so I need advice on making a wood board

[panzerfaust]

I got a sheet of pine, cut out a glide shape and it looks great so far


so my question is what do i put on it to strenghten it? I also want to paint spray paint it so at which point should I do it. I was thinking to put a coat of something smooth first then sand, primer and paint and then put a coat of something to strenghten it.

[sflinux]

There a couple of techniques I know of:
1) varnish cerca 5 layers (wait 4 hours between coats). You could probably do about three coats of varnish, then apply your paint.
2) the cloth epoxy technique as documented by sual@zeroprestige. He uses regular cotton cloth and epoxy resin to strengthen and waterproof the board. You could apply a layer of epoxy, then paint over the epoxy.
Great looking board, hope it works great for you.
-bric

[elli]

I did Marin Spar Varnish. In San Francisco it takes a long time to dry, at least 24 hours if you want to sand between layers for a nice finish. And then you have to do each side separately. Easily takes more than a week. I am sure that in the east bay things dry quicker.

The spar varnish is way too fragile for a kite board, it is already scratched and dinged all over with almost no mechanical protection to the wood (just water proofing).

I will not use it again for sure.

The cloth technique is a one shot deal and much more robust. I will go with synthetic and not cotton fabric, to get some extra strength. I also think that epoxy is more appropriate because it is easy to apply, much quicker to do and tougher than any drying coating that I came across.

Polyester is the same deal as epoxy, but heavier, more toxic, harder to work with. Cheaper but not enough to make it worth it.

I think the best option is very thin glass with epoxy. I have seen a board like that and it looks beautiful and very durable (the glass becomes clear when you wet it with epoxy). You can also paint your graphics on the board before the coating. If you put the glass on top of the graphics, the graphics will last as long as the board.

An important factor is the flex. Coatings that include fibers will increase the strength of the board and reduce its flex. This should be a top consideration when selecting the coating. If your board is already too stiff, epoxy glass might make it a rock and you will loose many ride qualities.

Your board looks like a replica of the Glide, try to compare the flex of your board to the flex of the Glide and see if you need more or less flex before you decide on coating.

[panzerfaust]

yeah, my board is definitely stiffer than the glide, however so far it doesn't seem to weigh a whole lot more which is surprising (and this was a by the way of hand measurement). I think for the first stab at it I'll use the westsystem epoxy without glass and see how it goes. I'm just drying the binding and handle attachements with my place heater in the garage so tomorrow I'll be able to sand it all down, then paint the top. On tuesday I'll epoxy the top, wednesday attach the bindings and handle and then finally epoxy the bottom. Should be ready for next weekend. When it's done I'll post the results.

[OliverG]

So the SS Glide has no rocker or concave? When I saw it at SI a while back, it didn't seem like it did. I imagine that makes for a good light wind design, then?

[elli]

The glide has little rocker. Something like half inch which is not a lot comparing to the length. Concave I am not sure, I think it is flat. The flat rocker, almost straight outline and large area make it a light wind board. These features are common to all light wind board. Some take the outline to an extreme making it straight or even concave (Door, Flydoor).

[windhorny]

Although I am using all the materials the real boards are made of I can say that my imitation of the glide- the "glid" is a better board for one main reason....rocker! I added 1.5" at the tips and it works comfortably up to near 20mph. Of coarse I am flying a xbow which allows me to depower alot so this would probably not apply to a 2003 fuel. But the rocker that I added amazingly allowed the board to cut through chop and not have that "glide" tendency to suck under the waves when turning. I think theoretically the near flat rocker of the glide is better in light winds but you get over powered sooo easily on that thing. I am amazed at what subtle differences make such big changes. Thats what makes board making so much fun.

THanks LMG for all your help in getting me started. You da man!

[panzerfaust]

ah shit, so I went to the garage this morning to discover that I got cracks on the board glue points from the heater. So now I have a dillema. Scrap what I've done so far, or epoxy in the cracks and put glass on top to make it stronger. I'm almost thinking to do what you've done Yuri. How did you get started with making yours? I have never touched glass in my life. What did you use and how did you make the shape?

[knyfe]

PF,

ride it until it breaks, which will happen soon ... and then build the next one with glass. You know how to live without a bourd anyway ....

A really amazing thing on my board was the use of a stiffer plastic foil (~1mm thick) while laminating with glass. You just press the foil on the wet resin and then wipe all bubbles out with your hand. This can take a while but the results it perfect. After the resin is hard, just peel off the foil and you will have a glass type smooth surface like in a pro board. I bought a "middle" glass and the foil from TAP plastics. If you go for a resin take the slow resin. 15 Minutes working time on a warm summer day is just way to short for only 2 hands.

With the foil you can also partly remove the remaining resin from the glass, as you probably dont have a vacuum. But may be Charlie can help you out. I just spoke with him on saturday and he said that he has the equpment..

CU, K

[elli]

Thatís a good point on the rocker. More rocker = more high wind and less low wind. Thatís why some light wind boards have dynamic rocker, which means they are very flexible. When you get powered, they flex and create more rocker.

As for the board, if you built it from wood that is not layered it will probably not be strong and crack very quickly.

What I used is 9 ply birch. This is a very high quality plywood that was recommended to be my other plyboarders, but unfortunately too strong than what it needs to be. The board is too stiff without any glassing. Maybe a lower quality (less layers per inch) is actually a better choice. The plan also recommended to lay the wood in a way that most of the fiber mass is actually across the board and not length wise. I was little skeptical that a board like this will survive.

Notice that if you use vacuum you will save a lot of weight, but the surface is not going to be that smooth as the vacuum will suck all the epoxy to the surface of the glass (which is not smooth, it has a coarse cloth weave pattern).

Another good thing to do with glass is not to use the standard weaved cloth, but a higher quality cloth that has the two directions of fibers on top of the other and not weaved through the other, with thin diagonal threads that hold it all together. This fabric needs less epoxy per fiber weight, and for thin layers it is equally as strong.

As for the wave and chop handling, the boards that have a straight outline almost all the way to the end sink into the chop. Rocker definitely helps here. What I will try next is narrower tips that were actually recommended in the plan. If that does not work, I try flip tip.

Good stuff to see light wind board building discussions, we all need to get together some place and ride each others boards :)