I am making my first board. Like alot of posts that i read for first time glassing, my resin gelled before i was able to wrap the bottom rails. What I did was cut the glass off the rails completely since i couldnt get it to stick (Basically had glass only on bottom surface). When I glassed the top, i cut my first layer of glass to meet up with the edge of the bottom layer. Then my top layer of glass wrapped around the rail and overlapped the butted-seam by about an inch. The top came out fine. I am worried about the lamination in this area.
My question is, will this be strong enough with 2 layers of glass butted together and one layer over the top or should i attempt to reinforce the entire layer somehow? I used 6oz glass on a 5’10 retro fish shape.
i did one that has 1 layer of 7.5oz volan on the bottom and 1 X 7.5oz volan, 1 X 4oz on the deck. the volan goes to where the bottom laps come up and the 4oz goes to about 1/2 way down the rail…so basically theres 1 overlap of 4oz on 7.5oz…i used rr epoxy…no signs of delam and the board gets used frequently…i did put on a thick hotcoat…the board is pretty bombproof
Howzit joes, First sand or sureform the bottom lam edge smooth on the rail. Next cut the first deck layer down past the bottom lap edge to the rail tuck line then the second deck layer about 2" past the tuck so you have a nice lap wrap on the bottom. This would have given you more glass/strength on the rails. Aloha,Kokua
I should have done it like you suggested but, should i worry about the current construction? Bottom layer and the 1st deck layer butt-joint, with top deck layer lapped under the bottom. So essentially I only have (1) 6oz layer covering the (2) other butt-joint layers.
Your board in the picture looks great. I’ll definitely use the UV on the next board. On the top, i cut back on the MEK to .75% and had enough time. I had another problem with the resin foaming as i squeegeed from the stringer to the rail, not sure if this is normal but it created a bunch of really small bubbles in some areas. I had an acrylic, sprayed on, paint job underneath that was violet to blue fade and i’m thinking it was some kind of reaction. It looked great before i glassed it.
Still trying to figure out if I should keep going. I went over the board last nite with a surfoam to clean up the lap line and noticed some decent sized air bubbles (1/4" x 1" long) on the rail section where the butt-joint is. Do you think I should cut into it to try to fill the bubbles or let it go?
I might just use the board on a big day and if it breaks i wont feel so bad. At least i wont break it on a 2ft day.
Here are a couple of pics. It took me a while to get it fixed but compared to what it looked like after my first layer of glass, it came out ok.
Check my logic…
I didnt like the big air bubbles in the rails and i had a pool of hardened resin on the bottom in the middle under the glass. It kept eating at my mind so i took a grinder to it. Cleaned up the rails and middle. Had to go through the glass in a few areas to get it clean.
Bought some UV catalyst. My savior. Hats off to you guys that can glass a board with MEK, newbies should use UV. I would have never been able to get the rails right on the second go without the UV. I’m just too slow.
Glassed the bottom & top again with 4oz and used a cut lap (first time free lap…too many loose strings). Tinted the bottom this time to cover some of the mess underneath.
-Hot coat, fins, stripe (3x to get the stripe right) and then gloss coat/polish. Came out a little heavy with the extra glass & resin at 10.1 lbs, hope it floats.
Thanks to all the people that had problems and all the people that had suggestions. Swaylocks is a great resource for people that are trying to learn something new.
