Ive been following Swaylocks for quite a while and have found it a wealth of help and info so thanks very much to all who are involved/contribute. Ive long had the urge to build my first board. With the family away for a few days I took the bull by the horns and created a volumous fish with birch ply double foiled keelfins… pics attached. Its been a challenge and way more work than i thought! I’m not finished yet though and need a little advice please. Ive just hotcoated which went well but when I run my fingers over the bottom lap i can feel a small ridge still. I have some gloss resin but im not sure it will fill the the small step. Can someone tell me am i better off sanding back the hotcoat now and doing a small ‘hotcoat’ around the lapline before gloss coat? I dont want to sand the laps too much as they were a balls to cut with suncure resin and they look alright…I think! Hope that made sense! Thanks in advance, Rob
After sanding your hot coat, the surface of your board should be flat and smooth, generally. Sand down the ridge and make it match the local contours. Then give it a good glass coat and don’t get too aggressive sanding the gloss. Patience is key when sanding gloss coats.
Get a hard pad and sand it FLAT.
youll have burn throughs here and there but you’ll be ok.
Gloss and polish.
In future - sand ridge after cutting lap - styrene wipe - bastecoat - hotcoat - sand - gloss.
You didn’t say what kind of bottom contours you have so I’ll guess there might be a bit of concave. I would start with a medium hard pad in the center of the board and feather the hot coat up to the cut lap. Gently sand the cut lap (you don’t want burn thrus as it appears you have a tint) up to the fins. Use a hard block & paper to hand sand the fin area. Remember that a little change in the bottom to edge is not going to affect the way the board surfs. If you like, you can add a resin pin line and gloss. That’ how I would do it if I had a picky customer, otherwise, sand & surf! Just my 2c…
bunnbunn - Great first board! Just sand the high spots and gloss. It is sometimes helpful to ‘baste’ the lap area before hotcoating… simply tape off the rail at the apex, mix some lam resin and brush it on fairly thick right on the laps so it helps fill that step. The hotcoat will fill it in even more and when sanding, you are less likely to sand through at the lap.
Hi surfteach! Thanks for the reply, I took your advice and worked my way from the stringer out whilst sanding and managed to blend the lap pretty well without too much glass exposed. Just waiting for the Irish weather to play ball now so I can get the gloss coat on! Can you tell me do you usually wash the board down and thoroughly dry before glossing? I dont have a compressor so i guess its either that or a hoover to get rid of all the dust. Or is it usual to wipe down with alcohol? Thanks, Rob