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 manual to reflect that. 

I'm also doing the second landing strips a bit differently by using long filler strips between the first and second strips. See the pictures to see what I mean.  

Here's the first landing strip being epoxied down and running out the nose. 

   

I am a big guy and want to reinforce everything as much as I can, so I added some small pieces of scrap to the landing strip notches just like they recommend for the tops of the frames. This gives the strips and much larger glue surface area to stick to. 

In the picture below you can see the added filler strips I used at the tail between the first and second landing strips. I added a second filler right at the end too. Looks nice and gives a lot of glue space. 

Added additional contact strips to the center keel too. I added a very thin strip of Peruvian walnut to my top plank and that means the planks next to the center accent strip won't have anything right under it. A hard heel knock might bust that seam so I added these to let them sit on something. 

I mentioned that I'm a big guy and I want to make sure that the top plank has enough support, especially under the seams. So I talked to Mike and he suggested that I could just do a double layer of glass on the top, but I thought that that would weigh too much. 

I really just wanted to reinforce the seams underneath, so I measured out where the open areas would be and epoxied down small "patches" of fiberglass and epoxied them down. Then I removed the tape and rolled the top down onto the board (which is still on the rocker table) and clamped it down. The small patches will cure with a slight curve to them this way. I put a plastic sheet between the top and the board so it won't stick. I will properly install the top in a day to two.  

Here is how the board looks after the landing strips have been installed. I have a small bit of cleaning up to do but it's mostly ready for the top plank once the underside patches have cured. 

 

 Next step will be to epoxy down the top plank and start shaping! 

 

Aloha!