The board I’m shaping at the moment, is a replica of a 1970’s Bilbo board, which sported a rather large Greenough style flex fin. I’m just about to start on the fin, and wondered about which cloth to use. I have in stock some regular 6 oz and some 8 oz cloth which would be the best to use?? Also, is it best to layer each piece of cloth individually or do I just cut out all the layers and use a roller to force the resin through the cloth? One last question, when I glass the fin on (I’ve never done one before) is it best to glue it in place first and then glass it in with some roving? Or is there a better way to go? Thanx Peaman P.S The board is coming back to life!!
use the 6oz.individual layers or possibly two at a time.if you can get some 4 oz. that would give you a really bitchin’ flex.( takes about 50-52 layers of it though).
peaman you can lay up about 4/5 layers at a time and if you want a cool look to the fin mix up two pots of resin and do 10 layers of one colour the 10 layers of the other i make lots of fins like this mainly blue/white looks nice. Or ive seen a few fins that are clear (see through) that sort of have a rainbow shiny effect looks way cool dont know what paint it is though? hope you have a good grinder. [blush]) good luck paul
Just tack the fin in place with a dab of glue from a hot glue gun. Use a multi angle tool or a 45 degree square to get a true set. Put a couple of wraps around the fin with some fiberglass rope. Then finish it off with some 6oz cloth up the fin and lam’d on to the board. Gloss & polish. Beautiful
Thanks guys, I’ll get the grinder fired up!! Laters Peaman
Peaman… Back in the 1970s, George described to me the way he often preferred to do a "lay up" for his high aspect ratio fins: use uni-directional glass fiber (you can separate and pull strands out of glass roving), saturate with resin and squeeze out excess, carefully press into oversize female plywood mold (orient the strands from base to tip) with attached plywood base, place matching male plywood cap directly over mold, jack up auto on top of sealed mold. Excess resin is squeezed out everywhere, so protect the floor. Caution- do not catalyze too much... if done properly, youll end up with a fin which has a very high glass to resin ratio… much stronger/stiffer than ever possible with hand lamination of bi-directional fiberglass cloth. This method worked so well that I even pressure-molded uni-directional fiberglass skateboard decks (some w/rocker) in the same way.