RealSurf Surfers' Forum

So, my most recent board I shaped was glassed in UV resin. Two full-deck 4oz layers (whole deck, not just a foot patch) and one 4oz bottom later. That makes a full three laps of 4oz around the rails. The glassing process went to plan. Worked out all the bubbles in the laminate coat and made a good clean laminate coat. The hot coat was sanded down a good amount. Not too little, not too much. All seemed good.

Then.... it started dinging. I crushed the rail with an unknown part of my body in a late drop. That was fixed pretty easily, then first surf back a pretty minor bump on something hard in a ute tray made another big crack right through the glass. Thats a second major fix needed.

I'm starting to ask, whats everyones opinion of the final strength of UV catalyst versus regular PUP (or whatever its called) catalyst?

The pure practicality alone makes UV resin gold. Especially with someone like myself who doesn't want to completly crap up a blank I've spent weeks shaping. I understand regular catalyst is very usable in skilled hands, but I always end up running around the shed, resin gelling, the whole garage dragging around behind my feet from sticky resin. All chaos and shit glass job ensured.

So, opinions?

Hey Cpt

Do you know the brand it was glassed in? - most UV resin lams are more brittle than normal lams.

Think of it this way, what happens to an old board that you leave out in the sun? (apart from yellowing foam)
UV rays makes plastic (resin) brittle and damaged over time - what this process does is speeds up the process.

The reason its popular is that the glass shops can lam a lot more boards in a short time and more work in repairs!

Sorry - I'm a not a fan of the product, lot better resins out there though some of the uv resin brands are better than others

Blank density and sanding, have probably, in my limited experience contributed way more to my issues than using UV catalyst.

I use Sunbake UV from shapers in FGI lam resin for the lamination.

My cloth is from them too ... 4oz. I glass all boards with 2 x 4oz on the deck and 1 x 4oz on the bottom (plus the patches around the fin and leash plugs) ... the last one I did seems to be holding up much better. I took the time with the sanding process ... and have gone back to a standard density blank (had been playing lite blanks)

MEKP for the filler coat (hot coat)

Thanks Packa

As I mentioned "some", Sunbake is better than some - though still not the greatest. I know of 2 board shapers that feature in the "Tracks" board guides that wont touch UV anymore as too many complaints from customers. So that must mean something.

Yes sanding and blank density is very important also - as well as resin - want a board to last.. use epoxy, a lot better resin for surfboards

Put it this way when was the last time you heard of a race car/boat made from poly resin? and if its time that you are worried about when glassing you just use a slower hardner with epoxy (make sure it UV resistant) to give you more time

http://sanded.com.au/resins_14.html

It's the sanding that worries me with Epoxy >><<