i m making a sup with a 1.5 eps american blank.my buddy says it is important to apply a coat or 2 of fast and final of something similar to prevent delams.suppose to seal it so the resin hold`s better.any truth to it?thanks
1 thin coat of Dap FastnFinal. All you want to do is lightly seal any open fisures between the beads. Thin the Dap with distilled water to the consistency of mayonaise, put it on with a plastic bondo spreader, let dry, then sand till the top of the beads show.
Do not try to use the dap as a smooth float coat over the entire board, just use it to seal between the beads. Doing this will allow the cloth/epoxy to bond to the blank, but not saturate in between the beads and take more epoxy than necessary for a tight lamination.
Ken’s 1.5 foam is really good, so you probably won’t have to do much. I just shaped an older no name 2lb EPS blank, and i swear Kens 1.5# foam is twice as tight as the old 2#
Hey prop
Welcome to Swaylocks.
Sealing EPS blanks with spackle (I use DAP Fast n’ Final) fills in any voids between beads, creates a bright white surface for painting, and reduces the amount of resin soaking into the blank, making the board lighter but with just as much bond strength in the lamination.
~Brian
i would like to also add that you want to get the ‘lightweight’ spackle. when you pick up the tub of spackle, you will think it’s empty.
i think other brands will work but Dap Fast 'n Final seems to be the tried and true brand… also, make sure you let the spackle
completely dry before glassing. you don’t want any water messing up your epoxy lamination… if you search the archives for “spackle”,
or “Dap Fast 'n Final”, you should find lots of info… some people will say not to spackle but, the main thing that convinced me to
do it was Greg Loehr’s experience with tens of thousands of EPS boards and he says it’s the best way to go… good luck
Ditto what everyone else said… use DAP Fast n’ Final mixed with water to a mayonayse like consistancy. Its nice and white and easy to spread out. Some people add gesso, white acrylic paint, or elmers glue. I tried adding acrylic and gesso but didnt notice any major difference opposed to DAP alone. Lay off the DAP Spackle Paste. I just sealed a blank with DAP Spackle Paste and it was a greyish brown color. Looked gross.
Another option is sealing it with epoxy and microballons. More expensive and and maybe adds some weight (? not sure about the weight. someone back me up or disprove me), but it looks great.