I have searched the archives with not such good results. I was thinking of getting a sheet of 1 1/2" EPS from Home Depot, cutting out the outline, rounding off the edges, and bending a little rocker in it by laying a strip of 6 oz down the middle of the board. Once i get the rocker i would do a sealer coat and then glass double 4oz on both sides with epoxy. What am i missing? I dont want to vaccum bag it that seams to be alittle too involved. Can I paint under the sealer coat? Any advise would be great.
Without vacuuming, I’d build a quick upside-down rocker table. Meaning, the board would go on the table with the deck facing down, that way you can strap it down onto the curved table to create the rocker (as opposed to laying weights onto the blank on a normal rocker table). Just build the table from cheap plywood and maybe cover the working surface with a piece of 1/8" masonite (hardboard). Then just lay down painters plastic to keep it from sticking. Your table could be built in about 2 hours.
I’d put the rocker in using a full sheet of 4oz. on deck and base, but trim the fabric shy of the rail so you don’t have to deal with laps during the rocker setting phase. Wet out and cover both sides with plastic sheet and set it on the rocker table deck down. Lay a bigger, full sheet of plastic over the whole mess and tension it down on all sides until the board is pulled taught to the table. This should ensure an accurate, smooth, untwisted rocker than you can now finish glassing.
I’d cover the whole mess with 2 or 3 layers of 6 oz. on both sides. Skimmers take a lot of abuse, and require thick laminate schedules. I’d also highly recommend ordering a small piece of divinycell from fiberglass supply. They sell it by the square foot. If you’re gonna go through all the trouble to make this thing, I wouldn’t skimp and risk ruining the project by trying to save $30 on a piece of foam from Home Depot. The EPS they sell just won’t hold up to shorepound. Skimmers made with 6lb polyurethane foam don’t even hold up to shorepound. The foam actually ends up being the cheapest piece, considering all the reinforcements, epoxy, and labor. I’d cover the Divinycell with 6-6-4 on deck and base, so using HD EPS I’d probably go 6-6-6-4 deck and base, which adds to the fabric and epoxy cost. Hope this helps, and have fun.
If you don’t want to form-in the rocker, you can just shape it in. All you need for a skimboard is 1" of nose rocker.
You will want to glass it with 3 layers of 6 oz. on each side. No need to vacuum bag. Don’t worry about it being too heavy. You don’t want a super light board, because any wind could throw it out of position on the drop.
Most skimboards are 3/4" thick, but I’ve made them as thick as 2", and they work great. It’s important to keep the bottom as flat as possible. Just put a little rocker in the nose, and the rest is dead flat. I’ve tried concave, channels and vee, and they don’t work.