The archives seem pretty weak with regards to this question (or my search skills are).
Of the 10 or so boards I’ve shaped 4 have had swallow tails. Each time I reinvent my technique for glassing and each time I struggle. I recently completed a board with a swallow tail and took it out into the water, only to learn one of the tips was not sealed… it took in water. Clearly, I should have asked this question earlier, while I wait for it to dry out, I thought I’d try and get a difinitive answer.
Where do I make the slits for the butt crack, wings, tips, etc…? How can I reinforce the tips? Etc…
I was just at a pro’s factory yesterday and realized the trick while
I was snooping around looking at fresh glassed boards because
I had the same question.
The trick is when you are cutting the relief cuts at the tips and the
buttcrack. You should make the tip of the cut to the bottom of whatever
side is down. Meaning if the deck is sitting up the cut tip should be
made to the bottom of the board. So when you tuck the sides the cloth
folds over the tip itself. Then when you do the opposite lam do the
same for that side and the glass will wrap over that lam.
Hope this helps if this isn’t clear I’ll try to explain it better
it is super simple when you see it but I never thought about
it before. Good luck!!
I do the tips just like any tip. I make a v shaped relief cut then wrap as usual. Herb Spitzer used plastic strips in the tips to protect them since they tend to get crunched. He placed small strips into the foam. Like little mini stringers. For the crack I cut the glass to follow the curve until it meets the edge. I usually cut a small ‘g string’ for the crack itself then use rectangular strips and or triangular pieces to cover the foam in the crack. Make sense? I like to build several layer inside the crack because I like to do a leash loop back there and the knot can soften up the lam in there. Hope that makes sense. Mike
Yes… if the board is deck up, let the lap hang down over the edge, and extend the cut only to the bottom edge of the rail. The lap should tuck under the bottom only, with the relief cut starting at the bottom edge.
For reinforcement, if you’re doing a clear lam, you can cut a rectangular tab, with V notches on either side. This will triple the cloth on the underside of the tuck and help resist crunching the tip… lap one triangle side, then the rectangular tab, then the other triangle. Before you tuck, the shape of the relief cut should look like this…
/|_|/
See what I’m saying?
Oh… and for the buttcrack, you can usually just lay a little patch in there to fit. I’ve tried to do a shaped tab on the bottom lam that swings up into the crack, but it’s tricky. Usually end up doing a patch and laying it in there right after I laminate… doing it from underneath. It’s pretty much a must for tinted boards to get it to look relatively uniform.
Prior to the hotcoat I lay a bead that includes some strands of finrope around the bottom and back side of the swallow tail. That makes it easy to get a clean edge that won’t break down as easily.
The other thing I do with swallow tail boards that greatly reduces wear and tear on those tips is I keep them in board bags and I stack them nose down in my racks. I never stand a swallow tail on the tail.
This is all very helpful. Looks like my problem has been cutting the V’s at the tips too deep and then repeating this on the bottom, leaving a tiny little gap at each tip. I think I’ll make a few test-tails in foam and practice. Thanks a ton.