I’ve read both good and bad on the tacky re-coat thing, I have plenty of time so I think I’ll be waiting for the full cure and scrub before hot coating etc.
I just seal coated the blank with epoxy and micro balloons (the west systems 411 filler actually), went ok but boy is it hard to sand! Nothing like PE filler that I use for ding repairs, maybe i needed to add more filler but I didn’t want it too thick for spreading.
It’s not blocking paper and it is cured, it’s just the epoxy is so hard and it’s going to take a lot longer than I thought to sand ready for laminating. I think I’ll try spackle next time.
<edit>
hmm, here I was trying to do the right thing and it bit me on the
ass. I just read in the glossary here that additives like cabosil make
sanding harder, looked at my filler powder and noticed it contained
colloidal silica (pretty much the same thing)…doh.
I have some striaght q-cell lying around so I’ll try some of that on a test piece and see if that’s more like what I expected.
I was wondering how you avoided reshaping the rails when you sanded. I filled one blank this way and it’s still sitting in the rafters because i can’t figure how to sand back without sand throughs and the accompanying divots. Yes, i am a total hack.
Yep, I think I’m going to have the same problem. I was hoping a quick light sand with screen on the rails and and decks and start the lamination, not to be with this board I think.
Bit of a dredge but what are the other kiwis on here useing? I tryed the gemco and found it really good apart from the slow cure and price $67 for 1.5L so got some " kinetix kk" from fibreglass supply in hamilton also has pacific surf industries on the label it seemed ok at first but part a is very thick and almost a milky colour clears and thins with hardener sets up and sands ok but is definitly not clear which becomes more obvious once cured . Looks odd over timber. And after a surf the bottom of a board is covered in a white haze?
IMHO, too many players for too little market down there. We’ve had three distributors and they seem to lose interest when they don’t sell enough product, just like Ben stated. Split the market so no one gets enough to continue hanging around and you end up with what you end up with. Most of what has been stated in this thread about building issues are all ones we solved 15-20 years ago. You know I’m all for supporting domestic companies as long as they make quality and service the industry. We come from the surfboard industry. The others here don’t. They miss neuances in their formulating that are of paramount importance to board builders. They miss those things because they aren’t board builders. They don’t get it. Blush? Poly hot coats? Bad sanding charateristics? Delaminating rails? Slow gel times? Oh please …
Surfboard resins are the very highest quality epoxy resins you can buy. A++ resins. Higher standards than marine, aerospace, industrial, etc. Surfboard builders demand what no one else does. Clarity, brightness, UV stability, production speed, strength, correct viscosity, low toxicity, zero blush, sanding ease, recoating without washing, production ease and more. And all reasonably priced. We have all these things along with 16 different resins and 7 hardeners. We are priced below marine and far below aerospace both of which has almost NONE of these things. You have no idea how easy it is to formulate the crap they sell.
It’s difficult to read this. I’ve tried, what can I say. It would be lovely to have a serious distributor. But it would also be lovely to be supported by my own industry. Maybe there’s something I’m missing …
Greg, you more than anyone in the last 20 years have advanced surfboard construction with your RESIN RESEARCH products. Thank you for all your hard work, and dedication to the sport we love. Keep up the good work, and looking forward to what your working on next; your truly amazing, a legend as a surfer, shaper, and perhaps most of all as the maker of the best surfboard resins in the world.
Its a tiny market here in nz Greg barly 4m people over a fairly large area not the best for a distributor who isn’t doing it for love. If your rr was available here I would buy it in a flash but realisticly only in small quantitys.
I bought some gemco resin for a much better price than previously from a local shaper so I can finish a couple of projects. Hopefully with out the haze.
I know from experience that RR is nice epoxy to use. But now in NZ theres a number of different brands of epoxy for surfboards all competing for a small market. ATL Kinetix, ATL Klearlam, Gemco Gemrez… it’s nice to have the choice as a consumer. But as a distributor of the stuff? Well if you were already selling epoxy to the boating industry in NZ you might be able to add a small amount of extra profit from selling surfboard epoxy as well.
I know from experience that RR is nice epoxy to use. But now in NZ theres a number of different brands of epoxy for surfboards all competing for a small market. ATL Kinetix, ATL Klearlam, Gemco Gemrez… it’s nice to have the choice as a consumer. But as a distributor of the stuff? Well if you were already selling epoxy to the boating industry in NZ you might be able to add a small amount of extra profit from selling surfboard epoxy as well.
I know from experience that RR is nice epoxy to use. But now in NZ
theres a number of different brands of epoxy for surfboards all
competing for a small market. ATL Kinetix, ATL Klearlam, Gemco Gemrez…
it’s nice to have the choice as a consumer. But as a distributor of the
stuff?
Well if you were already selling epoxy to the boating industry in
NZ you might be able to add a small amount of extra profit from selling
surfboard epoxy as well. Otherwise it’s probably just going to be a waste of your time unfortunately.
