Got an old Wave Tools 9 footer that’s delaminated about 50%. I’ve cut away the delam’d glass and figured I would just strip everything and re-glass the whole thing. The portions of the blank that I can see seem fine. Any tips on removing the glass that is not delaminated.
Got an old Wave Tools 9 footer that’s delaminated about 50%. I’ve cut away > the delam’d glass and figured I would just strip everything and re-glass > the whole thing. The portions of the blank that I can see seem fine. Any > tips on removing the glass that is not delaminated. After you cut around the edge of the flats, (barely penetrating), try using a spatula to peel the glass up without taking chunks of foam with it. Then same thing in an “up-and-down” direction to seperate the rail glass. Hope that helps.
Hey amigo, I’ve restored a bunch of older boards. My trick is similar to what the other post mentioned. I use an exacto or dremel to score the existing glass at approx.2-3 inch parallel lines(lengthwise). Then, either with an exacto or spatula separate the glass from the foam very carefully. This way you remove small parts of the glass at a time, rather than lifting large sections at a time(along with foam and stringer!). This is a time consuming process but it allows you to maintain as much foam and stringer as possible(which leads to an awesome restoration). Hope that helps, good luck and happy surfin’ and shapin’>>> Got an old Wave Tools 9 footer that’s delaminated about 50%. I’ve cut away > the delam’d glass and figured I would just strip everything and re-glass > the whole thing. The portions of the blank that I can see seem fine. Any > tips on removing the glass that is not delaminated.
Hey, anyone: On this note, I’ve got an old, water-stained Phil Edwards Hobie that I’d eventually like to beautify. My plan is to strip off the original glass and paint a nice white-wash over the foam (off-white). I was thinking I’d just get some Createx acrylic paint and spray it on. I’m not sure how many little jars I’ll need (the small, plastic jars, maybe 8-oz?) and how much to dilute. First of all, can anyone tell me if I’m on the right track or not? Has anyone ever just stripped the old glass, painted the foam, then re-glassed?
I’ve stripped one old board. When you strip one, half of the yellow comes up with the glass. The remaining foam surface is pocked like 2 grit sandpaper. If you’re going to reglass it, you have to sand it. When you sand it, you remove most of the rest of the yellowed foam. Here’s an idea. I work with styrofoam blanks. I coat them with a mixture of lightweight spackling compound and purified water. This solution is very white. The solution fills in pock marks. I let the solution dry, then sand and glass the board. You could keep foam sanding to a minimum, then use spackling solution. However, this could hurt the polyester resin bond between glass and foam… a pretty big price to pay to save 0.1" of board thickness. Anybody know? You might be better off to complete sanding until you see white foam. It would take some thickness off, but not much. You’ll probably have to use some spackling to fill in deck depressions.
I’ve stripped one old board. When you strip one, half of the yellow comes > up with the glass. The remaining foam surface is pocked like 2 grit > sandpaper. If you’re going to reglass it, you have to sand it. When you > sand it, you remove most of the rest of the yellowed foam.>>> Here’s an idea. I work with styrofoam blanks. I coat them with a mixture > of lightweight spackling compound and purified water. This solution is > very white. The solution fills in pock marks. I let the solution dry, then > sand and glass the board.>>> You could keep foam sanding to a minimum, then use spackling solution. > However, this could hurt the polyester resin bond between glass and > foam… a pretty big price to pay to save 0.1" of board thickness. > Anybody know?>>> You might be better off to complete sanding until you see white foam. It > would take some thickness off, but not much. You’ll probably have to use > some spackling to fill in deck depressions. Personally I’m not sure what the benifit to stripping a board is, since an new blank is not that much more. But recently I was pondering stripping down a board that I wanted to make into something else and it dawned on me that it might be possible to skin it with a power planer. I’ve seen a similar kind of tool used to peel gel coat off of boats and since the fiberglass skin on a surfboard is so thin you might be able to do it without damaging the planer, or at worst for the cost of a set of blades. the nice part too would be that it would leave you with a smoother surface than peeling it up does. Anyway that is just an idea. Good Luck, Matthew Weaver
Hey, anyone: On this note, I’ve got an old, water-stained Phil Edwards > Hobie that I’d eventually like to beautify. My plan is to strip off the > original glass and paint a nice white-wash over the foam (off-white). I > was thinking I’d just get some Createx acrylic paint and spray it on. I’m > not sure how many little jars I’ll need (the small, plastic jars, maybe > 8-oz?) and how much to dilute. First of all, can anyone tell me if I’m on > the right track or not? Has anyone ever just stripped the old glass, > painted the foam, then re-glassed?..You you may want to see if that Phil is worth anything as a collectable befor you strip it. You may be surprised…
I’ve not attempted this myself but I have seen a few works in progress. They took a med grit sanding pad and feathered the glass to (but NOT into) the foam 2-3" around the label. The next step was to zipper the rails by sanding again to (but not into the foam) right on the edge of the rail line. Another zipper was created about 1" from the edge on top and bottom. The glass on the deck and bottom was heated with an industrial blow dryer to soften things up a bit and the glass panels were slowly peeled back leaving most of the foam (and the all important label) intact. I read the post which suggested spackle and purified water and this would probably work to fill any holes - there is also a solar cure tinted resin paste that closely matches foam. A light touch with a fine grit sanding pad removes any residual resin. The blank is then touched up carefully by hand with a sanding block and the rails lightly screened. Depending on the overall condition of the stripped blank, a variety of air brush, opaque lay ups, patterned fabric inlays, or opaque gel coats along with a meticulous buff out can make an old piece of crap look as good as new but it is a LOT of work! I think most people just patch the dings, med grit sand the whole thing and opaque gel coat and regloss the board leaving the lamination in place.
I’ve done many of these over the years cuz I’m a cheap bastard and blanks are hard hard to come by in my area. First I resign myself to the fact that I’m giving up some thickness and most probably up to a quarter inch of planshape width. The other processes outlined here sound too time consuming for me. I take my 4 12 inch grinder with an 80 grit sanding disc and grind off the fins first, then grind away the glass along the rail just until I see foam. Next I take my utility knife (the same used to score drywall) and score the foam just under the glass (like digging dirt out from under your fingernails)to separate the bond. Press the blade tight against the glass so you don’t gouge the foam. Also, press hard against the glass so the blade bends to conform to the rail contour. Next comes the sometimes bloody part where I grip the edge of the glass with my fingers and pry it up enough to get a good grip. From there, it usually peels off as easy as stripping a banana. Sometimes small chunks of foam are pulled away or little pieces of glass don’t want to lift away. The razor or sometimes my planer will take care of that. Then I simply reshape the blank, trying to find that happy balance between not taking away too much more thickness and leaving too many deep gouges or scratches. Usually I’ll throw on an extra layer of cloth for a deck patch to compensate for the softer foam on the deck that inevitably results. Part of the fun is making different shapes out of old boards. I recently rehabbed a nice 7’10" retro hybrid shape from my battered 8 foot funshape. It came out so nice I even put a gloss coat on it.