Garage Works - 10/3/2023

When I got home from work, Marlon was napping.  I figured I'd let him rest - so I went over to the garage and grinded the laps on Marlon's new longboard.  From there I added the reinforcement patch on the deck, trimmed the top laminate, and then headed out for a surf.

Once we got back, I went ahead and mixed up 15.5 ounces of epoxy and began laminating.

I had to mix a second 15.5 ounce batch and finished the lamination.

I also sanded down the repair on Tim's board

And I cleaned up the small cracks on Harris's wing board

And I sanded this repair on another of Marlon's boards.

Lots of work going on in the garage!!!

Garage Works - 10/2/2023

Marlon and I glassed the bottom deck of his new longboard today.

Tomorrow we will laminate the top deck of his board.

And while epoxy is being mixed, I got a couple of ding repair jobs also worked on - sanding tomorrow.

Bottom Deck Laminated on the 4'8" Prone

Laminated the bottom deck after I got home from winging.  Before laminating, I added some fill around the boxes to prevent the voids I usually find after opening the boxes.

4.7 ounce carbon - full deck coverage.  2 ounce fiberglass capsheet.  Less than 21 ounces of epoxy

Getting Close to Finishing Tim's Board

I got the bottom cap sheet (2 ounce fiberglass) on the bottom deck yesterday morning, then I got the top cap on this morning.

I also got the top fill coat on.  I'm going to try and get the bottom fill on tonight, then all I have to do is sand and this one is done.

NWFB Top Deck Work

I was back at it after work.  I used the grinder to clean up the laps from yesterday.  I then went ahead and took down the laminate covering the SUP handle and the two foil tracks - I'll have to fill a few spots around the boxes.  I almost stopped at this point - but nope, I cut out the carbon, the innegra and the fiberglass.  Like I discussed yesterday, I decided to take a different approach - laminate each layer separately.

Totally worked!

 Addressing the laps was way easier and everything ended up super clean.  

Tomorrow I'll gently clean up the laps from today's lamination, then I'll grind open the footstrap inserts.  I'll use a hole saw and get the top deck vent in place.  I'll add a few spots of spray painted base, add some stickers that'll go under the fill coat.  And I'll finish it all off by applying the top deck fill coat.  That means bottom deck insert filling, spray paint the base for stickers, and bottom fill coat on Thursday with sanding and finishing to follow (probably not on Friday - the wind is supposed to come up). 

And Laminated...

I hate glassing - always have, always will.  That said, glassing is an extension of shaping - just on the clock and a royal PITA.  Well - I glassed the NWFB after work today.  Tried to mix a bigger batch but wasn't using it fast enough and ended up getting a small blob of hard stuff above the handle location.  Also got a funny lift in the fiberglass on the rail.  At least the corners of the tail and all of the nose stayed down.

Nothing that a grinder and more fabric/resin can't correct. Tomorrow I'll clean up the lap, set up the top laminates and see if I have time to get that epoxied up.  I think I'll do each layer separately - the carbon lays down nicely - and I can even put layers of reinforcement in place.  The innegra is thick and really wants to unwind.  And I'll need to make the cover sheet of fiberglass reach a consistent point across the board - might be easier to do separately - its worth trying.

NWFB Bottom Deck Lamination Ready

Last night I got the cloth on and the relief cuts made.

Base layer is carbon fiber, followed by innegra and capped off with 2oz fiberglass.

Planning for 25 ounces of epoxy resin for this.  Opted to defer pouring epoxy from last night to this afternoon - it was late when I finished trimming, figured it would be best to start fresh.

Top Deck Lamination on the New 4'10"

I got the top deck lamination done yesterday.  I am still a little concerned about the voids that developed when I dropped in the reinforcement blocks with straight epoxy (DON'T DO THAT - cut it with aerosil or milled fibers), so I added some additional fibers - left over carbon and innegra.

I took my time cutting the laps and it paid off - not perfect but really nice.  I really like using the dense 4" dense foam rollers from Home Depot to laminate - more so than the ones I used to get from FGH.  The only problem with them is the epoxy tends to collect on the tip of the insert - and before I finish the lamination, the epoxy starts setting (and since it is concentrated - smoking).

I left everything cure and in the afternoon I went ahead and grinded the laps and added the logo stickers.  I am going to see how these last under the fill coat (should be more durable than the logos on the Dually Stubby - but that's what this is all for, figuring out what works best).

Today will be addressing the voids around the tracks and the two fill coats.  That'll leave sanding and the plug installs for after work the next few days.  This should definitely be ready to ride next weekend.

Marlon's Board - Laminating the Top Deck

This morning we laminated the top deck onto Marlon's board.  He did most of the work.

The lamination came out pretty good.

Laminated the 4'6"

Got both the top and bottom done today.  Marlon as usual was a great help keeping the epoxy resin flowing.  Getting a nice lamination is all in the preparation.

And for some reason, I do a lot better using rollers.  I've nearly eliminated drips on to the floor and minimized waste (since we mix the epoxy in small batches as needed).

Bottom laminated on first.  4.7oz carbon underneath 6.0oz fiberglass (E).  Bottom lam also takes longer because of the fin boxes.  Ran some errands and went to work for a bit - and came home to the bottom lam all set up.  You can afford to be a little sloppy with the bottom lam since you can cover it with the top lam.  I went ahead and grinded down the laps, and got the top lamination ready to go.

And here is the top lam almost all wetted out and in place.  DAMN THIS LOOKS NICE!!!

It doesn't hurt that this board is super short also.  I'll grind down the laps tomorrow and get the fill coat on.  At this rate, I might be able to get the board wet by Christmas Day.

Grinding Laps and Laminating the Top Deck on the 4'10"

Had to run some errands this afternoon, but I got home in time to work on the board.  Started by grinding down the laps from yesterday's lamination.


Next, I got the bottom laminated.  First I put some carbon down on the dcell patch (2 layers to build up the height of this section - and it was still too low - next time I won't route out so much).  Next I laid down a nose to tail carbon layer (4.8 ounce cloth) and a 4 ounce cap sheet.

Marlon helped again by mixing the epoxy - 4x 5.6 ounce shots.  Got the board all laminated in under an hour.

Next step - grinding down the new laps and fill coat one side.

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).

Another Reason Why I Haven't Been in the Water -

I've been getting the 4'10" shaped.  This was earlier in the week:

Still a lot rough on both decks - planer lines.  But I've been using the long surform to blend in the decks.  These pictures are from yesterday afternoon after a fair amount of time spent with the surform - I even got the nose, tail and rails dialed in more.  Marlon went surfing with his cousin, but I stayed back to get this progress in.

The key difference in this board as compared to the prior two are the bevels cut in the bottom rails.  Most of the shapers are putting these into their boards in an effort to allow riders to recover from touchdowns (boards hitting the water and getting sucked back down due to surface tension - these cuts would allow a rider to "bounce" off the water or not touch it at all).  I figured I should at least try it out to see what the buzz is and if it would be worth it on future boards.  I am also planning out the 4'6" blank - probably going to make it into a kite foiling/prone board (but that is almost too tiny for me I'm guessing).

All this has been the easy part - going to have to vacuum bag on a divynicell patch (dent resistant front foot area on top deck), divynicell blocks for the mast tracks, and I am planning on laminating carbon fiber on the last 2/3s of the board for pumping stiffness.  That is probably two more weeks of work (after work and on weekends).  Will also be painting over the carbon fiber to provide some heat damage relief (no vent on this one - polyurethane blank). 

Glassing the Top Deck of Marlon's Longboard

We also spent part of Father's Day getting the top deck laminated on Marlon's longboard.  Schedule wise, the bottom was 2 layers of 6oz, and the top was a 4oz patch with two 6oz layers on top.  This should allow him to knee paddle the board if he wants to without dinging the deck.

It's hard to spend time during the week (while Marlon is in his summer program) working on projects - but I'll try and grind the laps down and prep the board for a fill coat of epoxy tomorrow evening.  He wants a spray paint color scheme and I'll need Thursday and Friday to finish that if we're going to surf it by the weekend.

Lamination Done

This afternoon Marlon and I got the track boxes set, carbon patch applied and last bottom cap sheet all laminated up on both of the prone foilboards. 

This is the 5'6"

And this is the 5'2"

Here are the close ups of the labels:

I got the bottom fill coat on since the evening was still young (and that's one less thing to do tomorrow).

Now just a fill coat on top (if I wake up super early, I could possibly knock this out before going to work - or maybe not - sleep is a wonderful thing), drill out a couple of holes for the vent and leash plugs, and some light sanding and these boards just need some cure time.  Should be wet this weekend!!!