Rail taping my new Nalu.

There's supposed to be a lot of cursing and swearing when applying rail tape, from my experience anyway.
Obviously none of that for you DJ.
I made up for it on your behalf, however, when I watched the rest of the vid whilst sitting in my box at work.
I did get a laugh when Ann did one of her statuesque fall offs, though...

VERY nice. How long was that wave???? Thanks DJ.

Nice one DJ.
A video of me applying Railsaver would be X rated.
I have put it on 2 boards and failed dismally.
Unless I got some from the batch with bends in the tape and bubbles under it.
Got Warwick to put it on the daughter's new 10'6" Nalu to save embarrassment.

You make the best vids DJ !
Going to Cali , Led Zeppelin looping background soundtrack ,?
And that railsaver rail tape looks great

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Helmy said..
There's supposed to be a lot of cursing and swearing when applying rail tape, from my experience anyway.
Obviously none of that for you DJ.
I made up for it on your behalf, however, when I watched the rest of the vid whilst sitting in my box at work.
I did get a laugh when Ann did one of her statuesque fall offs, though...

Hey Helmy.. I've had a few people contact me asking what this RSP stuff is really like and how hard is it to put it on.. I've seen a few average jobs by some shops and also people who don't do it right IMO.. .. That's partly why I did this vid (any excuse really.. ) .. Anyway.. The most common error is not going far enough forward with it.. You need to protect the max reach part of the stroke.. That's where most people hit their rails.. The next thing is that it needs to be on the higher top side of the rail.. Because again that's where the rail is most likely to be hit.. The last thing is being wobbly along the rail and having lots of bubbles..

Having a work stand helps heaps.. If I didn't have one I'd go to a park and use a picnic table or something.. Just throw a towel over it first.. You also need a few short pieces of strong tape to hold the ends and middle in place to hold it roughly in the right position while putting it on.. I would always start at the front first.. Once the first inch or so is stuck work your way along only lightly pressing the center part down.. This alows you to lift (unstick) and reposition it.. This is one of the special things about RSPro.. The gel like glue lets you peal and restick unlike some other rail tapes out there that once they're down.. they're down fo good.. Some will even peal the paint off if you try and remove it.. You can even transfer RSPro from one board to another without a problem.. and it stays stuck the second time around..

Once the center part is stuck and you're happy with the possition (and both sides are the same) you can then push it down from the center out to the edge working your way along.. Don't worry about wrinkles along the edge at the start because the other good thing about RSPro is that it's so plyable so the wrinkles just smooth out.. It's pretty amazing.. You might get the odd bubble but it's no big deal.. btw.. Any bubbles are much more obvious on the clear tapes.. I try to follow a line along the deck graphics to help to get it nice and straight.. The Naish boards make it easy..

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Casso said..
VERY nice. How long was that wave???? Thanks DJ.

Not sure Andrew..

I don't think it's as long and the wave you once posted in a vid.. I need someone with one of those new RipCurl watches..

I'll let you know when I find out..

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Johnnyclash said..
You make the best vids DJ !
Going to Cali , Led Zeppelin looping background soundtrack ,?
And that railsaver rail tape looks great

Thanks.. That's Jimmy Page on the mandolin.. Classic stuff..

It's not looping.. It's the second last track on disc two of the recent re release of Led Zeppelin 4 remastered..

I've always loved Going to California.. I'm so glad Vimeo didn't pull it off for copywrite reasons..

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SUPfinn said..

DavidJohn said..

SUPfinn said..
Looks great . I always enjoy your vids . On a side note , I notice you also surf the Mana . How does that compare to the Nalu to paddle on flat water and surf on ? I'm undecided on the two ( I would either get the 10' Mana or the 10'6 Nalu ).

Thanks.. and great choice of boards..

My surfing quiver is a 9'1" Hokua.. a 9'5" Mana.. and an 11' Nalu.. I love them all but if I had to choose only one I would choose the Mana..

How heavy are you?.. IMO if you can paddle the 10'6" Nalu you should be fine on the 9'5" Mana.. Unless you're a really big guy.. you will find the 9'5" a much better board than the bigger 10' Mana.. The Mana's paddle flat water great.. If you're light the 10'6" Nalu is going to be the best flat water paddler but the 9'5" is just as stable as the 10'6" and it turns so much better in the surf.. You really should demo them before you buy if you can..

Thanks for the info . I'm 40 years old , 6' , 87 kg . I am new to SUPing and have only done flat water . I will demo the two first but only on flat water as I have no stand up paddle surfing experience . As I get better I will take it out in the surf so I would prefer a better turning board for surfing if it will still be ok for flat water , that's why I thought maybe the 10' Mana .

We are a similar height and weight and if I was you I'd be tossing up between the 9'5" Mana and the 11' Nalu.. With the Mana being the better surfing option and also a fair bit smaller to carry.. lift.. and store.. but it will be not as good as a flat water paddling board.. IMO the new 11' Nalu would be a better option than the 10' Mana and would be a better all-round board option..

I've put RSP on four boards - it goes on easier than any of the others and it's easy to peel back during the initial fitting if you make a mistake. Like anything of that type, clean surfaces and working slowly, squeezing out air with palm of your hand (or better, a stiff plastic squeegee, like those things for scraping snow off windscreens).

had my first surf on the 11ft nalu gt on the weekend, 3 words
HEAPS OF FUN

just need to put some wax on the nose

this board is defiantly a keeper, love it

You have the patience of a saint, DJ.
Putting rail tape on is much harder in slow motion
(at least it is when I do it!).

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Area10 said..
I found that putting RSPro on wet makes life a whole lot easier. No sticking/unsticking necessary, you just slide it into place.

And then squeegee the water out from under the tape?
No residual water or air bubbles?

Area 10,
Could you post this about 2 weeks ago?
I am crap at this sort of thing, but calmly and thoroughly researched everything, watched a 'How to" vid, not DJ's.
If this stuff is this easy, surely even I can do it.
Cleaned with metho as instructed, looked for the break in the backing to start in the middle, like in the video, no break.
Attempt to cut backing? - could see that damaging tape.
Started at the front, as that was where the backing peeled off, applied to board, and Wamm, stuck and not shifting.
Did Ion tape on my SIC first, when tried to reposition I could see the clear coat lifting, so put it back down and continued as best I could.
Did the second side, went worse than the first.
Stiff drink, Rail Saver Pro on the Naish.
Seemed to go a bit better, but when I tried to straighten the back end, lifted the top coat from the board.
Smoothed everything out, probably doesn't look as bad as I think, but massively stressfull.
Have another lot of rail saver to put on my other Naish, will try the 'Wet" method.
Helmy reckons I did OK, and I wouldn't have even attempted other rail tapes, but not the easy job I was expecting (hoping for).
It should still come with a "Don't try this at home" warning.






Laurie, when I upload images, they go in in at the top of the post, even in to a quote if you have quoted.
I have to upload images in the reverse order I want then, and can't put in images if I quote.
Almost as annoying as applying RSP>

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DavidJohn said..

Helmy said..
There's supposed to be a lot of cursing and swearing when applying rail tape, from my experience anyway.
Obviously none of that for you DJ.
I made up for it on your behalf, however, when I watched the rest of the vid whilst sitting in my box at work.
I did get a laugh when Ann did one of her statuesque fall offs, though...

Hey Helmy.. I've had a few people contact me asking what this RSP stuff is really like and how hard is it to put it on.. I've seen a few average jobs by some shops and also people who don't do it right IMO.. .. That's partly why I did this vid (any excuse really.. ) .. Anyway.. The most common error is not going far enough forward with it.. You need to protect the max reach part of the stroke.. That's where most people hit their rails.. The next thing is that it needs to be on the higher top side of the rail.. Because again that's where the rail is most likely to be hit.. The last thing is being wobbly along the rail and having lots of bubbles..

Having a work stand helps heaps.. If I didn't have one I'd go to a park and use a picnic table or something.. Just throw a towel over it first.. You also need a few short pieces of strong tape to hold the ends and middle in place to hold it roughly in the right position while putting it on.. I would always start at the front first.. Once the first inch or so is stuck work your way along only lightly pressing the center part down.. This alows you to lift (unstick) and reposition it.. This is one of the special things about RSPro.. The gel like glue lets you peal and restick unlike some other rail tapes out there that once they're down.. they're down fo good.. Some will even peal the paint off if you try and remove it.. You can even transfer RSPro from one board to another without a problem.. and it stays stuck the second time around..

Once the center part is stuck and you're happy with the possition (and both sides are the same) you can then push it down from the center out to the edge working your way along.. Don't worry about wrinkles along the edge at the start because the other good thing about RSPro is that it's so plyable so the wrinkles just smooth out.. It's pretty amazing.. You might get the odd bubble but it's no big deal.. btw.. Any bubbles are much more obvious on the clear tapes.. I try to follow a line along the deck graphics to help to get it nice and straight.. The Naish boards make it easy..

I fitted some clear RSP to my Glide 6 months ago and I was a bit disappointed that there were a few bubbles after installation.

I have checked it since and the bubbles have disappeared, not sure why could the heat from being in the sun or left in the shed on a hot day, either way the're gone and it looks great.

I recently fitted the clear RSP to my white JP Fusion and it looks a tad yellow on the board, possible from the adhesive. It was a difficult process trying to follow the rocker on the board to make it look symmetrical. I learnt from experience after doing the first side, as the second side looks much better. Likewise with the Glide there were still a few small bubble even after running over the RSP with a blunt metal scraper, which by the way removed 99% of the bubbles. The bubbles are small 3-5mm in diameter so I scavenged one of the missus sewing pins and pierced the bubble parallel with the board. I then ran the scrapper over the area and the bubbles disappeared.

I don't SUP (yet !), but couldn't you wrap the paddle shaft where it contacts the board, sorry, silly question.