Hi everyone! This is my first post here, I’m from southern Spain. My apologies for my lack of grammar.
I’m a bit worried because of the craftsmanship level over here, this place is full of wonderful boards and mine is just a homemade try.
I need some advice on epoxy glassing.
I do remember to have read in that old “tree to sea” forum, about doing all the lam steps on one side, then flip it and repeat. The reason behind this was getting better(chemical) bond between coats.
so, was it right? Will it be more difficult to remove the cut lap tape with all three or four coats of resin?
I can’t get this out of my head! hahahaha
This is the board, 9’4’’ x 22’ 1/4 x 2’’ 3/4, nº 5
Hola,
The board looks quite nice. Yes, it is considered good to laminate or recoat epoxy within 24 hours of the previous coat.
Cutlap is for laminating one side at a time, and the cut is made while the resin is not sticky but not hard. So there is maybe 2 layers of cloth with resin at one time but you do not wait until after fill coat or gloss coat, you cut when the laminating resin is still a little soft.
Then you do the other side the same way after the epoxy has reached its ‘flip time’ depending on temperature.
ok, I knew I will have something lost in translation, so this clarifies it a little more.
Thank you!
That board looks great! You might be referring to the ‘lam-fill-no flip’ method(?) I use it when working with epoxy. You do your normal lamination layer with the cloth and when it sets up but is not fully cured, apply an ‘apron’ of masking tape around the edge and do your fill coat on that same side. Once that cures fully, coarsely sand around the edges and overlap areas and repeat the sequence on the other side. It is possible to scuff the last unfilled overlap and apply filler just to the lap area before sanding the entire board. It is also possible to just feather the final overlap out and sand the whole thing followed by some sort of sealer coat. With wood, the effects of UV and discoloration aren’t as important as with foam so an epoxy seal coat would work OK.
PS - With this method, you should use ‘silane’ cloth and just freelap the overlaps - no cutting required.
Thank you!!! that’s what I was trying to clarify.
I think I will do it , and using free lap as you suggest. Today I glued the boxes and the vent, tomorrow will sand everything again, clean and hopefuly be ready for the first side lam.
The board is strong, I believe
Board looks GOOD!
And your English is better than many native-speakers…
Remember that “LAM” is different from “hot-coat or fill-coat”.
Lam is using resin (in your case, epoxy) to apply fiberglass.
Hot-coat or fill-coat is a second coat of resin with NO fiberglass that is used to fill the weave.
So, you want to:
Lam one side.
Wait for it to dry.
Flip the board.
Lam the other side.
Dry.
Flip.
Hot-coat the first side.
Dry.
Flip.
Hot-coat the second side.
Try to do all these steps in succession so that the finished glass job is done within 24 hours of starting. Realistically, if you keep your room warm enough (15-25 degrees celsius) you should be able to flip the board every 2 hours and be done with the whole glass job within 8-12 hours.
After that, you can either sand the board and surf it OR
sand it and then add a final “gloss-coat”.
Which would be a just a second hot-coat that you then lightly sand to finish.
You will probably want to do this second hot-coat due to the nature of your build.
EDIT: I just read John Mellor’s post above.
His way is different from what I outlined above.
He definitely knows what he is doing and makes beautiful boards.
More than one way to skin a cat as they say.
I’ve been doing something like John Mellor, but I don’t tape the rails. About an hour after I laminate the board, I take about 1 to 1.5 ounces of epoxy resin then add hardener and mix, then I add quite a bit of aerosil thickener and make a thick paste. I scoop all of that onto the board and push it into the lamination hard. I really work it in hard to fill any pinholes. I work it to the rail but not around the rails. The at the end I’ll work a little around the edge, then take tape and run that over the rail to get a smooth clean rail.
You’ll be surprised that small amount of resin will cover the board. In my case the boards are less than 8 feet long.
I learned this from the following video at about 5 minutes in. https://vimeo.com/192229115
FYI… I’m working on 2 boards that I laminated last week. I got side tracked and had to do other things, so the boards have sat for days. One is only laminated on the bottom side, the other still has single layer bottom cut lap and a deck insert, and still needs more glass on both sides. I’ll sand the resin and wipe it down with denatured alcohol before the next step.
thanks for your kind comments and technical advice.
the board weights 5.500g now.
Let’s go sanding!
I give credit to Ben Sparks for the idea of ‘Lam-Fill-No Flip’ and I’m sure it is in the archives somewhere. I started using it with epoxy after issues of delamination between the layers. It is often fairly cold and humid where I live - at least below the recommended working temperature ranges of epoxy. I work outside and it is hard to get around the blush deal even when using ‘blush-free’ epoxy. After consulting with Greg Loehr and Leslie Anderson (former owner of Fatty Fiberglass), who were both very helpful, that is what we came up with. The way I do works A-OK but it does involve extra sanding and time spent.
ok, thx!
Already read a tuto about “crystal clear epoxy kayak glassing” wich fully explain this lam-no flip thing,
talked with tech support from resin’s brand, and now I’m cleaning board and shop to get ready. Will post some pics & weight when finished.
Boas ondas!
Sharkcountry, I’ve been interested in that paste technique for quite some time since seeing that video a while back but have been hesitant. Question, does it clear out once cured? I ask because using wood veneers, I dont want to see cloudy areas over the wood or fabric inlays I use but am tired of air blowing through filler coat. I use a hotgun for getting rid of most bubbles but I’d rather not have to baby sit for hours.
Finally ended the last three coats of 2c varnish and got it wet.
They were just ankle hig but the board felt fast.
Sooo happy
Shark-- Am I correct in assuming that “Aeriosil Thickener” is aka Cabosil?
Bueno my Friend. Nice job. You really thought things out and got good advice when needed. When you do that things always seem to work out best. Beautiful board that you should be very proud of. Lowel
Congratulations… your new board looks fantastic!