My Latest

[Pes78]

Here's my latest and I'm also doing the glassing on it. It's 4'11" 22.5" wide 2.75" out at the rail and 2.5" in the center stringerless poly blank with epoxy glassing. Quad fin with 6oz bottom 6x6 deck. Here are some pics.

[krusher74]

That's a hefty machine!

Pretty much a mini simmons, I like the design on the bottom.

With the double 6 and epoxy it will be indestructible! have you had one like that before does it make the board very stiff?

[Pes78]

Thanks krusher, I did use a mini simmons template for the tail and a hull templete for the nose. I'm liking the rounded noses on my boards. As far as the bottom design goes Ryan Lovelace does this on his boards. It's funny how when you start doing something you don't notice it on other boards until you see them again. When the guy suggested doing this to the bottom I looked at him weird like what are you talking about. Then he showed me a picture of one of Lovelace's boards and I said oh I see it now, I just never really looked at the details of some glass jobs. I've had kneeboards and stand up boards glassed this way before maybe I should go 4oz bottom and 6x4 deck. I would also try to knee ride this when waves have some power. I was also thinking of putting a carbon patch where the concave is to add some strength when I do knee ride it or vector net. Have a few days to think about it, not doing anything on it until next week.

[Pes78]

So the glassing is coming along nicely. Here is the glassing schedule 4oz bottom with 6oz x 4oz deck. The 4oz on the deck covers the full length of the board and the 6oz stops just in front of the fins. Did this on the deck to feel the flex hopefully. Also put extra cloth over the fin boxes for strength. Will be doing the bottom hotcoat on Tuesday and hopefully be finished by the weekend. Ride report in a few weeks......

[Frost]

That is an awesome board great work!

[bgreen]

I'll be interested to hear how durable the bottom is. I'd shred a 4 oz to pieces. I have some impressive scratches in much heavier glass jobs.

Bob

[krusher74]

My first board was 4oz bottom and double 4oz top, i love it but it taken a hell of a beating, presure dents top and bottom.

My second was 6oz bottom and 4+6oz top, has held up much much better, but feels a bit stiff and less responsive.

[SJB]

I am now the proud owner of both a TBG2 and TBG4...bottoms of which both have a single 4oz cloth layer. I expressed my hesitation about this to Nomas....and here is his very erudite reply. I have had the TBG2 for over a year and traveled to Mexico as well as making some rocky exits....no problems so far....but I have been careful and perhaps lucky. Nomas writes:

"Trade-offs are a big part of surfcraft design and construction. Glass schedule (cloth rating and cloth material) impacts the weight of the board. It also impacts the resistance to impact/compression dings. as well as the torsional strength of the board. Longer lengths are more susceptible to increased torsional stresses (flex and rebound) than shorter shapes. My experience is that my belly boards, typically 2" thick, with no stringer and lightly glassed, have no perceivable flex. (I remain very skeptical of any claims of perceived flexibility in sandwiched-construction surfcraft under 5ft in length. Just doesn't pass the giggle test) This makes them virtually impervious to stress cracks. Any discussion of durability needs to identify the density of core material used in the construction. The density of the core material used in construction has a direct impact on susceptibility to compression dings (a brick glassed with only 2oz cloth will be highly resistant to compression dings). I use 2lb density EPS foam, while many use lighter-but-softer 1.5lb or 1lb EPS)  I've found that prone riding puts much less compression stress on the deck. Only half of the rider's weight is ever on the board, and the rider's weight is spread across 70% of the surface, instead of focused on just the two points beneath the feet. I try not to ride my prone boards into the beach, up on the rocks or across reefs, so I find the single 4oz bottom sufficient. (surfing without a leash at C St, I loss my 9-8 glassed 6+6/6 at high tide and found it on the rocks with two penetrating gouges in the deck. (So much for the durability of heavy glassing vs solid rock!) Lastly, I don't produce sanded hot-coat boards of any kind. They lack durability which can easily be seen in any "production" shortboard after a few months of use. I have my glasser apply a second clear coat of resin (gloss coat), which is then lightly sanded. Sanded gloss coat adds a little weight, but means that scratches are more likely to remain superficial instead of penetrating to the cloth. Lastly, epoxy resin is less brittle than polyester resin. It is more resistant to shattering or "snackles". Unfortunately, this property is more likely to cause delamination. I've had EPS/epoxy boards receive a compression ding that leaves a dent in the foam core, but the shell is left unbroken, and now separated from the core.

Travel dings have more to do with packing than construction materials used. I had a longboard, glassed 6+6 deck and 6 bottom, gloss and polish finish, receive a hand-sized crushed rail ding on a return trip from Nicaragua. Board had pipe insulation on the rails and was packed in a padded travel bag with additional towels, etc. I ship surfboards all over the US and internationally, using a heavy grade corrugated cardboard carton and 1" eps sheet foam. Never had a belly board or a longboard arrived dinged. 

For me, until experience proves otherwise, the 2lb eps core using epoxy resin with double-4 deck/single-4 bottom, sanded-gloss finish is the best combination of durability and light weight for the TBG4. As a builder of custom surfcraft, I'll use whatever glassing schedule the customer desires. My latest TBG4 was glassed 4+6 oz deck at customer (6-1/220) request."

[Pes78]

Well time will tell. I plan on keeping this for awhile and really trying to not build a board for 6 months. I've had most of my boards glassed 4oz bottom and they held up pretty good. If this one doesn't show much wear and tear after a few months I'll be happy. But more than likely on the next one I will so s cloth.

[nomastomas]

Hey, Pez...What's the density of the polyurethane blanks you're using?

[soulglider]

pez, lookin good! the board you borrowed from me is 4/6 oz stepped on the deck and 4 oz on the bottom. remember the flex you felt in that one? you will feel it in yours as well, but you and i shop in the men's dept (heavier than average). shorter, id guess under 4'5", you must go thinner and the lighter the glass job has to be to get the flex youre looking for. for instance, my twinny thats 4'3 is 1.25 thick and flexes plenty. flex is the reason i have my boards glassed with epoxy, stronger and more flexible, in my discussions with Jeff McCallum and Brian Hilbers etc. Its another discussion of whether or not the flex you feel actually does anything to add technically to performance other than feeling really good. Especially in combo with a flex fin.

[Pes78]

Thomas it is a blue density 7'3"A from US Blanks. I took a lot of foam out of it from the top more then I wanted. This was supposed to be a kneeboard, trying to go for a Greenough spoon inspired but leaving foam in it because well San Diego doesn't have the wave machine that is a certain righthander up your way. Tim yes I'm hoping to feel some flex how much? I'm not sure, if anything I'm using the Futures Blacksticks F8 in the fronts and Blacksticks quad rears for it. On my other boards on the few hard turns I made I felt the spring from the fins, so looking forward to getting it in the water.

[krusher74]

Thomas it is a blue density 7'3"A from US Blanks. I took a lot of foam out of it from the top more then I wanted. This was supposed to be a kneeboard, trying to go for a Greenough spoon inspired but leaving foam in it because well San Diego doesn't have the wave machine that is a certain righthander up your way. Tim yes I'm hoping to feel some flex how much? I'm not sure, if anything I'm using the Futures Blacksticks F8 in the fronts and Blacksticks quad rears for it. On my other boards on the few hard turns I made I felt the spring from the fins, so looking forward to getting it in the water.

I used a 7'2A blue for my first board and as you can imagine when shaped down to a less that 4ft board you are left with the low density centre of the blank, pressure dent-arama!

Will be using a http://usblanks.com/catalog/fish-eggs/510rp/ in green this time to try to end up with a denser board.

My one venture into epoxy eps did exactly what thomas said, low density eps pressure dented and epoxy sprung back leaving de-laminated void.