WOW!!! Really looks great! I do not know much about these, but I have a friend who has made many of these boards and the pics you posted are exactly what I see going on in his shaping room! Plus his boards rides like nothing else!!! Great job bro!
I meant to ask about adding vent holes. I've got one on a firewire and get the basic idea and since it will be significantly lower temps when I'm glassing vs. this summer I think it makes sense to have one. Anyone have a quick and dirty installation or ideas on where to get them or how to make them?
You have to have a vent on a wooden board or it will implode or explode depending on water and air temps. Do not use a gortex vent. Those will eventually fail and you will get water in your board. Use a brass threaded insert and a brass screw with neoprene washer.
TO install it you will just drill a hole slightly smaller than the insert size and either screw or hammer in the insert depending on the style you are using. You will have to seal around the edges of the insert with epoxy. I typically put epoxy all around the hole before installing the insert so it seats into a nice glob of epoxy. Just make sure you do not let any epoxy into the threads or you will not be able to screw into it.
Good choice on the Sapele Mahogany--you're going to love how iridescent it is in different lights and angles. Did you buy it already in 1/8 inch veneer or did you mill it yourself?
Yup, really enjoying working with the sapelle... I finished a small piece with some 1500 grit sand paper and you could really see how the light plays with the wood.
The wood was pretty cleaned up when I bought it but I ripped it into 1/4" strips then ran it through a thickness planer. I'm going to leave a little more thickness on the top deck.
Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to put a good chunk of work into this. I'll post more pics along the way.
ya- need the vent- my friend used a plastic vent- that was about the size of a leash plug on the nose- it was a basic plastic threaded piece with an o-ring to seal. I do recall him mentioning that its not a great idea to ride them in extreme temps- in the cold water of winter ect... I think you can find this type of vent at west marine or some kind of marine supply. greenlight surf supply has the goretex ones, but as noted above, i don't know how well they work...
i remember the bases of these drain/vent plugs being glasses into the board... and i think he placed them on the nose and used the bigger hand tighten screw so that you could actually vent the board with in the water
Last edited by walkingonh2o; Jan 6, 2012 at 02:03 PM.
Reason: added links
I've been taking my sweet time on this but making progress little by little. The rocker table confused me for a long time becuase I was trying to make everything too perfect. Simple is better.
Anyway, pics show my rocker table, rocker table with bottom deck on, deck and board clamped down and the board with the bottom deck all glued up.
I'm gonna work on the rails and top deck this weekend. I'll keep you updated.
As usual, gimme feedback both positive, negative or other ideas.
So... I bet you guys never thought you'd see this thread again. Well between a baby that has recently turned one, buying a house and moving across town, I have finally come closer to finishing my "Medium" minisimmons.
The board is built more or less but I have to figure out this glassing thing. More like I have to decide on what I want to use. I've been searching the forum and found someone who said they liked this guys stuff on youtube and he was using Solarez.
What are the pros and cons of Solarez?
I called Greenlight this afternoon to ask about the glassing kits and they said for a hollow wooden board I'd want to use epoxy. I'd basically made up my mind already to use it so we're good on that. Are there epoxy products out there that superior to Solarez in a lot of ways?
I'm drawn to Solarez because it is UV activated and the waste is minimal. That being said, I can easily be swayed as this is my first real glassing experiment. All my other experimenting was with the fiberglass cloth and resin you can get from Lowes for big ugly repairs on my canoe.
I'm looking for help from one and all but I've got a couple of you that I'm really hoping chime in.
I've usued west system epoxy. It works good and looks nice. Kind of expensive, like 150 a gallon. I've built a kayak, My next project is a board, can't wait. yours looks nice, did you do the design yourself?
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