Help me refine my technique!

General Discussion
1

Each board I finish I have areas that I need/want to improve on. I have finished three plus number one was skinned and re-shaped/glassed.

Each one is an experiment, I like to try new stuff, but there are consistent problems that I have.

PLease comment on any of the items below.

  1. Getting the lap (especially) and flat areas SMOOTH! seems to always come out with little dimples or folding of cloth.

  2. Getting the color even without splotches. I use carbon cloth and don’t want it showing (HEAT!) so use light opaque colors.

  3. Transitioning the rail from 60/40 to hard (in the rear 1/3) smooth without a waiver in the foil line.

  4. Getting the pin line sharp and crisp.

In advance… Thanks for all your help,

Les

ps…I have read the archives and they have helped but need some ‘personal’ help on the above.

2

  1. Laps…squeegee them again a few times to even the amount of resin on the rails, so with hotcoat applied, it can be done.

    Flats… start with 7" diameter of resin in the center of mass, taking 2" bites outwards.

After complete lam, with some judicious sureforming of the laps, it can be finished with hotcoat, and be perfectly smooth.

  1. Add the same color hotcoat, glosscoat, and a paint coat for opaque.

  2. You need more experience, make more boards

  3. Same as 3. If you can make perfect templates, you can make perfect pinlines.

3

Carbon is very difficult to fold & wrap around the rails. You might want to back off that just a bit, because the splotchyness & folds are probably from it. You can always do a whole carbon deck for strength and use a 4 or 6 oz regular glass over it to wrap the rails. You’ll still get the ding & delam resistance, and the stiffness, of the carbon, but your lams will look better and you’ll have a lot less sanding to do.

4

Personally, I find the use of carbon on surfboards completely useless unless you wish to have a strong deck at the back foot/knee area.

No real gain, as another layer of 6oz is almost as strong, and won’t delam. Even for that application, you still need multiple layers of glass for bonding, and multiple layers of carbon for integrity.

In my opinion!