Building first board advice

[pauldmitchell13]

So wanting to start a future project when I get some more funds and build my first shortboard, thought I would start a thread for people to post up any advice, hints or past experiences they come across that could help me out. Been reading a bit on the Internet, watching a few useful videos, like I said I don't really have the funds right now so just doing heaps of homework at the moment, saw another dude post pictures on here of a board he built looked really cool. Cheers for any help.

[Timmy!]

Surfdad (Jeff Walker) is the resident board building guru on here. I started a board building project but haven't finished it yet for a number of reasons. The main reason for me being that living in Colorado has it's challenges for getting the materials here at a reasonable cost.

[jbort]

You can get lots more Surfdad info at www.Flyboy.com or on FB too.

[onefish]

I've only built 3 boards (two wake surf boards and a paddleboard) so I'm by no means an expert. I do find it really fun and it gives me something water related to do when all the lakes are frozen over. I'm interested to see the results of this thread and get some good tips.
I used epoxy resin and I liked a brand called Resin Research. It was easy to work with low odor and a lot safer than polyester resins. So beginner tips to a beginner: use epoxy, mix in small batches, and try to use an actual surf blank. I went from scratch on my boards and they did not turn out as nice as I would have liked.

[Chaos]

Paul, your in Gardena so getting supplies shouldn't be a problem. Really getting supplies is not very difficult anymore with numerous distributors online that will ship stuff anywhere. Surfboard build is the ultimate dirty job. Invest in a good respirator, both dust and organics later for glassing.
Epoxy resins have far less VOC and are therefore theoretically safe for human use and the environment. In fact the resin is fairly inert, but the hardener is high reactive. Most epoxies used for these applications use a polyamine hardener, which is were the toxicity and allergy effects come in.

Yes, there are a ton of videos on line now, and everything is laid out pretty simple on the internet. The days are virtually gone of people sweeping up shaping rooms and interning with shapers to learn the craft. Good and bad. When people do not learn to do something as taught, then they might take a different approach, which is not always a bad thing. Overall, for true craftsman it is about efficiency. I always advise beginner shaper to learn to walk away. There are a lot of steps to building a board, and at some point something will not go as planned. Accept it, and learn to work around it.

Epoxy lamination is all about proper resin/hardener ratios and proper mixing coupled with climate control. Epoxy lamination works best around 75-80 degrees. Much colder and the epoxy is too thick, and will take a longer to set up, which results in too much running. Too hot, and you will get more bubbles and even enough out gassing for it to lift the fiberglass off the blank. Proper saturation of your laps around the rails is the next area that first time glassers usually falter.

Quality materials result in a better finish product all things considered equal. Unfortunately, there are a lot of 'board' companies making eps/epoxy boards using foam designed as insulation or packing material. We all use to cut blanks from billets in the 80s and 90s, since that was the only way to get an EPS blank, but that stuff just crumbles apart and fractures to bits like so many 'styrofoam' coolers.

If you have any questions you can PM me and I can walk you through stuff.
Nick

[Timmy!]

Paul, your in Gardena so getting supplies shouldn't be a problem. Really getting supplies is not very difficult anymore with numerous distributors online that will ship stuff anywhere.

Yes they can ship it anywhere and yes the farther you live from a coast, the more expensive it is to ship!

[IDBoating]

Indeed - shipping the blanks is mucho expensive. I've made a mental note that the next time I'm driving to Seattle I'm going to pick up a couple of blanks while I'm there. The shipping cost I'll save will pay for the fuel round-trip.

[Stingreye]

Do you guys remember Clark Foam closing down? They had 90% of the blank market in 2005 when they shut their doors. I was ocean surfing around that time and boards went up $200-$300 almost over night.

Although you could also argue that alot of the advancement since was due to the intense competition to pick up the void left by Clark.

http://www.surfline.com/surfnews/article.cfm?id=1618

[Timmy!]

Indeed - shipping the blanks is mucho expensive. I've made a mental note that the next time I'm driving to Seattle I'm going to pick up a couple of blanks while I'm there. The shipping cost I'll save will pay for the fuel round-trip.

I'm not talking about the blanks, I have the foam. I bought a 4"x8'x4' chunk of eps foam for $80 or $90. I got the stringers locally (same supplier surfdad uses). I was quoted around $90 for the shipping of the glassing supplies for 1 board. I was looking at roughly $350 for the supplies to do 1 board with shipping (without the foam). I need to revisit, there are several companies that sell the stuff. I don't remember if this was greenlight or foam-ez.

I have a board 90% of the way shaped with the stringer in it and everything. Made my own hotwire, etc. Guess I just need to man up and finish the project. I have a 2nd board cutout and enough foam to make a 3rd.

[Chaos]

Timmy, where are you at? I can probably help you out with supplies. Yes, buying resin and cloth for 1 board is not nearly as economical as buying for many boards. Also, unless you are buying wholesale or at manufacturing pricing it is tough to justify building your own board solely as a cost saving mechanism.