I have been building a few prone boards and flat water sup but been struggling to find a way to glass the complex curves around the deck recess areas without doing it with a totally separate step and glassing it first. Can anyone throw out any tips or ideas that would make it any easier or faster? Would using a twill be any easier? not that I can get the surf cloth in twill, i dont think.
some companies vac bag their boards but I still can’t figure out how you can lay the cloth without folds or creases?
I’m pretty sure the advice he was looking for, Mako, was something along the lines of a tip from a vac-bagger abot how to keep the cloth from bunching up under pressure… You know, like how Soft Top companies staple the cloth to the foam, or how Bowyers staple the cloth to the mold so that when the vac is engaged and the ends of the bag begin to curl, the cloth doesn’t bunch and ripple beneath the plastic… But see I’m only a beginning vac-vagger so I don’t actually have the appropriate answer for him.
It would seem to me though, that if you’re vac-bagging then “getting in there with rubber gloves” isn’t a very viable option considering the creases and folds happen once the bag is under pressure - it’s not like you can open the bag and smooth them out once you’ve starting pumping, can you?
You could use some composites fixative spray which will keep it in place until you get it in the bag…then lay the fabric in place…do your laminate and then bag it. I made a Rabbit’s foot recently that has weird curves and rail sections all over it. It was hand lammed but I did struggle with similar issues and in the end I had to babysit the difficult areas until the KK went tacky enough to hold it and it came out well with little issue. BUT… bagging it would’ve been way easier so I’ll do that next time an go the fixative route.
If it was me I’d consider doing a nose-to-tail deck insert and come back with a separate overlapping lam for the sides. No vaccum because of bridging.
From what I’ve seen of the resin infusion vids, when they do vacuum bagging over complex molds the mold side (which in your case would be the core side) comes out nicely, but the bag side shows all the folds and wrinkles from stretching the bag and cutting/overlapping the corners.
Isn’t the wrinkling on the bag side able to be minimized through getting the peel-ply really smooth against the laminate and adding an extra breather layer/pleating the bag or something?
I suppose that also depends on how complex the shape on the negative mold is
thanks for the replys, the problem im suffering from is no mater how much hand work i do trying to get it to conform i cant, im not sure if it is even posable with these type of curves which is why i was hoping ot hear from some one who may have done it before.
Perhaps try orienting your cloth to 45* on the bias of the weave. You may be reaching the limits of distorting the cloth without getting wrinkles. On surfboards you are usually orienting the threads parallel to the stringer. For the area you’re dealing with that has complex curves try placing the cloth at 45* to the centerline. Do a test with no resin and see if the cloth will conform.
Otherwise it may take relief cuts and layers or patches. Extra steps but you should be able to get the results you’re after.
Charlie, What type of cloth is your plan for those areas? It makes a difference how you might approach it. Also angling the of the initial front recess instead of extreme right angle will help to. Any cuts and overlaps will sand out fine and if color is added or painted, they will be un-noticed. Also if using spray tac adhesive make sure it is the type that doesn’t eat eps foam.
Pics below of some complex decks I did 5 or 6 years ago for Blane Chambers. After I pulled off the first one I felt as if started the attempt as a boy and fisihed a man. The difficulty mostly was doing it with no help. One extra helper is a must.
I have been using just plain weave up until now but perhaps I need to try others however I find with the sups you have to choose carefully as some get whites very easily with paddle strikes.The first few I did with a rounded front and I think that was actually even harder than this and had to end up laying it up before doing the main deck.
Ps the psh looks great.
your piced board looks very nice to me. I don’t know if I coud help you much with the result I see. I would take a 10" wide patch in the shape of a “C” cut relief areas horizontal to the inside and outside of your “C” where appropriate. Spray glue in and wet out patch right before you roll out the wetted out BOTTOM. Throw it in the bag and do the bottom and the top patch with that pull.
