oz on the bottom. Since the blank has a stringer I think that should be enough.
I hope I won’t have too many issues with the channels and 6oz, my test with 4oz went pretty well. First I brushed the channels with epoxy and then I layed down the glass and used a small foam roller and my fingers to get it in place and remove any air. When tucking the rail I used the squeegee to hold the glass in place next to the outer channel end the roller to tuck the glass around the rail. This way the glass wasn’t stretched and stayed in place in the channels. I did the test on a rough copy of the board tail made from low density insulation eps.
It should be fine. Good luck. Search about the use of rollers. It seems they leave bubbles, so better avoid them… Fingers better… And remember to seal it.
Greetings
That information from me is a bit dated, the foam today is much better and Marko is some of the best. Generally today on a marko blank a double 4 bottom and a 6/4 deck is standard.
Now channels. Not making it easy on yourself at all. My best suggestion is to go ahead and lay out your cloth, cut the laps etc. Then mix a small batch of resin and laminate just the channels and that general area. Then allow that to kick at least to where it’s firm. Or even let it harden. Then laminate the rest of the bottom.
Trying to lap rails with bottom channels; everything moves and even the pro laminators struggle. Doing this in two stages makes it much easier.
It might be possible to tape off your bottom channel area for a thin resin pre-seal. Pull the tape when the resin has reached the state of making stiff peaks when poked with a popsicle stick or wood match. Then do this…
Completely off topic but only just joined so could only post 3 messages on relevant discussion. My question was:
Hey there, do you know if carbon/glass/epoxy is is harder tougher than epoxy, glass beads and silica? Just making my own fins and want to put the hardest part against the screws
Any help much appreciated
Excellent thank you so much. 2 bombs in one hour!!! Thank you stoneburner. Gladly thats the combo i went for for my first proper set. See insta alssurffins if you want a gander
Sorry for taking so long to reply to your post. Thank you so much for your reply and tips. It is truly an honor to get some tips from the Greg Loehr. I took you advice and did an alternative version of what you and user5 wrote. I primed the channels with epoxy, I then waited 30min until it became tacky, probably could have waited a bit longer due to the colder room temperature here in Sweden(22 C). I then lay down the fiber glass and pressed it into the channels until it was securely in place with no air bubbles. I then continued to mix the resin for the bottom and laminated the whole bottom. I used one layer of 6oz fiber glass for the bottom. I did a test part with just one channel before attempting to do the whole board to see how the fiber glass would behave and it helped but didn’t really convey the full complexity in comparison with having multiple channels, tucking the rails and so on.
All in all I am happy with the result, I had one small area with a couple of small bubbles that I could fill with a cheater coat.
My advice for anyone attempting to do this with epoxy is to prime the channels, don’t stress you have time (more or less depending on temperature), go over an extra time and see that there are no bubbles and that the cloth stays in the channels and is not being streched, relax.
Hot coating and sanding in my opinion is where the real hard work begins.
Thanks to everyone that helped me with this board, I will post credits and some pictures with the finished board shortly.
