If I am able to pull it off, from an artistic standpoint, this board will have a drawing showing the back side of an elephant seal. I’m going to attempt to do this using a Posca Pen.
I started off with three 1" thick sheets of DOW styrofoam XPS. I cut off a sample of the foam, and weighed it first. It came out at 2.5 pounds per cubic foot.
I glued them together flat with KK, and vacuum bagged until curred (about 3 hours). I read on one of Surfding’s posts that you should sand XPS with 60 grit prior to laminating. I used a sanding block to remove all of the skin on the survaces to be glued. I was surprised by how much epoxy the foam soaked up. I ended up using 24 oz. of mixed resin to glue the three sheets together.
Here’s a close-up of the vacuum bag setup. I used 3 mil plastic sheeting from the paint section of the h/w store.
Here it is with the profile curve finished.
As you can see, it is going to be an alaia. I got my inspiration from Tom Wegeners Tuna Model, AKA the Sea Grass Project.
Here are the dimensions:
Length: 6’ 2" Width: 17.25"
Thickness: 3"
I didn’t use any CAD programs to copy the shape of the original Tuna. I drew my own curves.
Enjoy it Swied, I always enjoy your threads. Don’t forget the follow up ride reports and tell us if once you go ass, do you ever come back?
and now an entirely irrelevant link for the international s-lockians whom find my signature alien; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqr0stR3AwU and thats better than playing richard around the rosy with some wank in brother Andy’s thread.
I know a guy who has a friend that knows another guy who sometimes works with this sport fisherman up north who has lots of connections...We might be able to find the right skin and oil for that board...maybe...................
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What exactly do you mean by "seal the blank?" I'm not planning on putting wood skins on it. I see this board as R&D. I'm more interested in learning: 1) Does XPS from the h/w store really work, 2) Can my fat ass actually stand up on an alaia, and 3) Will I be able to draw a picture of a seal that will be distinguishable from a dog turd?
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I was thinking about sealing with Seal Skin....I was thinking about some other things too.....Not taking action...just thinking.
I like your R+D...keep up the good work......Let me know if you need the space heater...it has a heavy duty 10' cord.
Here’s another image that shows the boundary lines of the single concave a little better. It’s hard to see, but I actually put the deepest part of the concave under where my back foot will be. I figured doing that would create a little extra lift.
Note: I realize that there is probably about a 50% that this thing could be a complete dog. I learned a lot shaping it, though. This was definitely the best crown I have ever done, it was my first concave, and my first successful vacuum bagging job. I did an OK job on the belly in the front section, but I still don’t have that technique mastered yet. The price was definitely right.
Good tip. I’ll use the roller next time. I didn’t think the blank would soak up so much resin since XPS is closed cell foam (unlike EPS). I initially mixed up a 12 oz batch, thinking I had more than enough to do the job. I used a plastic squeegy to push the resin around, and I just couldn’t get it to cover the whole sheet. I was also paranoid about delamination, so I coated both sides with resin (4 sides in total). Sure, it was a little too much material, but the blank is still really light. Next time I’ll go with less.
No leaks. I watched a Foam-Ez sponsored demo at the last sacred craft where the guys made a vacuum bag out of 3 mil plastic sheeting. I folded and taped it using the same method that they used.
What exactly do you mean by “seal the blank?” I’m not planning on putting wood skins on it. I see this board as R&D. I’m more interested in learning: 1) Does XPS from the h/w store really work, 2) Can my fat ass actually stand up on an alaia, and 3) Will I be able to draw a picture of a seal that will be distinguishable from a dog turd?
Are you referring to the 1/2" deep single concave, or the crowned deck? Check out this video. Hopefully it will help you see that I am not completely crazy. =)
It started out as a three inch thick blank (3 one inch thick sheets). Where do you think the thickest point is located, and how thick do you think it is? If you look closely you can see the glue lines.
Hey you need to vacbag some veneer skins on that baby. Next time you glue sheets down, just use a little weenie roller from HD. Mix up about 4 oz of resin max per glue up, put the resin on a paper plate and just get it wet enough to lightly wet out. The vac bag will suck the whole thing down real good....It's not coming apart. Quit trying to build a bunker.
I use 3-4 oz of resin to put a 1/40 veneer skin with 4 oz glass to a 1.5 lb EPS blank. All the weight should be in the wood and glass. The epoxy is just a very light glue to hold it in place.
On the skins, if the epoxy is soaking through the glass and wood, then you are using too much material. All you got to do is run the roller over the glass once, the glass should look like its got dry spots.
Do that and the board will be light and bullet proof....and will save money in material.
In addition to what the Resinheaded step child said about application, you may want to consider this:
If you are going to the trouble of weighing your foam, do a little math and weigh your resin/glass as well.
Calculate what a 6mil glue line volume looks like for your surface area, add 10 - 20% for handling loss then mix accordingly.
When glassing atop or between layers (ie. under skins), shoot for a 50/50 or just under resin/fiber ratio to start with when vacuum bagging. Handling/application loss (mix vessel, roller, spreaders, etc…) will take the finished resin portion below 50%.
Per what the Resinhead said, if using a porous surface material, you may get wet-through so encourage wicking the extra resin out using peel ply and absorbent material to further reduce the resin/fiber/whatever ratio.
I know a guy who has a friend that knows another guy who sometimes works with this sport fisherman up north who has lots of connections...We might be able to find the right skin and oil for that board...maybe...................
I think the tuna ones are 2 1/8- 2 1/4 thick, but thicker is better for most boards in my book.If you have the bag now put a wood skin on it.[img_assist|nid=1030452|title=quad fin|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=54]This one has 1/8 bender ply over Xps.
