I've had another little hiccup to put a delay on my longest ever in history board build!!! I have to repair my current board! I had a little disagreement with a rock.
I miss judged where some known submerged rocks are and just as I was bearing away at full speed I hit one instantly stopping the board and throwing me off.
Interestingly to me the force only split down one side of the box. Forcing the rear end of the box into the core cell block its set in cracking the core cell block and despite all my efforts to entirely wrap the box in glass it still leaked into the EPS foam! Gotta wait a while for the foam to dry out. ......Will I ever get my new board ever finished??
The pics below show the verticle crack, I later pulled off the side wall in the vice just to see if the split went further into the box, it didn't. I would have lost the fin for sure if it was another fin box system.
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Here's few pics of my fin box repair I've had to do to get my big board back on the water, just needs some paint then its back to working on and finishing my board.
After box was removed I let it dry then resined in some more high density PVC foam
New fin box hole routed out.
Dry run make surd it all fits
Wet resin and glass around fin box
Resin glass and carbon capping applied
Filler coat applied
Filler coat sanded, hole cut out, just needs a coat of paint.
Back to my build.
Grey primer sanded back looked a bit too much sanded back. Didn't like it. So I've sprayed a top coat of grey.
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Yer yer yer you creative hands on crew better when they arrive like this / hard enough putting footstrap and fins in heeeee
Owwwwwch your killing me with that awesome paint job Kingy makes mine look so drab. Really enjoying his board build videos. Really want to see the secret stuff! its good to see other variations in techniques and see other time saving ways of doing things. I thought the taped up rail lap was interesting instead of a free lap, makes it a lot neater even and smoother eg less ridges finish. Also like his attention to detail and appreciate the time and effort he puts in. Glad I'm not the only one who uses box loads of masking tape. I'm itching to make another one!
Might also make a quick vid for the end of this thread.
Here it is so far with the straps on just gotta put the fins in and I'm ready to go. Shame were not getting much wind on these 40 degree plus days that are forecast.
Rider the board looks sweet, did you use some anti-shark inspiration with the paint job on the bottom?
Theory says that sharks don't like zebra like patterns,,,,,,,,,,,, according to theory.
Sort of as it was all grey and I didn't want it to look like a big grey seal. So I loosely based it on a fish.
Sharks don't eat fish Mike?
No, They generally found to be teething on outboard engines and snack on people. I'm sure it was sand whiting that took my snapper and Spanish mackerel ...going by the teeth marks
Although great effort on the board Rider...thumbs up
Sharks don't eat fish Mike?
Bugger! I thought they ate seals and baby whales and quatro boards.
Sharks don't eat fish Mike?
No, They generally found to be teething on outboard engines and snack on people. I'm sure it was sand whiting that took my snapper and Spanish mackerel ...going by the teeth marks
Although great effort on the board Rider...thumbs up
Thanks Vince re the good effoert I guess if I get chomped on, I made the wrong call.
Maybe I should have done big eyes and a big mouth with lots of big sharp teeth.
Feedback
I designed the board for average 15 to 20 knot days at my local onshorish beachbreak that has a small wave and often has a side current dragging guys downwind. The 8 year old board I was copying got on the plane quickly and did nice tight little turns I just wanted more volume/float to help planning in the side current.
Ok first day out my front fins hadn't arrived on my old board I use 16 rears and 9 fronts so I used 15 rears and 10 fronts I was hoping for lighter winds,wind was like this.
Used it with a 5.3 it felt very similar to my other board I could feel the extra float, it did feel like it wanted to straighten up a bit in the turns. But I was quite happy.
Next day was even stronger went out with my 5.0 and put some old 9cm front fins in, wind was like this
Still not the conditions it was designed for, but I couldnt get the smile off my face! The 9cm fins improved the turns heaps.
On my lightwind 110 litre board the 10cm fronts paired up with 17cm rears turn great. I'm being really OCD and picky here, It seems to me there is a certain ratio of front to rear fin area that stops the board wanting to slightly straighten up mid turn if enough foot pressure isnt consistently applied.
I've had couple of inquireys about materials used and suppliers here some info.
6 oz Carbon www.sollercomposites.com/
Chinook boxes and plugs http://www.stubell.com.au/
Epoxy Resin Kinetrix UV resistant for a while Good for filler coat and deck grip www.shapers.com.au/ and atlcomposites.com.au/
Divinycell atlcomposites.com.au/
Araldite K3600 Epoxy Resin ( the best resin I've used for laminating) and Divinycell, Qcell filler, pigment
www.kirkside.com.au/
4oz glass Colin Earl surf supplies in Osborne Park W.A.
Nichrome wire and battery charger to make hot wire cutter
5" side us box ebay
Bunnings and Super cheap auto for paint, thinners, sandpaper masking tape etc.
Pads and straps www.flikkaboards.com/ www.northshoreinc.com
Polystyrene EPS is S grade I have also used SL grade with no problems
Corecell is 5mm thick about 75kg/m3
Divinycell 5 mm and 80 kg/m3
www.fibreglass-resin-sales.com.au/ also supply kinetrix resin vac bags pigment glass and carbon
Fridge compressor and car vacuum gauge for vacuum pump.
As this boards done I'm starting a new thread for my next project. www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Wave-sailing/Whats-Mike-up-to-now/
I've had a couple of people ask me why is the board green when its in the bag. Its breather material, I've taken a pick of the raw materials in layers like they would be in the bag
First is the corecell this is covered by resin soaked carbon fiber cloth, next layer is some black plastic stopping the wet carbon sticking to the next layer which is a breather layer of fabric it allows an even vacuum pressure over the whole board the last layer is the clear plastic a vacuum bag that helps suck and push everything down onto the board until it all dries. I could use another material between the carbon and black plastic to soak up excess resin and make the board lighter, but in the past it has made the boards not as strong and I get more pin holes when filling and painting the board.
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Nice article. Nice job. I have the same habit. Dressmakers sell rip stop nylon which they use for suit lining. It breathes and makes a great breather cloth. Peels off the cured skin easy and leaves a nice finish.
Much cheaper than Marine Industry breather cloth. A layer of shade cloth on top of this does the bleeder cloth job, also low bucks. Gets the excess resin out of the cure.
Plastic on top of this lot and then into the vac bag.