so I got me some EPS and balsa sheet...

[mustkillmulloway]

off topic...sorry

kaya u going share anymore photos your boards

last one gave me a hard on for a week and the missus needs servicin again

[dUg]

[tiger]

Looks like some really nice balsa dUg. Don't know if you've laminated it yet, but its a good idea to totally cover the joins with tape, to stop seepage.

Wait until you wet that stuff with resin, you will freak at how good it looks.

Mines almost finished. Just a gloss and polish away. I'm in froth mode, stoked how it came out.

[kayu]

.....lookin good dUg......here's a viable alternative for short pieces....(it will add a bit of flex)

[tiger]

Nice Kayu. Amazing what you can do with offcuts isn't it.

We got a sample folder of timber veneers off a plywood company years ago. I've been frustratedly looking for it since I started mucking around with bagging. I happened upon it the other day, it's got 40+ A4 sized samples of different timbers. Thinking a patchwork or herring bone style layout would look pretty interesting with them.

[dUg]

Kayu that looks nuts!! Love that herringbone pattern... got any more pics? What sort of timber is it, and where did you get it?

Tiger... it's becoming abundantly clear that I need to consult you prior to doing each build step to avoid doing anything stoopid. :?

I got lucky with the lam, I was able to get the balsa really flush and only had the resin bleed through in two small places that will easily sand out. You're right... it looks the shiz!

Hoping to plane down the EPS on the weekend ( surf looking shite here so perfect opportunity ) and maybe get the rocker bent in and glue it all up. I used 4oz on the back of the 5mm balsa and the stiffness feels pretty good. I reckon combined with the carbon tape running the full length of the rails it'll be pretty much right with no central stringer. Fingers crossed. I had an idea too for the "next" one, and that's to run two lines of carbon tape along the back of the lam to act as a stringer. Also thought about using Kevlar for the backing... but yeah... expensive.

Any more pics of your latest Tiger?

[tiger]

Yeah mate it's all finished and ready to surf .





I'll put a few more pics in my compsand thread.

[kayu]

Nicework tiger.....epoxy ?

[tiger]

Thanks Kayu. Epoxy lams. UV poly gloss coat, cos I was getting impatient.

[dUg]

I can only dream of getting a finish like that Tiger... still... something to aspire to.

Progress has been good this weekend, but I thought I'd blown it when I looked at my nice balsa + 4oz lam Friday night. The warm weather during the week had caused it to buckle along the stringer line like a leaf... fine if I wanted a reverse concave but I sure as feck don't!

Anyway, I got some weight on it and managed to flatten it out a bit, set up my makeshift rocker bench and once I put the bend in and glued it all up, it all turned beautifully flat. I over rockered it, and when I took it out of the rig this arvo it sprang back to near perfect rocker matching the original board I'm copying. I was also stoked with the flex characteristics, and I am now starting to wonder if the carbon rails will even be necessary. As a compromise I may keep them but only do a single lap.

I just had to cut the planshape out to see what it looked like.

[kayu]

The carbon rail thing is a myth...unless your trying to save weight.....solid balsa rails will flex better than carbon .... all you need to worry about is impact strength on the deck.....get it finished and waxed dUg ! ....before you lose interest

[dUg]

The carbon rail thing is a myth...unless your trying to save weight.....solid balsa rails will flex better than carbon .... all you need to worry about is impact strength on the deck.....get it finished and waxed dUg ! ....before you lose interest

Weight? Hell no... I just reckon I stand a better chance of not botching carbon rails than I would balsa rails.

Speaking of waxing... that brings me to the topic of the deck ( as opposed to the Mardi Gras ) and how the b'jesus I'm gonna make that work.

I got some 1.5mm strips, enough to plank it - but surely pre-laminating it with more 4oz is excessive?? Should I prefabricate the deck skin with maybe some 1oz cloth or something? Or, and suggesting this terrifies me but what the hell... it's freakin' Halloween, can I plank it directly by gluing the deck strips right on? They'll have 4oz on top so it'll be plenty tough enough with 'poxy.

Thoughts, anyone?

[diggerdickson]

The carbon rail thing is a myth...unless your trying to save weight.....solid balsa rails will flex better than carbon .... all you need to worry about is impact strength on the deck.....get it finished and waxed dUg ! ....before you lose interest

Weight? Hell no... I just reckon I stand a better chance of not botching carbon rails than I would balsa rails.

Speaking of waxing... that brings me to the topic of the deck ( as opposed to the Mardi Gras ) and how the b'jesus I'm gonna make that work.

I got some 1.5mm strips, enough to plank it - but surely pre-laminating it with more 4oz is excessive?? Should I prefabricate the deck skin with maybe some 1oz cloth or something? Or, and suggesting this terrifies me but what the hell... it's freakin' Halloween, can I plank it directly by gluing the deck strips right on? They'll have 4oz on top so it'll be plenty tough enough with 'poxy.

Thoughts, anyone?

My thoughts are holy shite batman, I cant even imagine trying to do this, let alone have any thoughts on it, your a brave man indeed dug. Enjoying this thread a hell of a lot mate.

[tiger]

A lot of it depends on how your going to attach your deck skin to the blank dug.

If your balsa for the deck is only 1.5 thick, I think you'll be well served to have a layer of 4oz on both sides.

Pre lamming, then bagging is the way you should do it. You'll have a hard time getting tight joins if your trying to do them plank by plank, especially with the convex curve of the deck shape.

[dUg]

Digger... I still reckon I'd like to give it a go... *because* it's hard. But maybe not on this board.

Tiger... your advice has been spot on so far, and it would be foolhardy of me to go against it. I found some 1oz I had stashed away and there's *just* enough to cover the deck. I've got it all taped up and ready to laminate.

On the weekend I'll lay into the deck and rails with the tools, and hopefully have it finished just in time for the deck skin to be ready. I've still gotta do the fin and leash plug inserts ( 4 balsa blocks ) which will mean cutting giant holes in my pristine blank . Once they're glued in, dry and planed / sanded flush, I'll be ready to attach the deck. Hope to get all that done over the weekend, ready to glass next week.

Depending on how the work situation pans out, might be able to finish it off in time for the following weekend.

[diggerdickson]

yewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww, dug, dig in mate, cant wait for the photos

[kayu]

.....waterbags will com in handy to weight your planks down dUg-(poor mans vacuum)....use the bladders from a few used ChatuaCardboard wine casks.........

[dUg]

Well... I knew things were probably going a bit well with this build, and I was long overdue for a visit from the füćk-up fairy. That visit came friday night, as I mixed the second batch of epoxy to finish of the deck skin. The first went on well - wetted the cloth evenly and squeegeed out nicely... but the second... well...I dunno what the b'jesus happened.

I was using the same batch or part one and two, but a short time after I mixed it, I could feel the plastic cup starting to get warm. Stupidly, I kinda panicked a bit and thought "better move faster", so I started pouring the resin all over the cloth and trying to spread it as quickly as I could. Next thing the cup is too hot to hold, and I'm thinking "NOT GOOD... NOT GOOD!", so I put the bastard down and watched is start to smoke. I got back to the resin and could see it was already going off, so desperately I tried to flatten it out, but to no avail. I had horrible 20 cent sized blobs all over the front section of the skin.

I decided as it was kinda tacky, my best hope was to flip it over and get some weight on it - in the hope of at least flattening the bigger lumps out. I chucked some 3-ply on it but couldn't find any barrier plastic handy - a fatal mistake as it turned out. The next day I took all the weights off the ply, but it was stuck in a latch near the middle. When it came apart, two large chunks of my lovely deck came with it. :/

I ended up cutting them out and replacing them with two thinner sheets, one area will have plenty of wax hiding it and the other is about where the deck-al wil go. I still have to hit it with the random orbital to de-lumpify it before attempting to attach it to the board.

Got the fin and leash plug blocks in today, and I also did the nose and tail blocks. The tail is JD inspired, and features a nice laminated "V" for the swallow.

Next... time to shape the rails then I'm ready to skin it.


Digger... will post a few more pics soon, mainly to illustrate the horror.

Kayu... you're talking my language... this board embodies "poor man" construction methods. I wanted to try and do it without vac-bagging, so I'm improvising as much as possible.