Fiberglassing the Grain Surfboards Waterlog, Part 5

The fiberglassing has begun! 

It's always a thrill to see the rich colors emerge when the epoxy hits the glass. 

 

I started by running blue tape along the seam of the bottom panel. I propped up the edges with bits of shavings. 

 

 

  

 

Having the edges of the tape hang down instead of adhering to the board allows excess epoxy to run off and not accumulate on the other side. Once turned over, as in the picture below, you can see how the tape allows for drips to fall off. 

 

 

 

Here is the fiberglass laid out and trimmed. I added slits to the nose and tail where the cloth would have a hard time conforming to the curves. 

 

 

And here's how it looks after the "Lam coat" (Lamination coat). I started at the nose and spread epoxy over the first third of the board with my spreader. I then worked it out to the edges on both sides, and then over and under the rails. 

 

Then I went back and squeegeed off as much epoxy as I could without starving the glass of epoxy. There are no white spots on the board. 

 

 

 

 

 

The tail turned out better than I had expected. I think the simple treatment worked better than several different colors mixed together. This looks classy. 

Here's how it looks a couple hours later after the "Hot coat" (the second coat that tries to fill the weave). It went on easily enough but there are some bubbles and dust bits and other crap that inevitably lands on the new epoxy. 

Oh well, this layer is meant to be sanded so it's all okay. 

 Later tonight I will drill the hole for the vent (which I already drilled earlier but need to redrill), cut the tape and excess glass off, and let it cure overnight. 

Tomorrow I might install the vent plug and the leash connection.  That would give the deck one more full day to cure before I flip it over to glass the bottom. That would mean less chance of creating indents in the deck. 

 

Aloha!