I thought a gloss coat was the last application after all fiberglass cloth laminates to make it smooth and was not sanded and the hot coat was the first application of resin again with no cloth to the finished blank in order to improve(possibly) the adhesion of the first cloth laminate. But reading these forums there seems to be some confusion on these terminologies. Also what is most important to keep it water tight ? I have made two boards and they both take water even the first time they were used. Is it possible to make a good water-tight board by adding only say two pounds total to the finished blank say for a typical 7’ by 21" wide board? Need to use a squeegee ? Wouldn’t a textured deck help keep down the weight ? Why haven’t we ever seen a textured bottom to save weight since it has never been shown that a real smooth glossy bottom actually decreases water resistance - in fact if anything it seems a rough bottom may be less resistance. Sanding or wet sanding necessary?
You have your order of operation all wrong. Get JC’s glassing video. It is around $30.00 and will help you alot. A picture is worth a thousand words and it will make much more sense compared to short descriptions. There has been much discussion on the board about textured vs. smooth surfaces and their relationship to hydrodynamics (check out the archive). Long story short, surfboards simply do not go fast enough to benefit from textured bottoms.
I agree that for ordinary surfboard speeds it makes no difference about the fine texture of bottom of board. But this is just the point: since it makes no noticeable difference then it may be possible to save some weight by using a squeegee deck and bottom and save some weight ? I once had a fairly light(standard urethane foam and polyester resin) 6’10" with one of 4oz. on bottom and deck plus a textured deck patch of 4o.z. and it never took any noticeable water after much use(it could have been 6oz on deck with a textured 4oz.-I forget exactly) But I don’t know if you could get away with a single 4oz or 6oz textured with a squeegee even on the bottom and have it reasonably watertight- has anyone ever tried this and if so what kind of blank and resin did you use? did it take any water? > terminologies. Also what is most important to keep it water tight ? I have > made two boards and they both take water even the first time they were > used. Is it possible to make a good water-tight board by adding only say > two pounds total to the finished blank say for a typical 7’ by 21" > wide board? Need to use a squeegee ? Wouldn’t a textured deck help keep > down the weight ? Why haven’t we ever seen a textured bottom to save > weight since it has never been shown that a real smooth glossy bottom > actually decreases water resistance - in fact if anything it seems a rough > bottom may be less resistance. Sanding or wet sanding necessary?