Roland's Board on the Rack

Roland asked if I could patch some pinhole leaks in his wing foiling board.  He had brought it over when I got his repaired fuselage back to him.  We put it in the sun and it started weeping holes all over the back.  Since these pictures, Roland had put his knee through the deck and had another two cracks that needed to be repaired. I put it back out in the sun to check if it was dry - all good and ready to be fixed.

I'm really putting these up for me - to make sure I got all the pinhole leaks.  I ended up sanding down the old repairs to clear the excess, and have a mechanical surface for the fiberglass and epoxy to bond to.

I used 2 ounce cloth, but layered them up to cover the repairs - will fit the repair areas better than straight 4 or 6 ounce.  I got a lot of coverage on the tail repairs, so everything should be sealed up tight.

Tomorrow is sanding to fair in the repairs, then adding a light fill coat.  Thursday will be the final sanding and cover shot with blue paint.  Friday the board goes back to Roland to foil this weekend.

Glassing the Top Deck of the Wing Foiling Board

I got home and was nuked from work.  I changed my clothes, and decided to take a nap instead of surf/foil.  It was also pretty windy so I figured I wouldn't be missing much (haven't gotten the wing yet).  After a short nap, I did get to grinding the laps from yesterday's work, setting up the glass layers, and laid up the epoxy.

The grinding wasn't bad - especially knowing I was going to add some cover layers today.  I did see what happens to the innegra fibers when you try to sand them - worse than carbon.  The glassing schedule was 2 layers of the 2 ounce innegra, all the 6 ounce fiberglass I had - which covered half the board, and all the remaining 2 ounce fiberglass I had.  These bolts are all 36" width to wrap the rails on this 26" wide board. 

I took my time cutting the laps out.  A cut here, pulls to see how the lap would sit and more cuts to get everything to sit tight.  The splice between the two top sheets was as easy as laying the 2 oz on top of the 6 oz.

I used 1x6 oz and 5x4.9 oz loads of epoxy to glass the top.  I had to use a hammer to get the old roller insert off the new roller - I really like this brand of roller - but I now know to take off the old roller immediately after the glassing job.

I also used some saran wrap on the back corners to get the layers to conform better - it all turned out really nice.  Tomorrow will be lap grinding and possibly fill coating.  Since that goes fairly quickly, I may try to get that done as soon as I get home and then get a session in.  We'll see.

Glassing the Bottom Deck

Yesterday the kids and I got the bottom deck laminated.  I started by cutting out the fabric - full coverage of innegra and full coverage of 6 ounce cloth.  I folded back the cloth and set the fin boxes.  Then I dragged the kids out and hand Marlon mixing epoxy and Noe working the fin boxes to prevent air bubbles from developing.

Of the two decks, the bottom is always harder because of the fin boxes and the epoxy doesn't have a hard edge to grab on (like the top deck laps do grabbing onto the cured but still rough bottom deck).

The other issue with laminating the bottom deck is the laps often do lift - and that leaves air bubbles under the glass - especially on the tail and nose.  I went back before the epoxy fully cured and pushed down the bubbles (even though they really don't have any where to go since the epoxy has saturated the glass).  This is the first time I'm using innegra, and it is also the first time I'm using resin tint.  Why not - better to keep learning.

Did I mention I hate glassing???

Squeezing it in - Fill Coats

I had to work today, but before I left I got the laps on the bottom ground down and the fill coat brushed on.  Here is the board before I ground the laps down.

So nice - it really reminds me of the interstellar object 'Oumuamua that flew through the solar system a couple of years ago -

And here is the board with the laps across the bottom deck all ground down.

The fill coat got to harden while I was at work.

And I got home, ate dinner, then applied the fill coat to the bottom deck.  It was mostly dark so we didn't take pictures, but I'll take a few pictures of the board tomorrow before I start to sand down the fill coat.

Laminating the Bottom Deck of the 4'10"

This went surprisingly smooth - thanks to Marlon for mixing the epoxy for me.  4.2 ounces for the two boxes, then 4.9 ounces 3x for the laminating 6.7 ounce carbon sheet + 6.0 ounce E Fiberglass for the fiber.

I'll grind the lap tomorrow and then laminate the top deck.  I'll leave the fin boxes capped this time and grind them open when I take down the fill coat.

For the top deck I'll do another carbon fiber layer and probably two layers of 4 ounce fiberglass (gotta think about this one - could go one 6 ounce plus one 4 ounce also).

FInishing Off This Repair Project

So yesterday I sanded the repair area down - primarily taking off the primer that was not needed.

Today I masked the board (and the garage)

And applied a couple of coats of almost matching blue spray paint.

Here is the board post spray paint application - the unpainted section is where the nose bumper will be applied (so this whole incident won't be repeated with an accidental mast strike).  I'll also put on a coat of urethane to protect the paint from scuffs.

I should have this done tomorrow afternoon.  Thank goodness (and now to get it wet again).

Glassing the Top of the Fuselage on the Surf Hydrofoil

This evening, Marlon and I continued making progress on getting the surf hydrofoil completed.  We cut out the glass for the tops of the fuselage and the base plate.

I've actually been dreading glassing this piece - too many curves.  But with some relief cuts it sat well on the nose and we got it done.

I'll try and get back out tonight to trim the excess glass with a razor blade - way easier than letting the epoxy fully cure and sanding/grinding it down.

Cleaning Up the Bottom Laminate on the WIngs

Sunday morning - trimming off the excess with a razor blade.

And sanding down the glass to the finish edge.  I still really like this apron that La made for me - keeps the fiberglass fibers off my skin when sanding.

Next step preparing the base plates (I actually did that on Saturday evening).