so I just finished cleaning up after my 9’8" build inthe garage, when I saw a little stringeless blank in thecorner that I forgot about…SOOOOO…LOL. I traced out a template, skinned it, and shaped it tonight. Came out pretty sweet, although with no stringer I was measuring constantly. Anyways, it’s a 5’9" diamond tail, about 20" wide and about 2 5/8" thick. I’m just doing it for a fun little project, but I was wondering what the best glassing schedulw would be to maximize it’s strength…??? light glass? heavy glass? patches??? Any advice is much appreciated… Oh,and this board will be ridden in small, waist-head high beachbreak mostly…Not much more at all…
Stinkbug…
Talk to Stinkbug…
He’s a San Diego Swaylocker working with Stringerless boards. Very good input…
Interesting boards
that board looks really fun!
I have done a couple of stringless EPS (2# foam)
6 bottom 6x6 deck high performance bonzer
4x4 bottom 4x4x4 deck quad fish
4x4 bottom 6x4x4 deck quad rocket fish
Even with the heaviest glass - they came out still really light. good flex - you can feel it bend and really grip the face on a hard turn.
You can really glass with as much or as little glass as you want (depending on the weight and flex that you want) - i think the key for strength is very large laps.
For a single fin shape like yours i might glass it really heavy - 6x6 bottom 6x6x6 deck - i like weight on a single fin. That glass schedule would probably be about the same or maybe a little lighter than a pu blank with 6 bottom and 6x6 deck.
check out www.grasshoppersurf.com
I have a blog on there with links to the pics of the stringerless feeshes
Have you considered rail slots?
Dunno where grasshopper comes from, but large laps are NOT the key to strength. Well what is strength anyway? Could be resistance to snapping, less flex, or simply resistance to knee dents.
Anyway, the key to all is lotsa glass, on the deck at least. The number of layers of glass (or kevlar or carbon) and type of resin are up to you and your wallet, the weight of the EPS, your weight, and how long you want the board to last.
There are lotsa discussions about glassing schedules in Sways… use the search function.
Could run a length or two of uni directional carbon or S glass down the center of both sides. Uni carbon available Diversified Materials, La Mesa, $expensive. Don’t know where to get uni S.
I’m riding a stringerless #2lb eps epoxy right now I glassed it with a 4x4x4 deck
and a 4x4 bottom it’s 6’0"x 18 7/8 x2 1/4 the deck is really domed the board works great although it’s a bit light.it’s definitly strong enough Maybe go with a 6 ounce deck patch and a sanded or polished gloss coat.
I’ve been away at Pt. Mugu and just saw this. If you haven’t glassed it yet, here’s my opinion. 5’9" is so short that you could glass it 4B 2x4T if you want. I’ve made many stringerless 2lbs EPS boards in the 5’8" to 6’6" range using that schedule with warp E cloth. All personal boards and I’ve ridden them at heavy spots like Big Rock and even Kauai last winter. Only problems were heel dents. I’ve found that it’s too light for my personal taste though. Great for paddling but too corky on bottom turns and doesn’t handle wind or chop very well. Maybe varying design characteristics (like softer rails) would compensate for the corkiness issue, but I haven’t figured that out yet. Right now I think 6B, 2x6T or 6B, 4+6T creates an ideal weight board for me with these core materials and hand layup glassing techniques. Let us know what you decide and how it works.
I would double up on the bottom glass
thats where the stretch is gonna happen
I made a 4ft paipo around 1 5/8 inches thick with 2x6 bot 3x6 top, you can jump on top of it on grass and not dent it, 2 lb eps, sealed with epoxy+talc, had to pigment the lamination white to cover up the hideous off white junk that talc is… Ran out of microballoons… but it is much stronger than I would have ever imagined.
JSS
Composite skins…
i made 3 stringerless fishes out of these blanks(i think the’re the same)
all glassed either double 4 top single 6 bottom or all 4 and never had any problems with strength
but thats just me
if i were you id just glass it single 6 bottom and double 6 deck
-chris