Skip to main content

Final Gloss Coat on Waterlog Surfboard! Part 8 of the Grain Build

Well... I put on the final gloss coat on the deck of the Grain Surfboards Waterlog

IF I'm actually done with this board, then it took five weeks and two days to complete starting from the day it was delivered. It took a lot longer than I expected due to it being more technical and fiddley than most of the boats and kayaks I've built. I build an entire Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) Annapolis Wherry in about the same time. 

It looks okay. Might have to do some touch-ups, or I might sand it all and then polish it, but based on the way I'm feeling right now I'll probably just leave it as is. It'll get scratched up quite a bit once I start using it, and a few dust bits here and there won't be seen at that point. So I might as well enjoy the gloss while it lasts!

 

The epoxy really brought out the grain of both the northern white cedar and the western red cedar. It looks really nice if you ignore all the dust bits. 

Here's how it looked after final sanding, wiping down with denatured alcohol, taping, and wiping down again, ready for the gloss epoxy coat.  

Afterwards... 

I tried harder this time to clean up runs, drips, sags, and curtains along the rails, and to evenly brush the epoxy all the way down to the tape. I didn't do a great job on the bottom gloss coat and ended up doing more sanding than I had hoped. Fingers crossed I got it all but we'll find out later.  

There are several obvious dust bunnies on there... ugh. 



 I'll remove the tape in a couple hours, and then see how it all looks tomorrow after it cures enough. 

 

Aloha! 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Rogue Manual

I've posted about this earlier, but thought it might be good to post it again for anyone who may be interested. I've started to write a manual of tips and tricks for Pygmy solo kayak builders. It covers the taping method, so that your boat doesn't have hundreds of holes all over it. I'm on version 2 now. Version 2 covers several other tips and tricks from myself and from others as collected over time. ATTENTION : Use the manual at your own risk! The only person responsible for any mistakes or problems with the building of your boat is you. Always use the official Pygmy manual that came with your kit. Only do those tips and tricks that make sense to you. If something in the manual doesn't sound right to you, then don't do it! Neither I, nor Pygmy Boats, nor anyone else except YOU is responsible for the safety of your boat and the quality of your build. It's in very rough draft form right now, but if you'd like to read it, please send a $10 donat...

Grain Surfboards Waterlog Surfboard Build! Part 1

I'm making a surfboard!  No, I don't actually surf. At least not yet. But we go to Hawaii a lot and a guy has to have a board, right? I didn't kayak either until I built my first Pygmy Coho over 25 years ago. Now I love kayaking. Hopefully the same thing will happen with the surfboard.  The board is a kit from Grain Surfboards . I chose the Waterlog in the 10' version.  I'm super tall and heavy and probably should have selected one of their larger boards, but this is the largest board they have that both Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines will let my check (They have a 10' 5" limit).  I didn't get any pics of the kit box, but it's just a long (10' plus) cardboard mashup box with sticks in it. The epoxy kit comes separately.  I also bought the "rocker table" that is CNC cut to precisely curve the board as you build it. I highly recommend buying a rocker table if you build one.        The kit comes with white cedar planks that you g...

Waterlog Surfboard Build, Part 2

 Since my last post I've made a lot of progress.   I've completed the rails and the landing strips.  Here is the chine log being epoxied in. By the way, I'm using epoxy for much of this. I ended up using Titebond III for most of the rails because they didn't have a lot of force on them and I could get them clamped down quickly (Titebond III sets quickly). But for anything that has any stress on it, I'm using WEST System epoxy that I have left over.   The nose strips had to be steamed. Read the manual for how to do this. It works well enough.  For the landing strips (the 'lands'), I'm doing the "alternative" method that is shown in one of Grain's tutorial videos . I'm running the outside one out the ends. It worked out well and I'd definitely recommend you do it instead of the convoluted approach they say in their manual.  I would expect that at some point in the future that they make this the primary way to do it and change their m...