Kleb's Custom Board Building: Laminating

Bottom Layup

• Cover the floor with something (if you care about the floor)
• Carefully vacuum the board.
• Suit-up with safety equipment.
• Lay-out 2 plies of 6 oz/yd^2 e-glass cloth (or 3 plies of 4 oz/yd^2) on the bottom of the board, one at a time. Make sure that the fibers are straight and true, running perpendicular and parallel the board's centerline. Pull on the fibers at the edges to straighten. (Without straight fibers it is like asking a length of string to support a load before it is stretched straight.) The first ply should be trimmed to wrap around the rails about halfway, while the second should wrap the rails completely.
• Cut darts (triangular notches) near areas of high curvature (nose and tail) so that the fabric doesn't bunch-up when wrapped around the rails. You should probably only need three near and at the tail and one located at the nose.
• Throughly mix about 24 ounces of epoxy. (Ideally you should have about a 50/50 ratio by weight of epoxy to glass.) Note: if you are using polyester, you might want to do the bottom in two stages: the back half and the front half since the working time (pot life) is so short.

  

• Pour the epoxy along the centerline of board and use a squeegee to quickly move it around. The goal at this point is to get the epoxy over all the glass so that it can soak in as you concentrate on moving some epoxy onto the glass along the rails.
• Once you have distributed epoxy to all areas, concentrate on eliminating the air pockets under and in the glass by slowly and gently using the squeegee. If you apply too much pressure with the squeegee, it will compress the fibers and they will suck in air after the squeegee passes. If you move too fast the laminate will also pick-up air due to the pumping motion created by the squeegee passing over the fabric weave to quickly---the epoxy will turn milky with tiny air bubbles.
• Carefully trim the strands of glass that unraveled at the edges with a pair of scissors. Re-squeegee affected areas.
• Finally, use the squeegee to move excess epoxy onto the floor since excess epoxy means weight and compromises flexibility and overall strength.
• If the epoxy starts to gel before you are finished, careful use of an old hair drier will allow you to squeak a few more minutes of working time out of the epoxy. Just take care not to get the foam too hot since it will swell like a marshmellow over a camp fire, distroying your masterpiece in the process.
• If you find that you have too tight of a radius along the rails and the glass doesn't want to lay down, wait until the epoxy starts to gel. Then, use a hair drier to heat the epoxy slightly, squeegee the glass in place, and hold it there until it thickens again.

Top (Deck) Layup

• After letting the bottom layup cure (at least 12 hours for epoxy), flip the board over an carefully remove the high spots along the edge of the glass with a file, a rasp, or a hard sanding block, being particularly careful not to damage the foam or your magnificent paint scheme. [This seems to be the most bothersome process of the whole board-building process. Does anyone have any tips on how to make this easier?]
• Vacuum the foam and lay-out three layers of 6 oz/yd^2 glass plus a forth that extends about 3/4 of the board's length from the tail. As you lay out each ply, straighten the fibers and trim so that the edges are staggered with the last ply wrapping fully around the rail onto the bottom. (This ply schedule is for a wave board, you can use fewer layers for a slalom board.)
• Mix-up about 40 oz of epoxy and laminate as before. Note: if you are doing a slalom board, you might want to just let the top deck glass overhang the edge; and trim layer to create a sharp edge. Otherwise, be sure to wrap the glass around the rails.
• Finally, you don't have to be so careful around your board any longer.