Smashing The Lap

I’ve heard the Keahana guys talking about this one. Can anyone explain to me exactly how to go about it?

Deanbo,

I think what you’re talking about is the practice of pressing the first lap into the foam.

Typically, the bottom is laminated first, and the laps are cut on the top of the board. The fiberglass leaves a ridge at the edge where it meets the foam. But you knew that…it’s just the teacher in me coming out. Anyway, some guys use a hard roller that is normally used for spreading glue, and can be bought at an art store. Personally, I use a 3/4" wood dowel about 6" long. I just roll it along the raised up edge of fiberglass fabric, pressing it down as I go to get everything flush.

The main advantage is there is no sanding, so no gouging into the foam by mistake.

I hope that’s what you were talking about. If not, this post will self destruct in 5 seconds.

Doug

Howzit deanbo, What they are referring to is push the glass lap edge down into the foam instead of taking down with a rasp or sandpaper. I personally don’t think it’s the best way but to each his own. You can use a wallpaper seam roller to do it. Now I hope they didn’t mean smashing the lip instead.Aloha,Kokua

Thanks for the answers Doug and Kokua. I did wonder if it involved a rolling pin or something similar.

i work with EPS/Epoxy/spackle and what i’ve had some success doing is:

  1. do your laps normal.

  2. once its kicked, flip the board and tape the lap until about 1/8 inch shows (the inside edges should show)

3 i spackle again, basically just pulling the spreader over the lip that is sticking up. this should fill in any lip and make it smooth

  1. but now it needs to be sanded, so basically what im doing is filling in that ledge with spackle, then sanding it.

its worked great for me so far.

I use a screen door gasket roller to “smash the lap”

It’s only about 1/16" wide so you only push the very edge of the glass into the foam.

~Brian

www.greenlightsurfsupply.com

I’ve been doing something like that.

Hit any high spots w/sander then just enough spackle to smooth. Then just a quick smooth sand - and it’s done.

Being lazy/minimally concerned with looks - I lam the deck first, so the bottom ends up smooth before the bottom lam, then I don’t have to do much sanding on the bottom again, and can keep the deck sanding to a minimum too.

FreeshortcutsRme.Ha!

Whatever you do, you want to roll something, not slide or scrape it. The first time I tried it, I used a popsicle stick. It left behind a smudge or something that you could see. I ended up doing a pinline over it.

EPS tends to spring back a bit. PU pretty much smashes right in and stays there. I like to do it particularly with pigmented lams done in polyester. No sanding agent means hitting it with paper becomes difficult. Smashing it down avoides that whole hassle.

Yeah definitely roll it!

EPS does spring back but the glass always ends up flush with the foam for me when I use the screen gasket tool.

~Brian

www.greenlightsurfsupply.com