Now i never glassed channels before and through the my search in the archives on the posts say, dont do it, a headache, a nightmare, all the cons on channels in the first place. Well reality for me… i have to glass them anyway. I made a replica for a friend of a 6-4 HOTLINE with four tail channels. Question in what is the best way to approach it. Do i fin rope at the hip of the channels. do i glass strips of glass in first?? do i elevate the nose to prevent pooling?? do i lay glass and razor along the edges of the channels so the glass lays flat?? anyway if anyone has as pics and tips… please send them my way.
If you are doing a clear freelap you can baste the blank with lam resin and after it kicks, push the cloth into the channels and it will stick to it and make for an easy lamination. Thank kokua for that one!
when I did my unsightly “canyon concaves” [a benzer channel], I just mixed a small batch of resin to do the …er…“channels” first .
I allowed myself about half an hour to get them fairly ‘right’ , before glassing the rest of the board . This was with polyester resin . With epoxy , I would have had a LOT longer timeframe to work with …
Howzit?!? The ‘tack coat’ method is a plus. Even dribbling a little resin down the stringer first to tack down the glass works well. I think that the main problem with glassing channels is that the cloth wants to pull back out of the channels when you lap the rails, leaving big airs that you need to repeatedly deal with. I’ve found that it’s a good idea to cut your laps longer in the tail area than for the rest of the side. Allowance for the added width from the shape of the channels. It’s important to be constantly pushing the cloth towards the stringer, so the cloth fills the channels. By cutting longer laps, you can fill the channels and the lapline on the deck comes out even around the tail area. Deep six channel ‘gutter bottoms’ require relief cuts where the channels meet the rail. You need to be careful not to over work the cloth when you are jostling with the channels so it doesn’t tweak the weave all out of shape. Paste the edges of the channels before you hot coat. All of this attention to detail pays off when you get the thing in the sanding room! Naturally, sanding the things is another story, but by keeping it clean all the way through, you’ll have a much bigger chance of success. U.V. poly resin is a big help also. No wonder about the big extra $ charge to glass the things! Aloha…RH
when I did mine , I put too much resin on , and the channels “filled up” a bit [ie: became less deep]. I guess that’s something to avoid …I should have squeegeed the excess out more thoroughly.
Hi Chip! I made a special sanding block, with a curved edge on one side that would carve the contour of the channel into the foam, you know, curved, not an extreme angle. My little fin-lam squeegee has one side that fits right in the curve of the fin fillet. Same radius curve as my channel shaper. I’ve found it to be a handy tool for dealing with those pesky channel lams! Aloha…RH
I was worried about the square corners of my squeegee ripping holes through the cloth , as I tried to squeegee my …er…channel’s “curve[s]”
When / if we have the photo attachment up and running again [?] , I wouldn’t mind seeing a photo of that squeegee , and perhaps the sanding block also , if it’s not too much trouble , please ?
Howzit chip, As long as the glass is down on the foam you will be OK and do what Rick says. When I sand channels I use a sanding block that is just like the one the shaper used to make the channels so they come out the same as the shape. Aloha,kokua
hey everybody, thanks for the information and the tips. i think the method i am going to try is the paint up the foam and with longer tail lap lay cloth in and just keep working it. I am glassing this weekend “keepin the fingers crossed”
Howzit flippnred, Do the resin tack. What I do is leave the cloth wider as far up as the channels run. Do the resin tack, then paint a little more resin into the channels to keep them in place ( some times the tack isn’t enough to hold the glass). Now that the glass in tacked in place you can cut the glass just like you would normally for a free lap. the only other thing is the glass will want to kind of bunch up where it comes out of the channel and over the rail, but just work it as best as you can since you can clean it up after the lamination and before the HC.Aloha,Kokua
Pat your glass down into the channels before you cut the laps, work the resin into cloth as you normally would, don’t be too concerned with air in the channels as you roll the laps, then working from the middle outwards with gloved hands push the cloth gently into the channels. The lap will slide a little but thats OK because you have trimmed it with allowance for the channels. Lastly, using your squeegee edge to hold the cloth in the outside channel, re-roll the lap down. Yep, glass with a squeegee in one hand, roller in the other. A skilled glasser can do it without having to snip the lap glass anywhere near the channels. Brush a little extra resin along the peaks of the channels before filler coating. Having said all that , the most important thing with channels is not to shape them too square and carefully blunt off the edge at the peak lines.
dude your name sounds so familiar. I used to date a girl who knew some guy online with your screenname, i think he went to school with her or something. Her name is Liz Now** anyway its good to hear there are some other backyarders in the dirty jerz. I grew up in bordentown but live five blocks off the ocean now, you need to get down here for good, i used to hate that drive down 195. Hope you got some of this franklin swell, its still pumping.
kokua, what about after you laminate, how do you go about the HC without all your resin ending up at the bottom of the channels and showing the cloth at the top?
I was thinking that if I used epoxy and let it slightly cure before I hotcoated (just that area) that the resin would stay where it is better, any tips with that? Or is it just kinda like glassing steep parts like the nose, or is there masking involved somehow?
And what about the almost vertical surfaces?
Sorry for being so questionative, if you can just point out a few posts in the archives that cover it that will be fine too, I can’t seem to find any either that actually adress the question.
Howzit Deathfrog, There really isn’t a problem, if your hot coat is nice and even it shouldn’t pool in the channels. You also want the HC to kick within 5 minutes of applying it, this will not give the resin any time to pool either. I’ve never had it pool on the channeled boards I’ve done. And even if you do get some pooling it won’t be that much and it will sand out in the end.Aloha,Kokua
I was sanding my channel bottom the other day with a ‘Detail sander’ sort of shaped like a mini iron. it worked really well and my board is shades whiter now there is no old gunk.
hey everyone thanks again for all the advice. i took the advice of lam a lam coat on the foam, followed by glass after it had kicked. had to work out some air bubbles but all in all it wasnt neearly as bad is a thought it was going to be.
here are of the few pics of the finished product and my friend was happier than hell too. rides pretty smooth only took it out once but its his new stick.
hey thanks, by all means show your friend. The waves here are so so. nice and clean in season, but gets bumpy just as often. I rode it on a perfect 4-5 ft day and had an awsome time, but hey its what he wanted and thats what a made him. there are is few tribal, celtic, shamrock lams too but to small to tell.