Glassing Hollow Wooden Surfboards

Hi all, I hope we can share some knowledge on this one.

I am in the final stages for building a Hollow Wooden Surfboard made entirely of common everyday 3 ply external plywood. I am finishing off the rails ie. gluing 4 mm cork floor tiling on in layers.

Being such common everyday items I will have to glass the whole lot.

Has anyone got and ideas of products that would stay stuck to wood ie epoxy resins and what weight of glass should I use. It’s 8’ 4" long and 23" wide.

Just a little further info if anyone is interested the whole project has cost me AU$75. One 1m x 1m 5 ply for the ribs and rocker/spine, One 8’ x 4’ sheet of 3 ply, liquid nails, string, sandpaper etc.

Hicksy

Hicksy, which part of australia are you from? Im from Perth and making my second hollow.

Epoxy is the go. Before you glass the board give the ply and cork a thin sealer coat of epoxy as its pretty thirsty.

Must have been a long job cutting up floor tiles. I found the only guy in WA who had a sheet roll of cork and bought a load from him.

Make sure the vent is in after you glass the board so the air pressure inside doesnt blow the glue.

If you have not already look at Paul Jensesn’s web site: http://hollowsurfboards.com/how_to.htm He uses epoxy. His site gives a lot of info on how he builds his. Also check the Q/A section. Please post your pics. I plan to build a hollow soon and like seeing how people are doing theirs.

Hey!!!

I live in Merriwa, near Quinns Rocks. Thanks for the info. I’ve got some piccies on a roll of film yet to be developed. I’ll put them up when I get them back.

Did you use a belt sander or an electric plane for the rails?

Would you use a fin box or glass direct to board? I’ve put full thickness wood into the tail for either.

Still tossing up both questions…

Hicksy

He is the man isn’t he!!

Got a lot of ideas from him. Managed to get around his clamping jig by using venetion blind cord and loops through the rails and ribs.

Major clamping of the deck and hull with 45 bricks on a concrete slab.

One word of caution, keep the board weighted down when you’re not doing anything with it. It’s made from wood and will bow and twist in the changing humidity until you glass it.

I’ll put some piccies up soon.

cheers

Hicksy

just for courious… I never made hollow boards but I glass long time ago wood insert on foam… Why epoxy? polyester isnt good… wood is strong and carbon fiber too…

I used paint wood with resin just little bit cose wood can absorb much laminate resin.

I think if u use epoxy resin wood can absorb too much resin/heavy

Small world!

I used a belt sander to shape the rails, 80 grit. Its really satisfying the rails form pretty quickly and suddenly you have a board. I shaped 90% this way and used an old belt to screen the rest of the rails to the final shape. You can take a fair bit of cork off so I went pretty slow. BTW the cork dust goes everywhere.

I am no epert on fins, I glassed the first one on. The fin looks horrible due to a crap glass job. I’m going to grind it off and start again. The fin box sounds the go, but it looked a bit technical.

I’m glassing this weekend. I’ll be doing it indoors so the epoxy cures in this cold weather.

Mate, wait till you ride it, they are the best.

Where do you surf? I’m generally around trigg or Lano. see you around.

Gray

I surf at Two Rocks when it’s big, just off the entrance to the marina, other times it’s at Ders and The Spot.

Finally got some piccies together. Only 4 more layers of cork to go and I can start shaping!!! Should be ready for summer…(he hopes) My six year old daughters can’t wait to have a ride with Daddy.

3 more piccies in next message…

stay safe

Hicksy



And the next 3. Anyone know where I can get hold of sliding finboxes, approx 12" long. I’d like to try different positions to find the best setup. (now don’t be rude…)

cheers

Hicksy



Good Looking board Hicksy, cutting up all those cork tiles must have been a pain. The next stage with the belt sander is the most satisfying.

I’ve just finished the rails on my hollow fish, very time consuming with alternating layers on bending ply and cork, nearly sliced the top of my finger off last night shaving some cork.

Dont know where to get a sliding fin box, I generally use timber glass ons. Have a look at Bert’s thread on timber fin construction, my second fin came out great using this principle.

Maybe to try Surf and Sail in Leederville for the fin box, thats where I get my board vents from, so they may carry other hardware.

Let me know when the maiden voyage is.

Gray

Good looking board, you are in your way to get a real nice surfing device :-)…

I finished my first hollow past week, I worked on it for 4 months, since most of my time was consumed by school, and the money was scarse. But now it’s ready and it works really well to me. The measures of my board are:

lenght: 7’3’’

WP: 22.5’’ 3’’ bellow mid point

tail: 14.5’’

nose: 18’’

thickness: 2.5’’

I made it entirely of 3mm andiroba plywood, the cheapest I found, no cork to build the rails, no CF, just plywood, fiberglass mat and polyester resin. the entire project cost me about 70 dlls. fin was built from cedar and pine strips, and glassed with poly and mat too.

When I started the project I was worried about what kind of resin to use, since where I live nobody sells epoxy resin. I e-mailed Paul Jensen and he told me that I could use polyester resin, since my wood isn’t oily.

So I did, and I’m very pleased with the results. the only drawback is that board is too heavy, about 20 lbs, but floats a lot and it’s very resistant. So, if you want to keep costs down, and your wood isn’t oily, I suggest you to use poly resin. If you are not convinced, make a test on some plywood, laminate it with poly, and see how it sticks to the wood. Hope this is useful. Jack.

funny you should mention the fact that a hollow wooden board will tend to bow with humidity before it gets glassed… I’ve been forced to stop working on mine for a few weeks, and, when I pulled it out to take a look yesterday, just discovered that mine, yet to be glassed, has twisted somewhat. Any good ideas on how one might get it back into shape? I know some of you are mastercraftsmen who have certainly worked through these kinds of difficulties in the past. Paul Jenson? Anyone?

I put rows of bricks, say three wide and in rows 12" apart, onto a flat concrete floor put the board deck down and piled bricks on top spread evenly over the the hull. It keeps it flat and straight. Do it when the humidity is up, generally in the morning and don’t lift the weight off it unitil it’s been dry for a couple of days.

I used this method when I glued the deck and hull to the frame.

I’ll keep you posted.

Hicksy

The hollow fish is nearing completion, I’ve attached a couple of pics. Unfortunately the rails got wet this morning in the back of the ute, even in the boardbag. Hopefully it doesnt warp.

Rails are shaped, made up of alternate layers of cork and ply. The whole thing needs a final sand to clean it up. Nose block is jarah to add a bit of West Australia.

Its 6’1" x 15 x 22 x 17 x 2 3/4 (13 tip to tip)

Thanks to Bert for allowing me into his shop and giving sanding and glassing advice.

Thanks to paul jensen for showing what is possible with bending ply and cork!

The design generally follows the Steve Lis design in “Surf board design and construction”, except the nose didnt turn out as planned.

Hopefully glass it this weekend


no problem gray…

and thanks to you for cleaning out the shaping bay and giving the place the once over with the vacumn cleaner…i can go out tommorow and perform surgeory…

i sure know ive cleaned my share of shaping bays and picked up some useful information along the way…

have fun finishing your fish…you seem to really be enjoying it so far…

regards

BERT

That’s a great looking board Gray. I’ve finished with the cork tiles thank goodness, 50 of them individually cut to size and glued down. Started on the belt sander yesterday. Now I know what you mean about great satisfaction. Apart from nearly drowning in cork dust it’s now starting to look like a board now. New piccies attached.

Hicksy



Hi chaps, I just couldn’t resist gatecrashing your party with a few more wooden board pictures. Regards, Roy



Hicksy,

Your board is looking good mate.

Do as I do at this point in the proceeding, grab a stubby, go to the shed and stand around marvelling at the board!

Cork dust is a bugger. I think on the next board I’m going to use just bending ply. What I’ve found with the cork is that there a lot of small holes in the cork just by its nature, which are a problem when it comes to glassing, i.e. nothing for the glass to stick to. Definately give the cork a coat of resin (cheater coat) before glassing, this helps to fill the holes.

The fish should be ready this weekend, fins are done, just got to glass them on and hotcoat.

cheers

Gray

Been doing that, glass of woobla, standing there looking at the board, feeling it, caressing it, getting up close, blowing away dust etc. but my wife reckons I’m not doing anything but getting drunk.

I keep telling her that I am working on it but I want to think things through before I completely stuff things up. It’s been 26 years since I built my last board so it really has to be spot on.

Bet you can’t wait to get your fish really wet, not just rained on…

Hicksy

Mate I spend more time viewing, picking it up and fondling the board than working on it! its the simple pleasures.

I cant get away with telling my wife that I’m off to the shed for 5 mins anymore. She comes and gets me an hour later and I’m sitting on the car bonnet staring at the board and thinking of my next move.

I’m off to Sydney on Tuesday to stay with a mate in Bondi fro a week, the board has to be ready for the off by then to catch some east coast waves. Cant wait, mind you I havent surfed anything like the fish before

let me know of your progress. How long do you reckon till the launch?

cheers

Gray