This afternoon I took possession of a shaped whitewater/river SUP blank (2lb EPS) from a buddy. I agreed to vac bag it for him. Along with it he gave me enough 2x2 twill carbon fiber cloth to put two layers on each side. This is one of my N Carolina whitewater paddling friends who leaves his boards on top of his truck often, so I told him we had to add pigment to it. Having no experience adding color to carbon cloth I have a few questions.
first off, I don’t have any epoxy specific pigments, just those compatible with either epoxy or polyester
On the first top and bottom layers should I add a base pigment to help the process along?..and then finish up with more pigment to the second layers? Or should I use clear resin on the first and then add the color to the second layers only? I’d like to do a basic resin swirl (blue and white) … but can you actually pull it off with carbon cloth?
As a side, I have some 44" wide 4oz S glass (blank is 36" wide) that I could put as a final top and bottom layer and add the pigment to that…but I really don’t want to use my cloth for that…unless the overwhelming responses are for this course of action.
I did white pigment on top of carbon fibre , before doing a resin swirl. This , however , was for a fin panel. So the heating up in the sun issue was not a problem.
I have also done blue tint on top of carbon fibre , which looks nice , in a fin.
And red pigment on top of black carbon fibre.
Was there a particular purpose he had in mind , having carbon fibre top and bottom ?
q.2 can he put his board inside a board bag , out of the sun , very soon after surfing [eg: if he has a ‘truck’ …inside it , in the shade ?].
A friend of my brother’s just returned the ‘vampirate’ shortboard [ yes , carbon fibre was used , top and bottom] , to the manufacturer . He had used it for two months , keeps it in a board bag out of the sun shortly after EACH surf.
we live in victoria [australia] , not renowned for hot blue sky cloudless autumn days. It will be interesting to see what the company will say to him . The problem ? delamination on the deck AND rails.
Thanks fins. I’d kind of thought doing a base layer of white might not be a bad way to start.
As for why carbon cloth. Most whitewater slalom race boards use a carbon/kevlar weave. When my friend asked me if I would do this, that’s the route he was gonna go, till I told him he’d have to get me the Kevlar specific shears so I could cut the stuff. He of course didn’t want to spend the $ for this, so he just went with carbon. Truth be told I didn’t question why. I just said bring it and I’ll bag it.
whitewater paddling sounds like encounters with rocks etc would be common. In which case, carbon is not your best friend. How about a layer of innegra, which is great for impact resistance and stays white when laminated, over the carbon. Kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Innegra works best with vacuum bagging but can be hand laid with the proper technique.
I usually just lurk but thought this might be of some help.
Ive had two carbon/kevlar boards made. The more recent has a white tint over the c/k. From what I understand the tint is in the s glass covering the c/k and not actually in the c/k layer.
If definitely covered well and I’m sure it won’t get as hot as quickly as the first board does on a sunny day.
Not a fan if carbon on surfboards. But. I’d lam the carbon normally bagging it then. Normal fill coat. Normal sanding. Then take it to an automotive paint shop and have them spray it white with a good two part.
Its going to get beat up on the rocks but it can be touched up with rattle can auto lacquer.
Thanks all for the suggestions. Yeah I realize just strictly carbon is not the best choice, but this is what has been given me and I have a short window of time to get it done. I’m just the intermediary in this deal and trying to help a friend. He’s a world class paddler so the rocks…well, I figure that’s his bridge to cross.
Wank factor ! , jeez my coffee came out my nose . I must remember that one It can be applied to so many things and really puts them into perspective , thanks you made my day .
Where I live is on the path for many cross country cyclists. So I’m very fortunate to meet quite a few interesting folks. Just last week I talked for a while with this cute young gal from the UK who was heading West. In the course of our conversation I told her of my admiration for the Brits and their command and respect for the English language. Most notably their love of grammar and diction. Whereupon I told this cute gal that of all the words in their lexicon, the one I love most, is…wanker. Such a fabulous word, wonderfully colorful, and always makes everyone here in the US laugh…and so easy to use. To her immense credit she went off on a tear and launched into a colorful monologue in the many ways that the she might use this lovely word. We both laughed so hard that she actually dropped her bike. She’ll be back to the UK in 6 mos…I’ll be leaving for the UK in 7 mos. Silly wanker.
Apart from fins , the only beneficial use Ive seen for carbon fibre in surfboards is those rail patches near the tail , to stop the tail creasing or snapping across the line of the fin system…but there’s better ways to do that than with carbon cloth…people seem to get mesmerised by the sight of a carbon glass job , and just stair at it endlessly…(lol)…even as they’re board gets cooked in the sun…they stair deeply into the mesmerising fibres of the shining carbon…perhaps dreaming of being the first human being to do a successfull lunar landing on Mars , on a high tech carbon fibre surfboard…
