So ive been thinking of this design for a long time and finally got around too it. The basic plan was to make a 9ft sleek longboard with an emphasis on turning and 3/4 trim, when I got around to the shaping none of my templates fit the curves to make a 9ftr so I settled on an 8ft fish.
For the glass job im planning a straight clear with a volan deck patch. I laid down the the bottom layer last night and all went well.
Im planning to glass on an old box fin that I reglassed/ hotcoated. So from what i’ve researched this will be my approach lam the fin on (tape down etc), once dried place fillets either side of fin, then lay up fin sized football patches (question: how many football patches do I put on and how far do they extend from the fin out to the rail ? ) Is there anything else i missed ?
Will post some more photos as I go. Hopefully I dont screw it !!!
Glass your deck before you put the fin on. A couple of layers will do covering the fin and area of the deck around. Try to extend the glass by a few inches around the base of the fin. Good luck!
Hey Zac, nicew work but I’d make sure I tied my hair back weh n using that sander if I were you…only takes a few stray strands of hair wrapping round that spindle and you’d be cutting yourself a new grin…as for the patches I’d go full length up the fin and around 3-4" out onto the board - I always use 3 full patches each side on my glass ons - you can also make fairing easier by making each patch a little shorter so it’ll blend out easier - ie first patch biggest, next comes about 10mm in from edge, last another 10mm. I also start the job by glueing the fin on with 5 minute epoxy.
So I laid down my deck lam today with the plan to do a volan deck patch, i thought it would be a good idea to draw on the curves with a texta which could guide my scissor cuts. Once I lammed the deck I noticed i missed some small black texta patches.
So from one mistake to another I thought that i could hide the black patches with a resin pin line on the lam . Ha ! what a bad idea…
As most of you would have known it bleed everywhere, I guess you learn from your mistakes and its another mistake I can tick of the list not too do next time. So im wondering if it would be possible to try and sand the grey pinline of ( or would this gum up and smudge everywhere) ??. If not I thought I could do something abstract and simply paint on another coloured lam with a brush and not worry about the smoothness of the lines.
Also im wondering if anyone has a good process for glassing on my fin.
Zac I would continue with your lam, hotcoat, sand and then retape your line and do your tinted stripe on top. If you use 2 layers of tape, lots of cat so it kicks kwick, use gloss resin if possible. As soon as it’s kicked pull the tape then once fully cured lightly sand the line- particulalry the edges where they’ll be slightly raised up. This sanding will also key it up for the gloss coat. Another tip is to make sure you sand the area where your stripes are going in the direction of the line -anything up to 400 grit - this will prevent bleeding under the tape. Also you need to really press the tape down really hard to make sure its totally sealed.
If you do get any bleeds these can usually be sanded out or scraped away with a razor blade. When I have to sand any pinline bleeding I always cover the pin line with some masking tape and if youre over vigourous with your sanding you dont wreck the bit you want to keep!
Lay your tape flat, too; without the folds. That’s probably where your tapeline leaked.
The professionals use 1/8" and 1/4" wide tape to mask off curves, and they pull the tape tight to get it to stretch evenly around curves. You can do the same with the tape you’ve got by using a razor blade to cut it in half lengthways. You can widen your masked off area by adding more rows - you can just use the regular tape and cut around the outside of your tapeline with a razor.
A good skill to have for taping off laplines, too.
wow, I know that making mistakes is one way to learn - but a little reading would have saved you a lot of trouble…
pinlines don’t go on before hotcoats. Rather than sand it off (mess), hotcoat, sand (properly!), retape a wider pinline over your messy one, and cover it up.
When working with volan-treated cloth, always do cutlaps not freelaps…
In addition the safety pointer about tying back long hair, I would not recommend power sanding any fiberglass without a shirt on…you tend to get itchy belly…
when taping for pinlines, its always good to rub them down flat for sealing purposes… you can use a stir stick with masking tape over it…
Hey guys thanks for the help I know the tape looks rather shitty, but it was firmly pressesd down and only bleed under the small tape, Im assuming I didnt stretch it out as you have said. Im not doing a gloss coat, so I think that rules out doing pinlines on the hot coat, think I might just leave it as is and hot coat it. It’s going to get waxed over anyway so I guess it doesnt matter too much.
Hey Keith does (cutlap) that still apply when your only putting down a patch, Ive done two layers of 4 oz (around rail) with the patch running half way along the rail.
I think once you try using narrower tape for the curves and laying it completely flat you’ll like it and never go back.
As I understand it, pinlines and the resin panels in the hotcoat came about in the first place to cover less-than-perfect cutlaps and other irregularities.
Hey Zack! I'm always impressed with the stuff you do. You get something in mind, but are flexible enough to change direction if it suits. You always fhink the whole thing out and are methodical in the way you process it. Upon further read ; maybe not quite pro, but getting there. You can always do a resin pin on a hotcoat and not put anything over it. Good un Bro.
Hey Mcding— thanks for the compliment, along way to go though before I can reach the levels you guys have… but I will get there one day !!! (I hope haha) this board was my 20th board so far since I bought my shaping kit in 2011, I think the best thing i’ve learnt from the last 19 is that each step has to be right and being patient is your best asset.
Hi Zac, looks cools. Can’t see if there is anything stopping you from sanding off the pinlines if you want too. If they are in laminating resin you could give it a quick brush over with filler to help it sand.
Hey P-Co i thought about that but I decided I would just hot coat it, sand it and take it down to the airbrusher to lay a new design over the top. Saves me from fucking up the board more and getting a nice finish. wont cost me too much, ill just know for next time not to do a pinline ON THE LAM !
P.s Ive been following “madd matt” and the eternal telephones, looks super cool what there doing. You helping them out with shaping/ glassing etc ?
