Finished SUP #3

[blair]

Just finished another SUP for my brothers birthday present

[juliangibraltar]

Absolutely beautiful....do you take commissions!!!!! (I wish I lived closer!)

Couple of quick questions Blair, what is the fin you've used in the picture on the right, size, make? I'm close to putting the top on mine and am looking to order some, also what breather vent system did you use, I've heard talk of needing more than one unit for an 11ft board.

And last one, Ive placed a block on the inside to prepare for the hand grip....I believe this you cut into this after you've glassed the board and then refill the the grip with resin...is that correct?  

[blair]

Hi Julian,

Thanks for the comments although don't think you need to worry about commissions, your board looks to be going nicely, I actually freighted this board across to Australia or at least I hope I have as its in transit somewhere but I'm lucky I only have one brother as it cost nearly $1000 to ship it, Yikes!!

With the fins I make them myself, the one on the latest board was made to go in to a fin box as I figured that would be the thing to break off in transit, my other fins I glassed on. For shape I just found some measurements and then just shaped to what I thought looked good by eye, seems to do the job anyway, don't think it matters too much as I am on the lake mostly. Can give you some measurements if you want to have a crack yourself.

The vents are the goretex vents, used them on all 3 boards, only put one in my first one but as you said I also heard you should put in two so did that on the last two boards. I drilled a small pilot hole on the top skin where the vents where going then stuck a small block on the under side of the skin to give the vents some gluing surface and cut them out after the layer of glass but before the fill and hot coats etc, just have to be real careful about keeping the resin away from the thread if you do that otherwise the resin will knacker the thread and you'll never get the plug part in.

With the block for the handle I glue a block to the frame like you said but already have the handle part cut out then measure carefully its position and put a small hole in the top skin then once the skin is glued on use the pilot hole as a start for a router bit with a bearing on it to cut the top skin away. The fact you already have the handle shape underneath as a guide makes it easy. I actually cut this out before I glassed but don't think it would matter if you did it later and might be better as you do get a bit of resin running in to it. I have attache a photo of the handle before the top skin goes on.

Hope this helps.

[chostet]

First Timer here hoping to build a board soon. What did the three boards you made weigh in at? Thanks, -Chris

[blair]

Hi Chris, I think the boards weigh in at about 20kg

[txtommy]

Hey Blair was just wondering if you wouldn't mind sending me the measurements of some of your fins?  It would help me out in getting started on ideas for my build. Thanks

[blair]

Hi Tommy, nothing special about the fins I have on my boards, I just had some rough measurements and free handed a shape that looked ok. Seem fine on the board although haven't had them in the surf yet. The base is 180mm, height off the board is 220mm. Lousy photo quality sorry.

[txtommy]

Blair thanks for the response. 

[juliangibraltar]

Hi Blair, some short time back you mentioned about the handle on the board and whether you had done it before or after the glassing. I cut mine out before the glassing as at that point I wasn't going to use cloth....of course all that changed and now I am going to lay down the laminate coat soon and my handle is already cut....

so my question based on your experience is: when laying the laminate cloth, should I just let the resin dry and harden and then cut into the handle and sand the edge or would you recommend cutting the cloth around so it overlaps into the hand hole, before spreading the resin and thereby coating the cloth on the inside of the handle, this would be my choice and just be careful when spreading the resin - Or any other option?

Many thanks

[blair]

Hi Julian, on my last board I taped the handle from just below the top to stop resin running in as resin runs are a pain to sand out after then just resined over it and cut the cloth once things had gone tacky just like trimming the cloth on the outside. Then I just sanded the top edge and when I was doing fill coat etc just put a few coats inside to make sure it was all sealed up, no cloth inside the handle. One thing I did forget on my last board was to make sure there was a breather hole after glassing as when mine was curing it got a bit of sun through a window and heated up a bit, luckily I remembered before too much pressure built up but when I did open it up there was quite an escape of air, good way to check for leaks I suppose! Hope your glass turns up soon and you can get into it.

[juliangibraltar]

Many thanks Blair that's excellent to know. It seems like the closer I get to finishing the more nervous I get to do something that's going to mess it up!

Re the breather hole I filled mine with expanding foam as I know myself and would have forgotten at some point. This makes her very solid but she is weighing in at a whopping 62lbs pre laminate cloth coat and finish coat!  

Allowing for the Spanish "mañana" syndrome I hope to have the material here and the board finished in 2-3 weeks. Got to be the longest running build ever! 

[blair]

Hey Julian yeah forgot you had foam filled your board and yes always a bit stressful that last push. I always find that because you are working so close to your board you see every little detail then when the board is finished and in the water and you aren't right on top of it you forget about all those things that you were worrying about so try not to stress too much!