Garage Works - 6/21/2024

I used the grinder and opened up the boxes today.

I'll get a fill coat on this tonight.

Garage Works - 6/20/2024

I got the majority of the epoxy work done this evening on this repair.

I got the finboxes set into the foam block, the voids on the side of the block filled in with thickened epoxy, and then laminated the carbon layers to hold everything together.

Tomorrow I'll grind open the finboxes and start placing the fill coat(s).

Garage Works - 6/19/2024

I did some work in the garage today.  First up was cutting the slots for the mast track on the big SUP Foiling board (repair order from Jim and Scotty).

This went fairly eventless (my favorite way).

Then I cut out the carbon patches for both the SUP Foil board and No.37

Then I had to head out to pick up a couple of billets of EPS - can't turn this stuff down (I haven't bought a blank in quite some time now that people who know me keep getting these to me).

I am actually stalling at this point... I don't know why I don't feel like placing epoxy....  But despite my hesitancy, I need to get the big SUP finished before the weekend.

Garage Works - 6/17/2024

Between napping and working on the yard (edging and mowing), I got the big SUP repair forwarded.

I started by using the planner to take down the pour foam.  Then I used the router to open the slot to accommodate the polyurethane blocks.

Here's the open slot and the foam blocks.  I had to use the surform to get everything to fit the way I wanted it to. 

Expanding Gorilla Glue for this one.  I've been reading a lot of feedback on how other people secure this - most have moved on from epoxy to avoid the exotherm damage potential.  And the Gorilla Glue is stronger than the foam it is securing together - so the results strength wise should be the same.

At this point I had finished the yardwork and used the planer and surform to level out the foam block (and glue that expanded out).  Then I marked up the center line and the 90mm spacing 

And here is where I stopped for the day - I setup the first cut.

I'll cut the slots out tomorrow and then likely epoxy in the tracks.  I should go ahead and cut out the reinforcement patches and get those epoxied on at the same time (so everything chemically bonds together).

Garage Works - 8/18/2023

This post actually covers a few days of work in the garage.  A few days ago I cut the mast track boxes in No.32

I got them epoxied in the same day.

Today I added layers of carbon to really stiffen up the part of the board that will be under my feet.  There is some logic to a layout like this - but I'll keep those reasons to myself.

And I kept on going by preparing the bottom laminate.

And then I went ahead and laminated it.  Normally I would wait for evening, but it was still relatively cool outside so I went for it.  It came out nice.

I used some saran wrap in the critical spots to ensure the carbon stayed tight to the blank.

I'll sand the laps and laminate the top deck tomorrow.

I also made a big push to get Ken's board finished.  Every time I touch this board, I find another thing that needs to be fixed.  I decided to should just stick to what I said I would do and finish up.

I cut the finbox slot the same time I did them for No.32

And I got the open holes closed up.  I'm going to try and get this done tonight.

Garage Works - 6/11/2023

I am itching to get this box reinstallation project completed.  Getting the mast track boxes pushed further forward on this board will let me get more out the new foils.

Today I started out by cleaning up the reinforcement block (leveled out everything).  Then I remeasured and reidentified the midpoint/centerline.  Measure-measure-measure to get the position of the boxes defined.  Then layout the jig and cut.

This one came out perfect.

I then hit the beach and got in that wing foiling session.  When I got back (and after the sun went down a little later), I taped off the nose and got the orange spray paint on (need to have orange somewhere on this board - and it made sense considering this is a rebirth of No.31).  I cut out the stiffening carbon patches and the cap sheet and set those aside.

I installed the boxes using 3.5 ounces of epoxy.  This is more epoxy than necessary, so I went ahead and laminated the carbon patches.

I mixed up another 1.4 ounces of epoxy and got the cap sheet installed.  To make sure there were no air bubbles around the track boxes, I used peelply so I could apply pressure to the laminate while the epoxy was going through the hardening process.

I'll pull this peelply off tomorrow, sand the laps/edges, open up the track slots, add any fill if necessary, replace the orange sticker to the upper left of the left track box, and then apply a fill coat.

I think this board should be back in the rotation by Wednesday (but I'll give it a few days to make sure the epoxy hardens nicely).

Garage Works - 5/9/2023

When I got home, I put everything away (the garage is for parking two cars now) - but with La and Noe at a flute workshop and Marlon at a class, I had the full garage free to work on this board repair.

I got the slots routed out.  Then I fit the boxes, taped them up and cut out the carbon patches.

Then I epoxied in the boxes.

Added each layer of carbon individually -

Making sure to burp the area around the boxes -

Then finished with the cap sheet.

I used 3.5 ounces for the boxes, then 5.6 ounces for the carbon overlays.  I used a brush to apply the epoxy and to make sure there were no bubbles or unlevel spots.

Tomorrow I'll grind the boxes open, sand the high spots, and place the fill coat.

Thursday I'll sand and place a second fill coat if needed.

Friday I'll try and finish the repair so I can get it to Kalani on Saturday morning.

Garage Works - 4/13/2023

I passed up a surfing session because I wanted to get more headway on the two boards on the rack.

I started by cleaning up the expanded epoxy from around the polyurethane blocks.  I used the Bosch planer, but then switched to the Makita.  I had to use the microplane after to clean up, and went ahead and resanded.

I ended up with a shallower back side on No.31 - I'll level it by using more carbon fiber back there to reinforce the tracks - problem solved.

Then I went ahead and cut the tracks out for both boards.

Measure twice - cut once.  For No.30 - this was the first time I spliced two boxes together - so far so good on this.

I'll get the boxes epoxied in tomorrow, and likely will add the carbon patch around the boxes, another to cover the area where my feet will likely be - and if I'm going that far, I might as well get the bottom deck cover sheet on as well.

I'm going to laminate these the conventional way, since I'm not using innegra as a top layer on either of these boards (carbon all the way).

You can barely see the shallower area where the tracks are - but again, that will accommodate the carbon reinforcement patches.

This board has lost a lot of the original volume it had as a result of the extra sanding I've been doing.  That was kind of one of the design criteria for this one - longer length, but lower volume to see if there is a difference in paddling power, wave catching ability, swing weight, and ease of use.

It's been a while since I've done an all carbon fiber board... I think this will go faster than the past several boards (no innegra should equal faster laminating and sanding).

Garage Works - 4/6/2023

I have been fretting over this issue for a while now.  Cutting in the infrastructure to support the finboxes that will hold the hydrofoil in place and getting it wrong is the fastest way to ruin a board making project.

I've measured and looked, then adjusted and looked, and repeated over and over.  I've simulated paddling this board and popping up to figure out where my back foot will land and then readjusted the track position based on that.  But no matter what I did, I always felt I was either compromising on potential adjustability or adding too much weight.

Well - today I resolved my dilemma -

Instead of trying to use the 8" boxes as the augment element, I just doubled up the 8" boxes and now have a 16" track!

This is an optimized solution between the weight of a longer track and the limited adjustability of a single 10.75" box.

I trimmed the polyurethane blocks also and marked the area to be removed by the router.

I'll try and get the slots routed out tomorrow.  If I get that done, I'll also get the liners laid out.  My goal for Saturday will be to epoxy in the blocks.  Sunday I'll fair out the expanded epoxy, mark the tracks and get those slots routed.

At this point I'll take a break, and take a second look at the overall shape - this is where I'll adjust anything that nags me (usually the nose, sometimes the tail, and almost always some part of the rail).

Garage Works - 3/11/2023

After foiling, I got some work done on the two projects I have sitting in the garage.

On Matt's board, I cut out the bad parts and got it ready for splicing in the clean foam.

Here it is again all trimmed up.

I also got the track installed on Jim's board.

This was the dry fitting.  I had to put this on pause because I had to go to work for a bit.  When I got back, I went ahead and set them in with epoxy and added the first carbon overlay.

Tomorrow I'll sand the carbon overlay, add some fill around the boxes, then add the cap sheet.  I should be able to get this done early next week (epoxy needs to harden).

I'll also try to rough shape the nose on Matt's board.

Garage Works - 3/4/2023

I have a few repair projects/orders in the garage - so today I started to work on them.

This Pyzel board belongs to Matt - I'm using this as an example to fix the one he turned over to me to rebuild the nose.  I'll start on this one after I fix Jim's board.

Jim's board has been sitting for a some time now and is bone dry.  This is the carbon liner all arranged.  I mixed up a bunch of epoxy in various batches to wet out the bottom and sides, rebind the top skin where it had separated, and got some of the sides wetted out.  The next batch was mixed with aerosil to coat the bottom and sides of the reinforcement block.  And I made one last batch to laminate the liner to the top deck.

And time to let it harden.  I'll level the block tomorrow, then rout out the track slots.

I also went ahead and prepped No.25 to get fixed.  The rail that I think I dinged with my shin (port side), the depression where I hit the board with my knee (to the right and above the iwa laminate), and the mystery depression near the nose off to the left - all got some fiberglass and epoxy.

Garage Works - 1/9/2023

I epoxied in the mast track boxes and got the seal/fill coat over the bottom deck.  I drilled through both stringers in two spots to make sure there will be pathways for the air to move between both sides of the blank (I'm only putting in one vent).

I'll have to sand down some spots under the weight I used to keep the boxes from moving around (they will move if you don't keep an eye on them), and also at the nose where I used epoxy/thiksil to rebuild the foam that came off during the shaping process.  The seal coat helps fill the spots where the shaping process gouged chunks of EPS, but also adds a layer of epoxy that will later stop pinholes (where the EPS blank sucks in the epoxy - and this is a whole other topic but you should only apply laminates while the temperature is falling).

After I sand those spots, I'll be ready to laminate the top deck.  I'm still debating the color tint - some type of blue, international orange, or a darker green....  It's funny what ends up being the hard parts of board building.

If I can figure out the deck color, I might have both sides laminated and the rail tape on by this weekend.

Garage Works - 1/8/2023

I got some work done on No.29 this morning.

I had done some calculations to determine the position of the mast tracks - and even after that I made a last minute adjustment (more forward).  Measured multiple times -

before cutting.

Getting the trak slots cut out of a narrow tailed board is not easy - shims, cantilevers and lots of measuring.

But you gotta cut sometime - 

And these came out perfect!  For reference, these are centered to bias the asymmetry (the middle of the stringers was where the templates were centered - I adjusted over to the starboard side by just over a centimeter).

And after that work I rearranged the garage and disposed of a bunch of things that weren't needed (like over 3 garbage bags of stuff).  Finally - before running errands with La, I added a seal/fill coat to the top deck - this is to try and avoid air bubbles in the fabric under the laminates.

When I get home from the grocery run, I'll seal/fill the bottom deck and get the track boxes epoxied in.

This is the view from the top - the Regular Foot Asymmetric Prone Foil board is coming along nicely.

Garage Works - 9/10/2022

After we got home, Marlon and I trimmed the hedge - I wanted to get that out of the way.  Then, I went and cut out the slots for the finboxes on both blanks (No. 26 and 27).

These both came out perfect!  Measure 3 times, cut once.

Then I went ahead and traced the template for Prayot's wing board on to one of the blanks I just brought home.  This is going to be something along the lines of a 4'6" x 23 7/8" x 3 7/8"

And I helped Marlon get more shaping done on the longboard he is making.  We started on the spoon under the nose, then started the rails on the bottom side, and moved to the top.  I used the electric planer to remove a ton of foam - Marlon wants this one to be really thin.

Lunch was a good stopping point.  We still need to round out the rails a little bit, then make sure the shape is good to go - but good progress on a Saturday!!!