Help w/blown resin swirl on bare foam...shoot me.

General Discussion
1

I think it was Ben Franklin who said that if it were true that the best lessons come from one’s misstakes, he would be a genius. I’d be pretty smart too.

Instead, I am so depressed over screwing up a great blank I am ready to turn to the bottle.

I’ve got my hat in my hand, ya’ll. See if you can help me figure a way out of this screwup: I’ve built a special fish blank (EPS) with fish shaped balsa stringer curved to match the outline of the board, sort of a perimeter stinger. All in the shape of the Christian fish symbol. Fabulous job, balsa stringer hit the tips perfectly. ( I posted pictures a while back) After a hasty practice run on some spare foam, I thought I was ready for a resin swirl on bare foam. Alert readers will remember that this had been hinted at in other posts. Doing it on bare foam would avoid a pin line. The board was taped and covered with wax paper. Looking good. I carefully squirted epoxy resin (dark color) on the foam making a school of small fish symbols within the curved balsa stringer. So far so good. I’m feeling very smart. I let is soak in, then poured on a light color for the remainder. I’m not feeling very smart at this point. The resin wasn’t soaking in enough. I used a foam brush hoping to lightly spread the resin with length wise strokes. I’m definitely feel foolish now. The word “mud-pie” comes to mind. The foam brush wasn’t working. I’m sweating profusely now. I went to my squeegee. I pulled the resin off, leaving the fish symbols, but now I have a blotched looking surface with more zits than a teenaged chocolate abuser. I am making up cuss words now and total strangers walking by are shouting into my shop to see if I’m OK. I’m not. But I can’t let them know. I can’t let anyone know. I surpress my feelings. My stomach lining is burning. This is not working. Even a little. There is no way I can cover/hide/bury this collosal waste of foam. There is no way I can get the resin off. Ever. No mattter what. Irretreivible.

I’m better now. I made misstakes every step of the way. But the tape line held nicely and I pulled the tape like an expert. Not a drop on the foam. Insult to injury. Nice job saving a piece of crap. But despite my first thoughts, I didn’t cut it up into a thousand pieces.

I’m giving it 24 hours and hoping the board fairies will come in overnight and make it all right. In case they don’t come, is there any way to cover my mess and yank this misstake out of the fire? Maybe do a fiberglass opaque inlay over the mess? Maybe do a cloth inlay that won’t show what is beneath? Maybe cover the whole frickin thing in carbon fiber and just forget the formerly beautiful stringer? Maybe get a chainsaw and gouge out the mess and run over it with a car and never do a bare foam resin swirl again?

Any help would be appreciated. Good natured ribbing would be tolerated.

“…that which does not kill me, makes me puke…”

2

Hey Greg,

Consider that you will have a hard surface that you can fair again when the resin cures. Because you can’t produce something symmetrical you have to go full on random. If it were me I’d pick a couple of colors that will compliment what you have, one for a base color and one for a swirl. After your fair the deck again by sanding in circles with a soft pad by hand. You will probably want to do a swirl on the deck that os pigmented with something that will let the colors through that are there and swirl through this base color. Trying to hide what you have completely make make the board too heavey.

I’m sure some of the pro glassers here will have some great ideas to save your project. It just won’t look like you expected to.

Just consider what you’ve done so far a base coat and don’t worry about it. The board may surf better than anything you’ve ever built.

No Worries, Rich

3

Hey Man, I bet it aint as bad as you think. Do the cool fish stringers go through the board from bottom to deck? If they do, maybe you could do an opaque panel over the messed up stuff and still be able to see the stringers on the rest of the board.

4

you could maybe spray paint it , resin swirl it , pigment flick it , draw on it , glass it …

and call it

“the undecided”

er …I think maybe …but then again …

ben

p.s. - If you’d like to ‘p.m.’ me a photo of it as it looks now , I’d be stoked anyway ! …I ALWAYS enjoy different stuff !!

5

if it can’t be saved, just glass with a solid opaque over it…then maybe toss an alternate color on there with the hotcoat to spice it up a bit.

6

Greg, I can’t help but tell you to keep moving forward. I know exactly how you feel. Of the 7 boards I have made not one was without a series of mistakes. Not just one or two but mistakes that seemed to compound themselves and take on a life of thir own. Almost like some kind of evil plot. There were times I wanted to pour gasoline on the half finished board or drive over it with my truck, or to give all my shaping tools to the first person I saw on the street. But it seems every time I complete a board I’m already thinking what the next one is going to be. I need therapy!!! I wish I could give you some advice on how to fix your problem but I just don’t have enough experience yet. I’m sure there will be some excellent advice from the real pros that contribute here, so all is not lost. Good luck!

7

It’s just a cosmetic problem, the beauty is in those stringers anyway. If the cosmetics are really killing you can do any of the above posted stuff… paint, second swirl, opaque resin, posca pens, traction pad, etc. No need to burn it.

8

got a picture of it? i bet i could think of something if i saw it.

Austin S.

www.austinsurfboards.com