For my boards I’m planning on installing glass leash loops. I went through the archives, but didn’t find too much on the following aspects:
I don’t have roving. Can I just use strands from my 6oz glass until I have the desired thickness?
For my fish, I’ll install the leash loop over the buttcrack to protect the glassing. This area got beaten up pretty bad on my old fish. So here it goes on horizontally. On my mini however, I could do it vertically as well. Which one provides more strength?
You guys seem to agree to install them after the lam coat - before the fill coat, right?
I didn’t find anything on those hunks of glass, where you just drill a hole through (see pic). As my #3 got a rounded pin tail, I think that would look best on this board.
Thanks again guys, I hope this will be my last thread before I finish my boards. Got more glass and epoxy on the way, my fins are ready, I hope I will have all 3 hotcoated by the end of the week.
Using 6oz is fine but it’s boring toget strings out and the more strings you have to wet the more difficult it is to remove all the bubbles (well for me at least).
If you can find some composite dealer neaby, you can by some heavy cloth to pull just 5-6 strings instead of 30+ from 6oz (vid @ 5:30):
Do your loop just after lam. It holds better and is easier to get a smooth transition with no bumps.
For fish butt crack horizontal position, I saw a few on the net but I would prefer a vertical one… If you go with an horizontal, make sure to have long glass strings widely spread to get a good force distribution.
For the drilled peace, as jhon said it’s “just” fin panels peaces cuts and laminated like glass-on fins. then drill a 5-6 mm hole in it. You can make just the small piece by glassing 30 pieces of 6oz cloth (using leftovers from the board). Really strong loop !
When using finrope for leash loops I thread the dry strands through a 1/2" or 1" section of plastic straw. Slide it down to one end of the finrope and wet the majority of it out, then slide it to the other end to wet the rest. Then slide it back to the middle and fan the ends down on the board. Once the resin sets up you cut the straw off and you end up with a round shaped section (w/no edges) for your leash or leash string.
Mr Sidiabed…Please walk to the front of the class and explain why you think a “Leash Loop” is a better option…
cost? soul? Hippy trippy???
I checked my notes. Small leash plugs cost me between $1.15 and $1.75. I can’t find a price on the big plugs but some guy posted a Sways add a few months ago. The guy bought a boat load of plugs on e-bay and is selling them for cheap… you drill a hole. Mix resin. And drop the plug. Super easy…
anyway…I bought a yard of Woven Roving for doing glass on fins. $6.50 a yard…Ha ha…100% life time supply for me. .Can’t ship the stuff but if anyone in San Diego needs some send me a PM.
If it’s about saving the cost of a leash plug then you could consider this technique which is possibly a bit easier and dosen’t have a lump of fibreglass on the deck to knock your foot on. Anyway, core a one and a quarter inch hole in the deck to the bottom glass where you’d usually put your leash plug. The hole doesn’t have to be round, but it’s easier that way. Next get a length of thin legrope or round electrical cable, rub some surf wax on it and make a U shaped loop. Hold the loop in place with some wire tied at the top. Suspend the legrope inside the hole using a toothpick or similar. Now fill the hole with pigmented resin. Once it goes off you can pull the cord out and hey presto you’ve got a leash plug.
The guy that showed me this was almost completely self taught in isolation from the rest of the surfing world in the 70’s. Some of the solutions he came up with for some pretty common board building methods are ingenious.
have to say the very neat leash" loop" pictured …{the one of the yellow board] is not roving loop…more likely small peace of fin panel shaped and attached like a fin with glass patches and a few rovings, pre drill the hole in you little shaped fin panel ,fill hole wiith a very small amount of wax… tack on ,glass ,hot coat board…before or after sanding gently drill from each side … they come out nice… actually never had one on any of my personal boards …
As for left over fin panels: My fins are all plywood, no glass, so I don’t have anything left.
2 reasons why I chose to not install a leash plug: I think the resin leash loops are aesthetically more pleasing and I wouldn’t have that good of a feeling drilling a hole in my freshly glassed board. I know that everybody does it, been doing it for years etc., but it’ just a feeling. Nothing retro or anything, I just find them more beautiful.
Here’s a post from 11 years ago. Check out the reply with pics, from “Drew”. Nice, clean looking job and low profile so as to not be an issue if stepped on.
Thanks for the pics balsa (that looks really nice btw) and the link sammy.
I had some trouble with my van, so the start of my trip will be postponed one week. I’ll just order roving then, seems better than unraveling scrap cloth.
