glassed on the fins last night… and let me tell you, it was really a difficult first time job… i only did glass ons this time because i didnt want to spend a lot of money on fin boxes for a poorly shaped board. next board will hopefully be shaped much better and i’ll want to spend the money on the fin boxes.
anyway, i laid everything out that i needed:
then i hot glued the fins into place with a glue gun, lining them up with my fin cant tool that i made out of cardboard… worked well for the 4 degree angle i needed:
then i glassed the fins. i didnt put the cloth all the way up and over the fins. that was intentional… ran into a problem on the first fin, i didnt put enough hot glue on the fin to keep it well enough in place, and it broke out of its bond while i was trying to glass it… i panicked, and pulled everything off, including the already saturated cloth and fin rope, and i started over again.
initially i thought i did the worst job i could have… i waited for the epoxy to kick a bit, and then i tried to trim off the excess, but that proved quite difficult. but today i took a sanding block and some paper and shaved down what need to be shaved, and im actually thinking they dont look half as bad as i thought they would, so hopefully i’ll hot coat tonight or tomorrow morning and i’ll be close to done with #001! lot of mistakes on this thing as you might be able to tell in the shape… but im stoked on finally completing it so i can ride it, and then hopefully make another that will be better. this one is all a learning experience and i thank you all for your help along the way
wow, not too shabby…everything looks like it should at that stage… 2/3 the way up the fins is plenty…
hot-gluing is fine, but set your final angle while glassing, with tape. you can hot glue like you did, but tweak them into exact position after laying everything up, making a tape X with the center of the x on the top of the fin and the “legs” going out to the rails and the bottom…
It also helps to wet out the pieces of glass on a piece of taped down plastic sheet on a table, taking care not to pull the weave apart, then brush resin onto fins and board, then gently pick up and lay and shape the rope and lay the footballs into place. That way the fins dont get pushed around as much.
i’ve found after epoxy has hardened, but not too long after, it enters a stage where it will clog any grit sandpaper higher than 100 or so, but will be really easy to cut with really rough grits, like 60. I buy sander belts and cut them up to put into my hand block, or spraymount onto shapes like PVC pipes of varying diameters…the sander belts are real durable…Also, this is the stage to cut the cloth with a sharp razor, if the weave moves at all, it’s too early. try dropping a little alcohol on the razor first…Keep in mind, the stuff you will produce while sanding is pretty nasty…the epoxy hasn’t cured fully, and the glass fibers serve to abrade and puncture any tissue it comes in contact with, introducing the chemicals into the body…be kleen…
glass-ons definitely have their place, it’s a good skill to know. I just did a board whose tail is too thin for plugs…bought some light FCS foam-core epoxy fins, hacked the tabs off, scuffed them up and glassed 'em on.