Smart thinking with the white marker.
Never used edge tape but sounds like good solution.
Hopefully next photos of deck laminated ![]()
Edge tape makes soooo much difference!!! The cloth goes on and off the roller with out the frayed ends pulling and distorting the cloth. You have to careful putting it on, that you don't stretch it at all, if you do, that pulls the edges in. I place it just outside the desired edge and cut through the tape.
Yes, the white marker on the underside worked very well today.
The 200gm/m2 carbon behaves so much better than the 125gm/m2 s-glass. Just unrolls more evenly, so there's less smoothing to do. Also holds more resin, so it wasn't sliding off the gurit. Sun not coming out and doing it in stages also helped, the peelply also smoothed out easily. But it was only 15C in the shed, so it's been in the bag all day and still not hard, it was at that toffee stage when I turned the pump off and came home. I've got a lot of tension on the polar fleece breather, over a curved surface, so I think it will be fine. Not sure how long the system will hold -ve pressure, I'll have to time it one day.
Not sure if it helped, but I waved the heat gun over the board just before I it wrapped it in polar fleece and stuck in the vac bag.
There's wind forecast for tomorrow arvo, but I may get a chance to pull it out of the bag and take a pic.
wind only got to 15kts, so didn't bother sailing.
Here's it put of the bag in it's green polar fleece jacket,

Quite nice I thought, a nice warm cuddly texture, but probably not what you want on a surfboard.
And here, it's out of the breather.
Not so cuddly looking in hard black.
Happy with this, it's 4.7Kg and flat enough for the deck as is, so just a light filler to seal it, a light sand and paint will do this side, apart from bung and footstrap plug. The bottom and rails will need a thicker bog, (to get them really smooth), and the fin box, so that will probably push it a bit over 5kg
Looking really good, had to fire up laptop for best look ![]()
I like the use of polar fleece as breather which would give great vacuum, haven't seen that before and makes sense especially with peel ply. I remember doing a board for maui based company and instead of peel ply they brought what looked to be similar but was brought from fabric department and didn't peel off.
Depending on weather forecast not far to go ![]()
wind only got to 15kts, so didn't bother sailing.
Here's it put of the bag in it's green polar fleece jacket,

Quite nice I thought, a nice warm cuddly texture, but probably not what you want on a surfboard.
And here, it's out of the breather.
Not so cuddly looking in hard black.
Happy with this, it's 4.7Kg and flat enough for the deck as is, so just a light filler to seal it, a light sand and paint will do this side, apart from bung and footstrap plug. The bottom and rails will need a thicker bog, (to get them really smooth), and the fin box, so that will probably push it a bit over 5kg
JEEZ! My PU/epoxy come in at 9.5kg! (10' x 25" x 3 ?"
Well that's possibly bigger than mine, (9' x 23" x 4") do you know the volume? Mine's a tad over 90l
It's going to be heavy if you use PU, probably had a stringer in it as well?
PU blanks are about 40kg/m3 plus stringer + glue. Mine is 13kg/m3 foam and no stringer. Sandwich skin and outer cloth is vacuumed on to increase fibre to resin ratio.
I'll have to compare the stiffness with one of Ryan's conventional stringered boards and see how it shapes up. My feeling is the carboned sandwich will be around the same, could even be stiffer with the thick convex deck. I also have a feeling durability will be better, as long as there's no hard knocks to the deck. Carbon is brittle, but won't dent with knee or foot pressure.
Depending on weather forecast not far to go ![]()
Bugs warned me about that!! You can't tell by looks, you need to test a sample if it's not from a reputable composite company.
Mega seniors moment yesterday! So annoyed/frustrated with myself, but I think I've got out of it with only a few grams increase in weight.
I had marked the position of the blue foam insert for the fin box on the bottom of the board a few days ago. Yesterday I marked the position of the legrope plug and bung on top of the board, then routed them out to the beaut white line. The flipped the board over and routed out to the black mark there. Wasn't until I'd finished that I saw how big the hole was! Anyway filled it with a couple of 5mm bits of Q-cell on each side of the fin box, and a lot of bog. Tomorrow I'll carbon over it, then have to wait to bog over that. Sat Sun and Monday look like wind. Wednesday we start moving house. So painting may have to wait, we'll see.
After a good sail this morning, I got some bog on my finbox stuff up, this arvo
Here it is before bogging.
I've heavily sanded the carbon reinforcing, I had there to support the box. It wasn't going to do that anymore, instead I've put several layers of glass over everything. The box is a tad under the surface now, but that should make it more firmly fixed in place.
Looks very daggy now, but after I sand the bog and paint, it will be OK.
If you think the tail looks a bit asymmetric in this pic, that's because it is!, not sure what happened here, but I suspect the template slipped while I was marking it out. Had me puzzled for a while when I was marking out the d-cell and carbon.
The centre line is spot on from nose to just in front of fin box then it takes a turn to port.
I forget now how asymmetrics were supposed to work, narrow for bottom turn and wide for cutbacks? If so, this will be back to front.
Great to hear your getting on the water and progress on your board ![]()
With your asymmetrical tail you can test it riding switch.
"Looks very daggy now, but after I sand the bog and paint, it will be OK."
Agree when painted will look good ![]()
With your asymmetrical tail you can test it riding switch.
"Looks very daggy now, but after I sand the bog and paint, it will be OK."
Agree when painted will look good ![]()
Not many righthanders here, if I'm going left I'll stick to my natural goofy stance.
Back in the day I used to be good at cutbacks, but over the decades, that ability has dropped off.
If I can learn to get my left foot back far enough, maybe they'll come back.
Ryan did a flex test comparison today with mine and one of his PU stringered variety. Resting the boards upside down on the table, holding tape at board mid point and pressing down with his weight, both boards flexed about 5mm. I think that impressed Ryan, that a lighter, stringerless board is just as stiff as a heavier stringered one. Then got the final coat of bog on the bottom, both rails are very close, but do need a bit more bog, probably do those tomorrow and Wednesday arvo. But won't get round to sanding and painting until next week.
OK! This is a longboard blog. So are we choosing our best shapers or our best shapers of longboards?
OK! This is a longboard blog. So are we choosing our best shapers or our best shapers of longboards?
Sometimes people just drink too much.
i think you're in the wrong thread.
Managed to get an hour in the shed, and bogged the starboard rail.

Dot's holding my favourite rail bogging tool, a length of thin plastic. I put a layer of bog along the full length of the rail with the squeegee. The starting at one end, wrap the plastic over the rail and pull tight on the trailing edge, letting the leading edge stick up clear of the bog. Then with very firm pressure run the plastic the full length of the rail in one smooth movement. This will need very little sanding, doing the same thing with 180 grit should do it. Tomorrow arvo I'll maybe sand the bottom if it's gone off enough, then bog the port rail.
Great tool for bogging rails. Its always a compromise to add more microballons to the mix vs more resin mix.
Funny never really talk about starboard or port rails on a surfboard ![]()
Keep up the great work ![]()
I go for about toothpaste consistency, so it doesn't run and is easy to sand. Too thick and it doesn't stick or spread well.
I suppose I should get technical and work out a good weight ratio.
We had a little bit of sun today, so I wrapped it in black plastic, and left in the new back yard, while we started the move in process.
Got some board racks up in the Garage, but won't be enough room for all the boards, the ones I don't use much will have to go to the workshop. I'll see if I can remember to take a pic tomorrow.
Bit more sun the last two days, so I think it's pretty close to cooked. Painting hopefully sometime next week.
Here it is in it's new home.

I have some of the white left that's on the two speed boards, so that's the colour it will end up.
Big contrast in rocker lines, really shows up when lined up like this.
Great work on new home ![]()
Moving can be a mission but great time to reorganize.
Some flat rockered looking windsurf speed boards but should probably post comments in windsurf forum.
Bit of paint, spot putty, sanding and more paint then wax and surf.
Not far away from finished and that's what I used to enjoy the most of when it surfs well ![]()
compared to the mal the speed boards are very flat, you need to compare with the mortar joints to get a true idea. They are only flat for a meter after the fin, and about 2 to 3mm of tail rocker after the fin.
Got some paint on it today.

Here's a different view. I like the blue streak, but it's just a reflection of the sky, it's actually all white.
Tomorrow a 400grit wet and dry of the bottom should finish it
Finished today at last!!!!!!! And had a surf on it, board went well, but I'm way out of condition. Only managed one good wave, and a few not so good. But if I can get some condition back, it won't take long to get used to it. I managed a cut back on it that felt good, but I stuffed up a nose ride, think I got too enthusiastic with my run up the front, board seemed to jump out of the wave. Could the fin be too short? I'll have a few more goes before changing anything, maybe what happened there will become more apparent.
I must get round to weighing it again, it feels heavier in full surfing mode, (paint. wax, leg rope and fin)
Weighed it with the bathroom scales, 5.7Kg total, including fin and leg rope. I'm happy with that.
It paddles very well, just glides effortlessly through the water. Stacks of flotation, I didn't check my feet, but knees are well out of the water.
Doesn't feel at all slow, so that huge tail rocker, isn't a drag factor on the wave.
Just like Ryan and Bugs said.
Trouble now is, I did my back in again moving furniture, so next surf will probably be with the aid of voltaran.
Well that's weird, thought I'd put a photo in of it finished, must be that oldtimers thing. So here it is, leg rope and all.

Doesn't look as pretty close up, my emphasis was on weight reduction not aesthetics, so the deck is light on bog, and it shows.
Great to read you've ridden it and performs well.
Going back to the comment on flex, the amount may be the same as pu with stringer and polyester resin but your board would be nicer to ride.
The photo when you just painted is a great angle especially with the blue sky reflecting off the then glossy paint and yes plenty of tail rocker (accelerated curve) would turn hard with your back foot back ![]()
The last photo the board looks great and who cares if you were light on the bog, it's a light board - well done and enjoy ![]()