Old Surfboard rebirth into a Kiteboard.

We have Solarez here in Windforce. (08)9386 1830.

hold the phone.....

major stuff up just happened!
went and got 1L of west epoxy and hardener, got everything ready, mixed the resin and away i went putting some down the centre of the board, started working with the squeegeeeee, and F$%K ME DEAD, the bloddy creases in the mat were not laying flat!!

SH1T!!!!

i had already poured resin and started working it accross the length of the board!!!
what could i do???????

so i just continued as best i could, i did get, considering that 5 mins with the iron would have made a world of a difference, not too bad a result.... cough cough.

it's now 6.45pm the resin is set quite hard, only just tacky now, and the damage is done.

what could i have done????

1. use the hot iron to flatten the creases.
2. rolled the mat when it arrived, instead of leaving it folded.
3. take the wetted mat off, and replace with ironed mat.
4. take the wetted mat off, scrape of as much resin as posable, let it dry and sand back. loosing the mat and the resin mix.

what ever you would have done, or what i should have done, is now not the point, not to me anyway, the point is, what do i do now?????????

DAMAGE CONTROL!!!!!!!!!!!

in the morning i'll get some photos of the damage, and probly start sanding lumps and cutting open any air bubbles.
i'll fill the air bubbles with resin as best i can.
i'm going to iron flat the off cuts and cut it into strips, ready to use once i've had a change to clean up to the deck.
i'll use the strips to cover where i've had to sand glass away.

and i was thinking i might be able to use the board this sunday, my 18th anniversary!!!!

back to the drawing board........

One of the more innovative safety tips I have seen regarding epoxy.
Cheaper alternative, less toxic, readily available.

Thanks for the heads up, nice tip Pint of Pale.

Can vinegar be used as a general cleanup product (not just off of skin) with epoxy?

Cheers
Fossil

Yep vinegar will clean epoxy off of brushes too...Rinse in vinegar then follow up with soapy water and dry before the next use. It wont clean up poly resin.. I think the vinegar breaks down the chemical bond in the epoxy (before it it cured) .. Re glass not laying flat in an earlier post, you are most likely using too much resin. Use as little as possible to wet out the cloth. If you are doing a patch leave the outer edges of the cloth dry. This will wick the excess resin out towards the edges and once cured you can sand of the dry cloth on the edge for a smoother feathered edge. More resin = less strength and more weight.

POP

yeah i got an email about solarez, not any help though. thanks.

yes, the cloth did not sit flat.
i did try and smooth it out, but it still lifted at the creases.

i think the fibreglass is too fine, too close a weave. too high a thread count.

i'll get some normal glass cloth, i was trying to use light weight cloth, but i bet there is a trick to using it.

the board is now cleaned up, all resin and glass removed.
sanded with a very course sandpaper.

i'm going to lay two patches around where i will place my feet, as a first step to see if i get a better bond. that should give more strenght to the deck where needed.

i'll see how that goes before i commit any more.

again.
the cloth i used lifted where it had been folded, i should have ironed it flat, but i didnt.
i dont think i used too much or too little resin, i just stuff up with the cloth having creases from being folded.
i thought it may lay flat once hit with resin, but it didnt.

more soon.

yeah you tell em rich, never never never ever fold woven mat.

it creases badly, and the folds move fibres so you get ugly spots.

OK. NOW WE HAVE SUCCESS!!!!!!

i got 1/2m of woven mat (now i know to call it woven and not just mat) that i used on the deck to reinforce the foot hold areas.
the FG was folded, but i was able to iron out the creases. it sat nice and flat.
i ditched the idea of using a squeege, and went to using a brush (imo, as a fibreglassing expert now, dont use a squeege, unless you are good at it!!!!) and i got a great result.
there are some areas that need more resin applied to give a nice shiney finish, but i might try white flowcoat for that.
i tried a PEEL test, and i could not peel any resin off like before, the course sanding did a great job of supplying a surface to stick too.
and with fibreglass you dont need a smooth surface to make it look good.

ok, so i sanded back the edges of the glass on the deck, feathers out real well, and actually sands back quite fast. (all sanding done by hand)

so happy with the woven mat that i went and got 2m and started on the underside of the board.
not knowing if i would be able to get the woven mat to wrap arround the sides, i taped off half way down the rail.
cut the glass to completely cover the underside, mixed the resin (all i had left) and went to work.
got a great result first pop, very happy so far, lots of sanding to do now.

anyway, it's my anniversery today, 17 bloody years, (you get less for murder don't you?), i wont have the board ready to test today, bugger it.
but at least i'm allowed to go kitesurfing today.

she's not a bad wife, she just has a bad husband!!!
Love ya babe!!!!!
thanks for warming me up this morning!!! wink wink.
(she reads what i get up to)

photos to come very soon (of the board, not the warm up)

oh and btw, thanks a million for the vinegar tip, you are a ledgend!!!!

Here are the latest photos of the board.

Fins attached, straps attached, in need of deck grip or wax.

is it ready to test?

thanks.

re the screw heads, i will drop them all below flush, eventually!!!
and i am about to apply some deck grip of sorts (slot together rubber matting cut to shape) with double sided tape.
i only need them to stay on for long enough to test the board.

i do want to apply a nice coat to top it all off.
give it a tough skin all over.
should i use resin, or flow coat?

the fibreglass (i added) does not cover all of the board.
the underside is fully coated with glass, the deck has the footpad areas and between them is covered, with the foredeck and tail being unreinforced on the top side.

the footstrap plugs were added and reinforced by digging out foam from under the deck glass, making the epoxy glue form a plug much larger than the hole drilled.
the fins are fitted through holes drilled in solid resin blocks. the blocks are solid resin between the boards fibreglass skins. in the shape of a long slot, the fin boxes were cut fron the underside, filled, sanded, and covered with the added fibreglass woven mat and epoxy resin.

although i need to apply another coat of resin, the weight has not increased too much imo.
it does feel heavier, and its not hard to tell it is much more ridgid.

still not finished, but almost there.

later....................................................

where can i get a large seabreeze sticker??????

yeah it is.

resin on the underside to seal the board.
deck later today.

leaving the board out in the sun to warm up seems to help the resin flow into the smaller holes better and sit flatter.

it looked like it was going to be very streaky, but it has started to settle quite a bit.
i could not have done it with a squeege, no way.

At last it is ready to test.

i gave it a light sand with 360 wet paper to knock the pimples off, and give it a mat finish all over.

my wife just said 'looks dont matter, it's strong and thats what counts'

looks like wind in the morning.

-Get permission from seabreeze to use said sticker
-Buy A3 rice paper
-Print logo with good quality printer, to size reqiured.
-Embed with next layer of resin.


Sounds simple doesn't it

Cheers
Fossil

Some great work there mate, with the fins I would imo change the front fins to an M3 or M5 FCS fin and leave the rear ones as is. With a set up like that you could flat turn it no worries

In regards to the fin mounting, there is no strength in epoxy/resin alone, best would be to mix fibre glass and resin. There is alot of force on the fins especially if you hit objects.

Look how they install fcs boxes, there alot of how to vids on the net.

Bending the screw like that I don't think much will handle that kind of knock, if you want to ride in shallow waters have a look at skim boards and boards that incorporate channels instead of fins- with that board you are halfway there with the channels. Aliah boards work on a similar principle but you may have to sharpen your rail so it can act as a fin.

Just some ideas.

Cheers
Rich

I can appreciate the educational aspects that have come from the development of the board, and I have followed the progress with interest, and learned from it,
but,
Why not just just go out and buy a North, Liquid Force, or Nobile Skimboard/Hibred, and save all the work, it sounds like it does the same.

You might find that in light winds you are better off without the straps, as you won't be doing any jumps, and you will be able to move your feet around easier and it won't restrict you if you are gybing it.
If it has that bit of weight, you will still control it as you go over waves etc.

Thanks for all the great info.
Overall its been terrific to follow.

An alternative is to try an old surfboard strapless a couple of times and if it suites, strip it down to the foam and re glass. After pealing off the old glass, fill in the larger dings with a can of PU foam from the hard ware store then sand smooth. You can then even chose to vacu on a layer of diviny cell if the deck has been compressed too much.
Its the easiest way to get into making boards