Ok to begin, I honestly don’t know how these dents got there. Before the bottom lamination the board was dent free. I could’ve put them there myself when I was wrapping the rails but I really don’t think it was me. I actually used a brush to do most of the rail and when I did a final check I did not see any dents. I’m leaning towards a roommate(actually a roommate’s gf…) accidently bumping into it or could it have melted the foam on it’s own somehow? Regardless of how it happened though, is there a simple way to fix it? I was thinking of doing a resin dam for that area during the hotcoat. All suggestions are welcome!
Looks like they are from your shaping stand when you were finishing the rails, the more you shape into the deck the softer and more fragile the foam becomes, you probably didn’t see the dents before starting to glass. Some blanks (such as MDI compound) claim to stay the same density all the way through, although there were problems with premature yellowing from some manufacturers.
Looks like you have a good, tight lam. That’s what is important at this stage. Who cares where the dents came from? You just spent $$ on a blank, more on fibreglass & resin. You need to ask yourself a couple of questions first before going further. Are you planning on a gloss coat? Is this my personal board? Will this effect performance? Here’s my 2c… If it was my personal board and I just wanted to surf it until it was beat, then just do a sanding coat as usual. Don’t waste time filling a dimple. Tell your bros you did it on purpose to get “better release in the tail” or “helps me do airs”. If you are planning on doing a gloss coat, you can fill the holes with cloth & resin. It will take an extra step or two until the dimples are level & more materials & tape. Did you figure that into your cost? Lastly, if you think you can sell the board down the line, do the extra glass in the dent, do a hard block & hand sand of the area (lots of extra work & time here) and look at the finished sanding in good contrasting light. Then gloss & polish. Based on what I see from your tail foil & glassing area, I would go with option #1, and Lesson #5 learned (protect your shaped blank at all costs, esp. from roomates, etc…) Just like I said, just my 2c…
@Livethemoment - I guess it could’ve been from my shaping stands (even though they are double padded). I just wish I could’ve caught it before so I could’ve popped the dents out with some heat. For blanks, I use Usblanks and have been fairly happy with them. I did notice that this blank had a few air holes unfortunately but not bad enough to complain. Also, I normally take as little off the deck for the density reason. This was my first time using a clark foam planer so my rail bands were pretty bad and I found it hard to keep a consistent depth. Maybe I took too much off of the rail?
@Huck - I will probably endup using a little piece of glass like you recommended. I went ahead and lammed the top and the dents are already less noticable.
@Surfteach- Thanks for the lam compliment. I think I got the hang of clear lams now; however, you guys are going to laugh your ass off when you see my attempt at doing the top half of the board clear and the bottom half split between two colors(blue/green)… Putting clear resin between them didn’t stop it from mudding. I don’t plan on selling this board but if someone wants it I’ll probably let it go so I can shape a new board.
EDIT: I normally do gloss coats but I don’t think I will on this board. Just going to sand the lam even then do a hotcoat. On a positive note, it’s going to be pretty light!
*Note to self: Take better care of your blank and stick to a clear or full color lam.
I bet that the dents are only on 1 rail, im pretty sure that they are caused by the shaping stands, I get tiny little dents too occasionally but as Im aware of the potential problem I never put too much pressure on the board while on its edge in the rack, so any bumps are too small to be seen after glassing. I also put an extra layer of foam (untaped) in the rack when doing the rails to give extra cushioning. In that position the board is extremely vulnerable and even if its against a taped area of foam it can cause little dents much easier than pure foam.
If you are aware of this for your next board you will easily be able to avoid putting too much pressure on the board when doing the rails ppand so avoiding the problem.
There are so many little things that can go wrong while making a surfboard. Things that you couldn’t even imagine until it happens!
Mako I went ahead and glassed the deck yesterday and the dents are barely noticeable now. I really think my ugly resin tint helps them be unnoticeable. I’ll post pictures after I get it hotcoated.
