Paddleboard Glassing: Advice Needed

General Discussion
1

I’ve just spent the most part of three days shaping a paddleboard and the plan is to glass it tomorrow. This is the first thing that I’ve glassed with epoxy resin. I’m using Resin Research. The board is 19 feet X 18 inches and is shaped from 1 pound eps foam. I really don’t want to F this thing up, so I’m seeking a bit of advice.

 -First off, I'm planning on using 2 layers of 6oz cloth for the top and bottom.  Having used the 1 pound foam, will this be enough strength? 



 -How much resin should I mix for the lamination.  The epoxy primer on this site suggests about 30oz of resin for a 9 ft. longboard.  Figure that I should double that for a board twice the length right?  Having just bought the measuring buckets for the job I'm looking at how much resin this is and it seems as though it's nowhere near enough to lam this thing.  Any advice? 



 -I've been reading the info on venting but still don't know whether or not I should do one for this board.  Should I?  If so, where do you get the things from?

I would appreciate any help. Like I said, this is my first time glassing with epoxy and with it being such a big project I just want to avoid any catastrophic mistakes. Thanks.

2

Joel, I’m almost where you are with the paddleboard, but haven’t shaped it yet. Nor have I worked with epoxy, so my following comments are “common sense” responses.

  1. Since the stresses on a paddleboard are pretty minor compared to a surfboard, I’d say that double 6 T&B is kind of a lot. I suggest single six T&B, but with a goodly overlap at the “rails”. 19 feet is plently long, and I assume you have no internal stiffening or a stringer, but it’s not too late to put one in if you can find someone with a band saw to slice a bit of wood for you. I’ve gone back and forth on the stringer idea, but currently believe it won’t be needed if I overlap the rails as noted here.

If you want to go exotic, a longitudinal strip of carbon fiber tape at the deck and bottom centerline would provide stiffness.

  1. 18 wide is pretty narrow. I though it would be just fine (the blank I have is barely that), but one day I found myself at the finish of a race, and everyone’s boards (12 foot stock class) were around 22 wide. H’m! I’m (eventually) going to insert a tapered block of EPS down the middle of my blank. Since I have Clark Foam now, the EPS is going to require me to either seal and lam with poly (which resin I have) or go epoxy (I can scrounge some 4:1 from my brother).

  2. Since epoxy doesn’t gel, just gets thicker, I think if you mix a batch you know will be less than necesary, you’ll be able to mix another batch to pretty nearly eliminate waste, as you need it. If the second batch is applied while batch number one has not yet really set, there shouldn’t be a problem with them bonding.

  3. I don’t think EPS needs venting, but having said that, I’d stay away from dark colors that absorb heat, and I’d not park the PB out in the sunny back yard while not in use.

3

glassing with epoxy is very stress free… super long gel time and just keep mixing more as you need it…

you might want to consider the pre sealing thing on 1lb… much in the archivees about it…

i love the mohair roller method for epoxy work, i’d say with a 4in handle, they sell em at FGH… pour your epoxy into a container wide enough to fit the roller go at it… dip and roll dip and roll. you have such insane control over where the epoxy is going, no big puddles to make super soaked areas your are not going to loose half your resin off the board when you look away, no drips all over the place, i can do a board with only getting 2 or 3 drips on the floor, works the rails super easy… then go over it with the yellow FGH squeeges… i would not try to do it all in one batch. the problem is that a batch that big will generate so much heat you could run into a problem… do it in sections…

after a few hrs, before the fill/hot coat i’d go over it with a “cheater” coat, mix up some epoxy and go over the whole board with your yellow squeege until the whole thing looks wet, then in a few hrs do you hot coat… i almost never get a pin hole with i do this…

i’d vent it, i have had a number of problems with bubbles and delam in the hot hawaii sun… had a 1lb yellow board bubble in about 15mins on the grass after a surf a few summers ago, my buddie who does a lot of surftech repairs says he is always fixing bubbles… they sell simple vents at FGH

good luck, again epoxy glassing is actually very enjoyable, no nasty smells and no fear of mojor disaster just be sure to mix it very very very well…

4
Quote:

good luck, again epoxy glassing is actually very enjoyable, no nasty smells and no fear of mojor disaster just be sure to mix it very very very well…

I’m no expert at glassing but the above statement “mix it very very very well” reminded me of something. When I epoxy coated the lab floor at the company I work for, I spoke with the tech support of the epoxy manufacturer. They emphasized mixing well also and explained how I could have sticky spots forever if I didn’t.

We were mixing gallons with a drill so it was different than glassing a board, but the trick I did to prevent sticky spots was to use a second mix bucket. I was worried that after I put both parts in the mix bucket that no matter what I did I might have some unmixed material on the sides or the bottom that would come out when I emptied the bucket. I mixed really well in the first bucket then transferred to the second bucket and remixed. I figured that the well mixed material would fill the second bucket and any unmixed that poured out at the end would be floating on top making it easy to guarantee I got it with the second mix.

In the end I didn’t have any sticky spots. Maybe it was overkill but I was putting down a few hundred dollars of resin over the weekend and it had to be right come Monday. One more $5 bucket was cheap insurance.

I guess I’m suggesting mix, pour into another bucket and mix again.

5

Who/what is FGH? Do they have a website that I can get the vent from?

I’m still a bit concerned about how much cloth to use. It was suggested to have single 6oz top and bottom, but I have to think that with that soft 1# eps it is going to dent really easily. Also want it to be fairly rigid as far as flex goes. The shaped blank flexes a ton.

Yeah Honolulu, the Unlimited boards are usually somewhere around 19" (they are in CA at least). My old board was a bit under 19" and is really stable. The stock boards are usally wider -in that 20-22" range.

6

Here’s the vent he’s talking about (they are near the bottom of the page). After jjp’s recommendation I gave them a try and have been very happy with them so far

7

Woah! 1#, 19’ long? I’d say triple 6 top, double 6 bottom minimum.

Yeah, I know it doesn’t get thrown around or hit by waves (much). But think of the pressure of kneeling on a 2’ section in the middle.

I’ve used quite a bit of 1#. Its floppy, mushy, squishy, everything you can think of (without a sandwich skin). You want GLASS on that thing. A 10’ longboard I mad out of 1# had triple 6, double 6, (and a 1/4" plywod stringer) and came out 12 lb. Can you handle your paddleboard being 23 lb? You bet you can. Actually, it’ll be 20-21 or so without the stringer & without extra resin soaking into an unsealed blank (like that first one of mine was).

I have a 16’ Unlimited from Mike Eaton that’s 1# with double 6 + 4 on the deck, double 4 on the bottom. Its about 18 lb. Yours is longer, and, therefore has more stress in the middle while the ends are floating.

Seal the blank FOR SURE. In epoxy/glass, more resin (like soaking in) is weaker, not stronger. Those unreinforced resin pools & shiny spots are where the cracks start. Bad news. If there’s any way you can roll up your glass & pre-wet it out, do it. Get help. Roll it up in a rectangle, wet out the whole layer, roll it out on the board & THEN cut the glass. Yes, you’ll waste some resin on the glass you cut off, but I promise it will be less than you waste dripping resin on the floor if you try to laminate the whole thing in situ.

Two buckets is a sound idea.

18" width is fine for a 19’ board. Look up kayak stability ratings, righting/heeling moment info and you’ll quickly see that (as counter-intuitive as it sounds) as much stability comes from length as from width. It will be fast. :slight_smile:

Vent? Mine doesn’t have one, but I don’t think it would hurt. One thing about paddleboards, they seem to spend a little more time on beaches & cartops than surfboards do, at least for me. Longer drives to get to events & such. Finish a long paddle & I want to sit on the beach for a while…finish a long surf & I want to get out of my wetuit & have something to eat. Maybe its just me, but ask around, because car topping & beach sitting expose boards to a lot of sun time…

Had a 14’ stock before I got the 16’ UL and the 16’ is 1.5" narrower but much more stable…

14’

16’

8

Yeah Benny, I thought that that single 6oz couldn’t be enough. I think I’ll go double 6 w- an extra patch for the deck. One thing that I’ve been wonderring though is if lighter is going to be faster? I asked Eaton and he said that there was no definitive answer. I’ve heard that some of the fastest guys boards do have some decent weight to them. I would have thought that a light board would be easier to pull through the water and that especially on really long paddles this would be a benefit.

9

Another layer of glass or two won’t make any difference at all once you’re up to speed. A lighter board will accelerate faster on the first few strokes, but after that your job is just to keep it gliding along. And if you’re railroading down swell, or paddling into wind or chop, some weight will help smooth it out.

If you can afford the glass & resin, go 3 full layers on the deck, 2 on the bottom. Most of us don’t paddle in perfectly glassy conditions all that often :slight_smile:

You can also post your questions on the forum on the eatonsurf.com site. Its a pretty active site and Mike answers questions just about every day.

10

sorry joel… i think i saw “honolulu” as the next post and thought that is where you were… FGH is Fiberglass Hawaii… http://fiberglasssupply.com/ has the vents, you can get the rollers from homedepot type stores… look for epoxy rollers, glue rollers… rollers with super short nap…