Hello swaylockians, I am planning on building a mini simmons soon. The bottom lamination is going to be very dark and might totally block the pencil line I draw on the blank to mark the fin placement for my keels (glass on). Is there a way to mark fin placement on the cured lam before I glass the fins in?
How about a white tile setter’s pencil?
After bottom glass 2" tape down center(rough estimate). Mark exact center on tape and pencil mark. 2" tape approx to fin placement area. Exact mark off on tape with pencil. Rout on mark fin lines 1/4" deep and whatever width it takes to fit fin in 1/4" depth cut. Remove tape and realize you have been doing glass ons the hard way forever. Set in routed area with adhesive of choice and glass on fin as usual. pics when finished please
Sewing pins under lamination.
Open them up after lam has dried.
Genius Barry.
I suppose a toothpick would work also?
Dark colors are really bad news for surfboards. Just adds one more headache to the heat/delam issues…What is stopping you from marking the board after lam? I do it all the time. Back yard hack here… Why do you want a black or dark surfboard? Maybe …just maybe…the mass produced boards are clear for a reason…I love colors on surfboards. It’s a hobby not a job…choose your battles…
Shape it , lam it and hot coat it backyard fashion…then come back later and install the fins…ha…no pro advise here…
Hey stingray so actually was thinking about doing a resin swirl with dark and light colors and was worried that the swirl would obscure the pencil line on my foam. Wasnt aware that dark colors could cause delam issues and stuff so I might reconsider my color scheme. If i did a light color would marking finplacement on the foam before the lam still be the best bet? I thought glass ons were tacked right onto the cured lamination. Never knew anything about routing out a slot for the fin (except old 60’s longboards) or putting it in a little cut in the lam. any videos or pics that I could check out that demonstrate this technique for glass ons? appreciate all your advice
But yea might just try marking the fin placement on the lam as you said stingray.
Maybe I think to simply. If you know the position of the fins before lamination, you know the position after the lamination. Why not just make the position with tape after the lam?
I am guessing theres no stringer either to go off? I have used a laser level to remark the center line of the board. put the board on it’s side in the rack and make the laser line up with tip and tail centers.
Hey surfer if you know where your going to place the fins before you glass the board i think its best to just draw on your dots/ lines before you glass the board, makes life easier and another thing you dont have to think about once you get glassing.
If the look your going for is translucent youll be able to find your lines no troubles (dark or light), it only really gets tricky if your doing strong pigments. When i did pigments I would draw my lines on my hotcoat before pre sanding. A white posca pen makes the lines nice and visible.
I would simply rough up the fin area by hand with some 80 grit and then do a light pass with the sander to build up dust along the stringer line and give you a rough idea where centre is.
brilliant idea.
I know this is off topic but, if you cut a slot through the glass and into the foam you will triple the hassle fixing the board when the inevitable fin whack occurs. You don’t get any additional strength this way. What holds the fin is the amount of glass (surface area) in your “football” (or whatever you call them) lams that go up the side of the fin and lay on the deck.