Shaping

Thanks guys! JayD, i tried with those bottom contours. Single to double to vee. I find it very important especially with the boards i ride. Im going to have to mess with the placement of the single and double im sure, but shaping wise i think i got a handle on it. Im actually really stoked on the way the vee came out.

And mitchell, i totally get it now. As i did the deck i started realizing exactly what you mentioned. The resin hardened, i did the deck. Immediately realized why LB suggested the cut lap. Oh well. Im more concerned with a good sound board then color. But lesson definitely learned.

A guy i work used to get on my case alot when i first got in the field. He'd give me some advice, and I'd ignore it. Not because i didn't believe him or trust him. But because i tend to learn better if i make mistakes. I'll always have that memory of why i shouldn't do somthing a certain way. Rather then just being told. Odd, i know. But it's how i am.

Anyway, i did get the deck much darker then the bottom. On the second go i had a bit of the technique figured out.... slightly. It went smoother except one oh shit moment. I must of shifted the glass at some point, relief cut on the nose was way off. Frantically used scissors to adjust. Not ideal but disaster avoided. Glad I'm using quick kick. It's definitely a bit tougher as a first timer glassing, but i was able to handle it and i'll only improve from here.

 

Makes sense. I'll definitely do the double spackle on the next board. When i sealed, there were spots (deep gouges) that i went heavier on then other spots (smooth flat spots). I tried keeping it thin. I did think about doing a second coat since with the white on white it's hard to tell what's missed and what's just a thin layer. Perfect example though. I'll have this in the back of my head on the next boards and won't make that mistake again.

The deck came out much darker, i added more plus the extra glass. Next board im going to focus a bit more on color, do a cut lap, double seal. I'll go for a prettier look.

Quick question, in the guides you sent me...it mentions white vinegar. You use that to clean the board prior to the hot coat rather than denatured alcohol? Any particular reason why one over the other?

 

Thanks LB. Did just as you said. Just finished the hotcoat on the deck. Went smoothly. During my first nose to tail passes i was missing some spots. Think it was due to how i poured the resin out. Did my rail to rail passes and got full coverage. Second nose to tail passes. Around the perimeter on the rails. Walked away. Came back 10 min later, saw one little spot i missed on the very edge of the tail just above the tape. Dabbed that real quick. No other spots missed. Walked away. Greenlight suggests having a beer now. Im on it.

I do see one little hair in there. Honestly, i just left it. Forgot to have tweezers at the ready. Letting it cure. Hitting the bottom with a hot coat. Fin box install tomorrow.

We're in the home stretch here!

 

Bottom hot coat is done. Had some trouble getting the resin pushed into the dam at the tail to create that hard edge. Not so much trouble, i was just trying to not hit the tape with my brush. Went over it when i was done and pushed it all in so i think I'm good. Going to be doing a gloss coat anyway.

Do you still tape with a gloss coat? Im assuming the answer is yes otherwise you'd get drips. Assuming you make the tape dam as well. Clarification would be much appreciated.

Fin box tomorrow. Another question i have on that. So from what i understand fin box goes in and all that, then it's grinded down flush. Didn't really look at the box until today. So it has tabs on the outside perimeter, on the corners of the long side. I got to assume those 4 little "lips" are supposed to lay flush with the bottom and that's what gets grinded/ sanded away? It's a factory 10.5 in single fin box.

 

Here's a link to the box. You can see the "lips" in the picture. Just not sure if those are supposed to get sanded or if it's meant to lay flush and just get resin

Edit: forgot to include link
https://greenlightsurfsupply.com/co...-products/products/factory-10-5-centerfin-box

 

Yeah LB no patch. Was doing some reading on swaylocks. General consensus seemed to be either will work fine. Patch obviously a bit stronger but along as you have a tight fit it would be strong enough. Also sounded like any repairs would be easier. So i went with no patch. We will see how it works and maybe do the patch next time depending on what i find.

And barry! I went with red FOR speed. Damn. I'l have to do a yellow board next time

 

Hey man, come round my way and id be happy to let you use it!

 

So things just went south pretty quick. Nothing major, so it's actually pretty funny. This is going to get long winded....

So let me start off by saying i commercial/industrial HVAC/R. The point being, i work on some heavy stuff. I bend copper and hard conduit up as big as 4-5 inches, hammer drill/core drill through 3 ft thick concrete walls, drill/hole saw I beams/q deck/thick gauge sheet metal. My point here isn't to say "look at how hard i am". You'll see my point in bringing this up, i promise. Also worth mentioning is because i don't do residential, i really don't deal with wood. And iv never been a wood worker.

So all the tools for this build were my own. Except the router. That i asked pops if i could borrow. Since im using my old room as a shaping bay anyway, i never dug it out until last night. Knowing id need it today. Well his router is a monster. Bigger than my damn head. Felt it was over kill. And just didn't feel comfortable using it. So i decided to head to harbor freight and get my own router and some bits.

Now, as a guy who uses his tools to make a living, i view harbor freight differently then your average home owner. Some stuff there is great and cheap. Others, like their drill bits..... just cheap. I literally have never drilled a hole with their bits. They snap everytime. All my other bits not from HF work great. I also don't buy power tools there. With the exception of tools that i need seldomly. For instance, i got a band saw that i only use if i have alot of THIN kindorf or conduit to cut. It actually works good but doesn't get heavy use. So anyway, this all crossed my mind. But it's foam and a 1/8th basswood stringer..... it'll be fine.

Well it wasn't. First off, i didn't use a jig. That's on me, but i lined up the fin box, traced it, and then freehanded the hole. Honestly it was going great. Until i got to the stringer. It would NOT go through the stringer. I was taking it slow, letting the tool do the work.....nope. Wouldnt go. Don't know if it was the router or bit. But it wasn't cutting it, pun intended. So now im getting pissed. Im no longer letting the tool do the work and im fighting it. Whoops. My nice freehand hole turned into a janky mess when i finally got through. After removing the stringer i had two little tabs left of stringer on the nose and tail end of the box. Box wouldn't fit without removing this little itsy bitsy piece of stringer. Back to the router.... wood starts burning..... then i notice the hole getting deeper.....bit is moving in the chuck. Luckily it didn't go through the deck and i noticed it right away so it was contained. Eff this. I grabbed my dremel with a sanding wheel and just grinded the rest of the stringer. That went smoothly.

So now im left with a bit of a mess, but the box fits and is straight. Although there are spots where i went wider on accident due to me fighting the stringer, other parts are nice and tight and kept the box straight. Due to my router mess, the box looks crooked, but after measuring i realized it's not. It's just my mess that's making it look off.

Cool, disaster avoided. Time to stick it in there. I don't know how much resin it needs, so i mix up more than enough. Added some color to try and cover up my mess. Pour some resin in the hole, stick the box in.......no overflow of resin. Pull the box out, pour more resin in, stick box back in. RESIN EVERYWHERE! I frantically grab rags to contain it. It worked. But man. That did NOT go smooth.

Box is in. It's straight. It's flush. It looks like garbage but my main concern isn't with looks. I was not worried about routing out foam and a 1/8 thick stringer. I deal with heavy metal daily. Nope. That 1/8 thick stringer gave me a run for my money.

Although i think i would of been ok freehanding it if i hadn't started fighting the stringer, next time im getting the damn jig. And im throwing out my harbor freight bits. Not sure if that was the issue or the router or what. Im just happy i didn't ruin the board and was able to save it.

 

Haha! The funny part is when i realized my pops router wasn't going to be used, i almost decided to use my drill. I do it all the time on metal fan brackets and stuff to get a customer by if it's the weekend and supply houses are closed. Drill a hole or use a existing hole, pull on drill to essentially cut the metal with a drill. It works. Decided not to do that since HF routers are cheap. Just use the right tool......i would of been better off with a drill and winging it.

 

Yeah man. I figured a HF router would be fine for just cutting fin box holes. Turned on me so quick. I can deal with the router, i have a feeling it was the bit. Next time i'll buy quality bits. Like i said, i should of known better.

I'll totally make my own jig next time. I know I'm opening a can of worms freehanding but it really was going good until the router/bit shortcomings became apparent. Live and learn. Major disasters were avoided so i can get a good laugh out of it.