Hi, I just finished glassing my second board, a 8’6" X 22.5" mini longboard, shaped from a 8’8E blank. I used 2X6 on the deck an a single 6 on the bottom. Had a disaster with the hotcoat this time (UV catalyzed jelled as soon as it hit the board). I sanded it down and applied another. The end result is a heavy board.
so my question is, what would you expect a 8’6" with 2x6 on the deck and 1 6 on the bottom to weigh? This one comes in at 17 lbs. Guess it will be ridden old school style.
Your right that is very heavy for that size board. What type of foam did you use. ie: supper blue, supper green or classic, or maybe even heavier?
Just superblue. the boards fairly thick (3&1/4"). Live and learn. I gues its partially the extra hotcoat layer. I took notes on amounts, I used 3 quarts total laminating resin for bottom and top (96 ozs). My hotcots were 20 oz each side. I didn’t use quite all that I mixed, but this is close. Doesn’t quite add up by my math but it weighs what it weighs.
I have a slightly larger (8’10") Dewey Weber that weighs 20 lbs, but its 2" wider.
Jim
don’t confuse fluid ounces with weight.
Sand it down some more, you’ll get the weight down a bit…
next time get yourself an accurate fish scale and weigh the process before and after each step…you’ll learn much from doing this.
Hot coats can be sanded completely off. My guess is that you did not use your squeegee good enough on your lam coats.
I use UV resin and squeeze every ounce of excess resin from the lams…working from stringer to rails. Also, after wetting the rail laps I let them drip for 10 minutes before wrapping around the bottom. The sum of a bunch of little tricks makes a world of difference.
I think you’re probably right about the lam coats being the problem. I can’t believe the hotcoat resin weighed that much, even with an extra coat. I’m going to leave this one alone and do better next time. This is not a perforamnce board anyway. I do have an older Dewey that weighs even more and I enjoy riding it.
Weighing every step is an excellent idea.
jtrobins,
I’m a novice board builder, too. Of all the charactors who throw into this site, I have been inspired the most by the phylosopher/waterman, ambrose. Although difficult to understand at times I think, and please pardon my saying. he would say ride it, have fun on it, dig the whole trip, it will be the best board you ever rode because you built it. So, whenever I look at my f-ups or it just did not materialize as I intended, I think of ambrose, laugh, surf it, build another. Mike
Good advice Mike, thanks. I tend to obsess on mistakes but am trying not to here. I actually ordered 3 blanks more or less assuming I would screw up the first 2. Still have one left. Jim
Howzit jtrobins, I have to agree with Keith, just sand more. I've put a second hotcoat on boards before and resanded them with little or no weight increase. Aloha, Kokua
JT,
You are leaving out the best part of the story! How did your UV catalized resin kick as soon as it hit the board??? I’m spoiled with that stuff. No rush ,get it right, pull out all the excess, check for dry spots and go! My only concern is I have to wing it outside to kick it and sure as sh!t one day a gust of wind is gonna get one and I will have custom fauna inlays! The only time I use MEKP now is at night and in hot coats. Build it, rideit,love it, build another! - Ambrosius says… Where is he anyway???
Krokus
I put it on in the shade, or so I thought. It was a crystal clear day, zero humidity, and I guess the UV rays were everywhere. It turned to a jelly mix within 20 seconds so I just sanded down after it dried. I doubt thats where the weight came from, probably didn’t squegee the lam enough.
I had better luck at night using MEKP than the UV stuff. I need a setup absent of UV rays to get full advantage, shade is not really predicatable.
Jim
Howzit jt, Use UV resin in a totally enclosed area since those UV rays refract. I’ve set it off even after the sun has gone down behind the mountains behind my house. Aloha, Kokua
Yea, I learned that the hard way! Also, it seems sensitive to the humidity level as well, one day its humid and things go well, the next day low humidity and things go off fast.
jt, never had any problems with humidity and here it runs from 60% to over 100%, but that’s Kauai weather. Aloha, kokua
Yea, I don’t think it was the humidity per se but the transparency of the atmosphere. Low humidty => Transparency => more UV rays. Anyway, totally dark room is the answer as you said.
hotcoating with UV catalysed resin is very tricky and tough to get a seamless perfect cure.
Stick to catalysing the hotcoat with MEKP and you’ll have much more control over your hotcoats.
Drew