hey guys quick question I am about to glue a skin on EPS blank I am looking at gluing a 3mm plywood skin on the deck them doing a 4 oz lam over it. the thing is i was hoping to not do a layer of 4 oz under. was thinking just maybe lots gorrila glue to attach the ply to the blank using a vacume bag set up of sorts. the ply will provide a lot of impact strengh ( more than 1.5 veneer) but down side is weight so hopefully no glass under will be a weight trade off. The ply will stop 50mm short of the rails and the rails will be XPS and i am only doing the deck not that bottom
have any of you guys tried anything like this with success, also any constructive advice?
Hey T'Stump, I've never vac bagged a board, but as a long time woodworker there is a rule: When laminating pieces together, seal both sides to be mated. This seals each member from taking on, or letting out any moisture. When there is moisture transfer, there is movement in the pieces. Having said that and thinking about it, I would thin out some epoxy and seal the blank and the skin. Then go for the regular lamination with a vacuum. In the States here, a company called Solarez sells a product called; ZeroVOC and it looks promising for sealing foam blanks. Don't know if this helps any but just a thought. Good Luck.
[img_assist|nid=1042401|title=XPS rails|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=302|height=640][img_assist|nid=1042402|title=Goretex vent from Pete C|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=598]
I have been down that road and the first time I used the bamboo ply it was a pain to get smooth. My woven bamboo was just a matt and not plywood and I did attach it on with GG with no problems. Eventually I rebuilt the board with the old skins all ready glassed-preglassed and it was much easier.
http://www.bamboosurfboardshawaii.com/theory.html Gary Young has done Boo for years , check his stuff out. In my opinion 3mm Bamboo is very tough and a bit overkill- heavy but people like the look. Now I just use the thinnest venner I can find Cherry or Boo.
The total ply and bamboo is 3mm so the bamboo is only 1mm and 2mm of ply.I thought about lifting the bamboo weave off the backing ply but i thought it would be a misson to glue and get flat so thats why i am leaving it on the backing ply. For that reason i am only thinking of doing the deck to keep the weight down.
I’m doing a similar build right now, i use 0.75# lbs EPS and glue 3mm poplar plywood on it using a pu glue (not gorilla glue but similar german product). I don’t need a vacuum bag, I just put a thin sheet of eps on the skin and put a few bricks on top to weight it down.as the glue expands during setting small gaps are filled. I’m going to use xps rails as well and glass it with 4oz & epoxy. I’m not sealing the blank before gluing, nor the poplar. first board build this way for me, so no practical experience yet in terms of durability/moisture ect.
[img_assist|nid=1030452|title=quad fin|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=54]This boards bottom skin was done with 3mm poplar bender ply easy peasy but heavy. If you are using EPS Foam under 2lbs use a vent & some heavier waterproof foam under the fins( XPS or ploy foam from and old board) and save many head aches down the road.
On the Boo board I used EPS core with 3mm ply rail stringers and XPS Rails. I like what Tylor did with his Bamboo stomp-flex patches on the decks of his boards.
I am planning glass-on thruster set up was thinking of xps inserts under the fins and a greenlight vented leash plug. I glued the top skin on today worked pretty good will throw a pic up when its dry
you know bro I am not 100% sure if the plys marine or not but I am guessing its from indo some were. I got it from a discount building store were i live they have lots of random stuff real cheap. ply cost me $40 for a 1200x2400x3 sheet.I sanded the back a good bit to help it bend well up at the nose.
Hey guys I’ve seen websites where you can order that bamboo weave stuff your using (which looks insanely awesome by the way) but where do you get ply skins or other skins like the kind fire wires use. Do you just buy some ply and power sand it super thin??
