what do people typically glass high performance longboards with, if there is such a thing? what about nose riders, without volan glass?
Im having a board shaped that does everything, and i want it to weigh a little under 20 lbs. im either going to go with 6/4/6 deck with a 6 bottom, or 6/6 deck and 6/6 bottom. what do you geniuses think? will the board be less likely to break in half with the latter glassing option? or is that irrelevant. hook me up.
Standard glassing is 6oz on botom and two layers of 6oz on top. No need to double up on the bottom. You will be adding weight without any structural gain.
As far as breaking in half, well there is not much you could do to prevent this from happening. I snapped one that was 10oz on botoom and double 10oz on top. Longaboards are very strong but, very brittle structurally due to their length. You’d be surprised at how little force it takes to snap one if the angle is just right.
Drew
A 6+6 oz bottom would be considerably stronger and less likely to break than a board with a 10oz bottom lam. Only one side must fail to break the board. Double 6oz is more glass than a 10oz plus two layers of glass is less likely to break than one layer at same weight. I also bet that at 10 oz weave will have a coarser weave which ends up containing more resin to glass than 6oz weave.
That said, IMHO a stiffer(stringers), thicker board will do a whole lot more for breaking strength than the glassing schedule.
regards,
Håvard
Haavard your last sentence summed up the pointlessnes to glassing a longboard.
A situation that will snap a board glassed with 10oz on bottom will snap the same board glassed with double 6oz. It matters little.
However you are correct about the volume and stringers. If you are very concerned about it breaking then go with a thicker middle stringer and some offsets. However then you are talking about added weight.
It’s al about tradeoffs. Though in my opinion you are too concerend with your longboarrd snapping in half. If it happens it’s gonna happen. Only real way to prevent it is not take the board out on such threatening days. Then again, I have seen longboards snap in even smallish days. Like I said before all it takes is the combination of factors and SNAP!!!
Surf more, worry less
Drew
In my youth I used to break boards all the time, As I have become more aware to my surroundings and gear, I found out that most snapped boards are caused by an initial point of contact that is not noticed by the rider until it’s too late. What I mean is you have a small rail ding that goes unrepaired and gives the board a place to fail. In my opinion it’s the rails that really have to be strong, thats why we wrap the rails with glass. I have friends that break boards all the time, but they don’t surf any harder or bigger waves than the rest of my crew? They just don’t respect the gear, nothing wrong with that. You’ll have to pay the price.
So if your tough on boards, chucking them into the back of a truck and letting them roll around with a load of rocks, you better get a strong glassed board. If you take care of your gear, fix every ding with glass patches, put it into a bag etc, you can go really light weight. I have a 4/4 x4 glasssed 9’6" long board that is over 4 years old, yes it has heal dents, but all dings are repaired ASAP. It’s still really strong and light. With that said, all this theory is thrown out if you’re doing floaters, air and surfing 3x OH. Nothing can save a boards demise from that.
Get the board glassed 6/4x6 It will be plenty strong, and pretty light.
-Jay
if you want your longboard fairly light and also strong glass it with 6/6 on deck and 6 on bottom… and remember something… if a board is going to break, it will break no matter how strong you glass it…
you can also use epoxy resin for a stronger and a bit lighter board…
Cabeto
Howzit poser, Here on Kauai most high performance LB's are glassed with a 6oz bottom and 6/4oz deck. But I do get guys who want a 6oz bottom and a double 4oz deck. I've also done 4oz bottoms with double 4oz decks and even did one for a friend that was 4oz bottom and single 4oz deck. I explain to the person what effects the different glassing schedules can result in as to durability and performance and then let them pick the glassing schedule. In the end I'd say about 80% go for the 6oz bottom with 6/4oz deck. Aloha, Kokua
My nephew has broken every longboard he’s had (latest count 5); glass has been double 8, 6/6, 6, etc. doesn’t matter. Most of these he does just paddling out. The point is the way you ride (and paddle out in my nephew’s case), and your wave selection has more to do with breaking boards than the glassing. In any case, so-called performance LB’s like most Stewart’s (i.e. Colin McPhillips models) are typically glassed 6/6 & 6. If you go with a single 6 on the deck or less, get ready for a lot of dents and delams. So if you don’t break it first, you’ll be doing a lot of repairs which will change the weight and handling anyhow. If you’re a competitor, I can see where a light flexy board will give you an edge. If you aren’t, why waste time and resources to build disposible boards to try and emulate pro’s that get them for free anyhow?
i think im going to go 4/6/4 deck and 6/4 bottom. im even thinkin of a 6/4/6 deck and a 6/4 bottom. how much you think it would weigh?
Come on, 24oz of glass? It’s going to be a frickin beast if you glass it like that. Sinking,Heavy, unresponsive, and you better wear a leash, because it you don’t and it get away from you, you’ll face manslaughter charges for negligence when you kill some little kid paddling out.
Back in the 60’s, mothers tried to get surfing outlawed because people were getting knocked out and drowning all over the place. No leashes+ big heavy boards+ lot’s of guys out = death to the unsuspecting. if you think I making this shit up, call Mitch at Mitch’s surf shop in S.D. he’s got a few stories.
All you need to do is glass it 6x4 on the top, 6 oz on the bottom. If you want over kill, do 6x6 on the top and 6 oz on the bottom, but thats it, don’t do any more than that. 6x4 top, 6 bottom will be very strong, and some what light.
-Jay
I’m with Jay, too much glass. If you’re worried about it breaking, get a triple stringer blank. A couple of 1/8" stringers six inches offset from the center stringer will make the board a lot stronger than all that glass, and won’t be as heavy either. Not to mention it looks good…
You'd be surprised at how little force it takes to snap one if the angle is just right.
…especially when you take off on top-to-bottom hurricane surf.
It’s of course reassuring to here guys confirm what we’ve been doing all these years. I here so many oddball glass layups spoken of from time to time on this site that it sometimes makes me wonder if I was taught wrong way back when and need to get with current more costly trends. 6bottom,6/4deck has been an industry standard for a long time. I know other guys that insist on being unique and do otherwise, but 6,6/4 is normal. It offers good strength to weight for the money. If guys want more, they pay more, if guys want less, they pay more.
Thats my motto. McDing
Y’all are really missing something.
The engineer (registered, civil, me) says that if there’s more glass it’ll be stronger. The engineer says that strength rises as a function of the cube of the thickness.
The engineer says that stiffness (stringers) is good.
We lap rails because (especially in days gone by without leashes) that’s where dings happen.
HERE’S THE MECHANISM OF BOARD BREAKAGE. Iti’ not a simple tensile failure, but a localized failure in the resin-to-foam bond on the COMPRESSION side, which allows buckling (compression) failure, followed by a tensile failure on the opposite side ONLY AFTER you loose the compressive strength!
Sorry to yell, but y’all gotta read and think about what’s actually happening! Now if what I say is true, let’s see what there is to do about it.
First and foremost, the resin-foam bond must be “better”, and I suggest this is NOT achieved with a finely sanded blank glassed (which allows little to no resin penetration), or with resin that sets quickly and can’t penetrate (think of suncure or hot lam batches).
Yes, a partial improvement will have some negative effects, one being increased weight, another being that decoration will not have nice sharp edges. How rough should the finished blank surface be? Up to you, but my suggestion is that the surface should be free of foam whose integrity is damaged or impaired by the individual’s shaping process.
Shop glassing has been cautiously ridiculed in a few posts here. Look, shops make boards to sell. The biggest “buy me” signal is the inital appearance: flashy, glossy, light, decals up the ass… We have discussed that the shops are not particularly interested in durable boards, and neither is the typical retail customer. But typical retail customers, for the most part, aren’t reading this board.
McDing wants a durable board but doesn’t say how big he or the waves will be. I suggest a minimum of 6 on the bottom, 6/6 on the deck. I weigh 230 and put a stomp patch on as well, for boards I will often ride and want to last.
Again;-----6/4/6 best weight to strength for the money you pay. I use RWG or E. If you want more you pay more. I don’t want a stronger board, I’m happy with what I’ve got. Whenever I glass a personal board with Volan, I do it for the weight. I’ve never broke one of my own boards. I expect to get a few dents in the deck, but don’t really care as long as the darn thing doesn’t delam. If you glass boards for a living you have a “stock” glass job and then there are “special orders”. If you are building a backyard board for yourself you can put five layers of ten once on it if you want. Nobody’s gonna care or complain but you. I don’t know any thing about civil engineering and I don’t see the pertinence. Although I probably could make several analogies relating to structural engineering. Such as relationships between rebar, structural steel and concrete. Sheer panels and wood framing , steel studs etc. etc. etc. Any good commercial glasser trys damn hard to get a good resin to cloth saturation. The outer skin does more to protect the inner core than it does to add strength. Just my humble opinion. The stringer does the lions share of the work. I’ve seen a t-band basswood 10 footer buckle the glass on an 10’ day at Rincon but still not break after it was hit smack dab in the middle punchin’ thru a lip. That would have snapped any other board. McDing