I just started my first board a couple of weeks ago. Still not done yet, but wanted to get everyone’s input on where I am at. I know this is probably not the best board to start out with, but I am attempting to do a 7’0 displacement hull. Just recently experienced riding a displacement hull and just fell in love with it. Anyway, I started a blog that I am keeping updated as I go through building this projects. Any suggestions or comments would be great.
Not even done with my board yet, but after doing the lamination and hotcoat, I couldn’t believe how strong the resin smell was. It’s been a week after I glassed the board and it still reeks. Although it has dissipated, I can still smell it. I did this in my garage and cleaned everything up really good, but it’s still there. Anyway, I think on the next board that I would try epoxy because it doesn’t smell as bad. Does anyone have experience on doing epoxy on a PU blank?
I really liked the way the PU felt when shaping and would like to stick with it, only glassing it with epoxy next time. But I heard that I may encounter delamination problems. Are there techniques that I can do to avoid this problem with a PU blank?
Pretty sure epoxy sticks just fine to poly. But the smell… MMM I use to love it… Reminded me of being a kid and going into the skate shop where the guys were making glass board in the basement… Reeked of fun!!
Hee Hee. Yah, it does remind me too of when I was little. I actually tried unsuccessfully glassing my own go-cart body with fiberglass when I was a munchkin. These days, I am concerned about what the wife is going to say when she get’s back from her trip from my in-laws.
be careful with the epoxy/poly combo. i had one done by one of the leading epoxy glass shops. long story short, the glass job destroyed one of my all time favorite boards. seems like it just kept curing, shrinking , twisting the board and sucking down around stringer…
Wouldn’t that happen regardless if it were a poly or eps blank? That is if it continued curing and shrinking. Or maybe it has a different chemical reaction with poly and the bonding effects are different. Thanks for your input!!!
I have heard that resin stops curing after a few days whereas epoxy continues curing for up to 6 months. Some of the older blanks weren’t all that tough and, if I remember correctly, Matt’s board was shaped out of a medium density blank, perhaps even lighter. You may not have the same issue with the epoxy resin depending on what brand of blank you used.
“the glass job destroyed one of my all time favorite boards. seems like it just kept curing, shrinking , twisting the board and sucking down around stringer…”
Hi Matt -
Do you know what brand of blank? I’ve glassed a couple of Clark polyurethane foam blanks with epoxy and never had anything like that occur.
Most of us have experienced some sort of sketchy foam since Clark shut down. Many brands tear under a planer. Some have loads of bubbles and worm holes. Seems that some of them distort and shrink just sitting there!
I purchased a Safari blank and was glad I left it out in the sun for a few days. The last couple of inches at the tail caved in pretty bad but the rest was OK. I skinned it and kept it up in the attic for months before I finished it off. Aside from the initial shrinkage, nothing else went wrong but I’ve still got it curing in the attic as a finished shape just to be safe.
clark blank.about 14 years ago. volan cloth epoxy resin.on paper looked like a bullet proof combo, and actually it is, except fro the shrink and warp factor…
i built two RRepoxy on usblank foam in may/june this year and not seen any hint of problem at all, in fact really stoked. the singlefin has been ridden a fair few times and the thruster still hasnt seen the ocean as the girl i made them for wants it to be a wall hanger. ive got it at the moment so after reading your thread i slipped them out and no problem whatsoever in terms of shrinkage. i did however notice something. when i took the singlefin out first time i was so stoked i did my leash wrong and on a nice chunky wave i had to pull out and the leash dug into the rail on the tail, got it outa the water and all it is is a 1/2 to 1" crack, real simple to fix, if it had been a polyester glass job it would have been a mess!
check them out if you missed them just search ‘first board order… woohoo!’
your board looks wicked, i wouldnt mind trying a hull. thats the great thing bout sways!
All done! Wow, quite an experience! Definitely learned a lot and found a whole new level of respect for all those shapers out there that do this for a living. Couldn’t of done it without all the help from the Swaylockians! Thanks!!
