Life is a learning process-go for it. I made my first board in my parents garage in 1957 knowing nothing about shaping or glassing and went on to glass for Velzy, Yater and O’Neill.
Having poured some PU foam I think if I were doing this I would not try to pour the whole blank at once but rather in long pieces in a mold that had some rocker, maybe four pieces.
Mixing a little foam in cup is a lot different than mixing a gallon or so. You don’t have a lot of time to get it well mixed and into the mold, of course you going to need some kind of power mixer. Good luck.
FFJ----------- I don't know if you will be successful or not but this project is right up "Swaylock Alley". You may suprise us all. If you get a workable peice of foam, paint it . Plain old flat latex house paint will cover it up.
Hey Jay, I think you might be better off building a box with the bottom rocker you want and maybe making it 6 inches thick to give you some excess to true it up. You’d have less work and less waste. Just cut the long panels to the shape of your bottom rocker and do whatever you want for the top curve. You can keep it a rectangular shape to make it easier to attach the top and bottoms.
I think you have a great idea going and I hope you get it to work out just right. We may all be in for a great surprise.
You could do a solid color lay-up during the lamination. Just got to be solid enough. Use a stir stick and keep adding pigment until you can't see wood thru the stick. Don't pigment the hotcoat or gloss. You can also paint the sanded hotcoat.
I am fully aware i may fail in my attempt and that is okay with me. Its a learning experience! and heck, if it works...hot damn!
I will have the help of my lady and will take pictures of the process and put em up here under a different thread titled: "Pour foam blank making" so keep your eyes peeled! Ordering the stuff this week :)
Thank you all for your comments. I appreciate criticism..keeps the mind in check :P
Hey sorry guys for not posting anything new yet. Been reIal busy between exams and work. I am still going to be making these blanks though! I will be using the 4lb density pour foam and pouring it in three parts that are 4.5" thick, 10" wide and 11' long with bottom rocker in place and true to within an inch or so, so i can sand it down to make a nice bottom rocker. I found a local guy who has done this same project. It worked for him, but he used 2lb density and he wasnt overly happy with the end results, board dented easily.
. But i will be using 4lb that has high compression and shear strength (between 90-110 psi). I will be using poly res because it is much much cheaper than epoxy...even though i rather use epoxy. Should i be using poly res with wax in it for lam layers and hot/gloss coat from fiberglasssupply? Or would it be better not to for the lam layers, then add in the wax for hot,gloss coat?
Will keep you all posted as soon as my shipment arrives :)
Buy lam resin and a bottle/can of wax. Straight lam resin for the lam and then add the wax for the hotcoat. Easiest way if you are new at it is to do a sanded finish and then wipe it down with acrylic sealer. Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.
also to poor the foam in a even way, you need a special pooring gun what mix the 2 just before it come out.
just the way you lay the liquid has a big impact on the quality of the foam.
i visited hossegor foam and took them thousand of blanks and still not good…
tons of irregularity, soft patch, heavy, air pockets… nightmare.
you would be better using EPs, because its lighter and cheap, easy to work with, hot wire and a good template , the board will be white, the epoxy is strong so mucho better for a SUP. you will have a better and stronger lighter board.
by the way you seem to have a mind of your own but some of the people here have 30 years or more experience with surfcraft. lots have been done so if Jim the genius tell you its a bad idea , i my opinion you should listen.
PM me and i will give you a good connection for eps in vancouver, will cost you 150$ per 16’ x 2’x 3’ you can make 5 boards.
good luck blowing your cash in a ugly yellow heavy soft and mostly time consumming project.
I think it’s something different if you want to optimize the production for a company and can’t afford to have any flaws in your blank to minimize time and effort OR to make one, two or three blanks, where soft spots or
even some holes don’t matter because you just spackle them. If you run a business blowing blanks you don’t have the time to spend extra time for each blank, so your technique has to be perfect. not in this case, imho.
I agree with Louis. I use this stuff all the time for repairs, both major and minor. By the time you fill all of the zillion air holes (and they’ll be big and deep), the blank will weight a ton. Without a mold and pressurized injection, you’ll also have uneven density which will make the shaping process real fun. This doesn’t make much sense to me economically, the cost of both the pour-foam and resin to seal it + all of the labor will cost a lot more than just getting a blank to fit your needs. $40 = 2 cu. ft expanded pour foam; 11’ x 30" x 4" = 9 cu. ft (probably will need 11 cu ft); total foam = about $ 200. For an 11’ x 30" poly board, plan on adding some wheels since it’s going to be 40+ lbs when done.
Hey Jay, I think you might be better off building a box with the bottom
rocker you want and maybe making it 6 inches thick to give you some
excess to true it up. You’d have less work and less waste. Just cut the
long panels to the shape of your bottom rocker and do whatever you want
for the top curve. You can keep it a rectangular shape to make it easier
to attach the top and bottoms.
???
With much respect sharkcountry the reason I have all my blanks customed rockered by US Blanks is so the deck requires mimium planning. This will provide a stronger deck. When boards dent real easy it is normally due to extracting to much foam from the deck. With a PU blank deck rocker is critical. SUPs should be made from 1.5 EPS vacuum bagged. They need to be light and strong.
Thank you for the idea of buying a blank instead of pouring foam…Just made an SUP from plywood…construction foam from Home Depot and did my own Fiberglass…
was tricky to balance…I weigh 223…made it 5 miles up the Napa River… Imola to up past Trancas Street…without falling in! now to move on and make and shape a much better board…
