Shedding its Skin

So I've kind of cheated at this point, I had already stripped off the glass from the board before I set up the blog. Due to this cheating process I actually have no photos during that phase ( Sorry my bad).

The underside.

The top side ( complete with paint test).

 
  Stripping off the glass in this case was easy enough, It was so badly de-laminated that there was very little resistance from the Foam-Fibreglass bond. However, I did run into a few issues. First issue, At the nose of the board there had been a repair done, more or less a hack job, Which meant that as I pulled the glass away, it also took a good portion of the nose and tip of the stringer with it ( The stringer is a thin piece of wood that runs down the entire length of the board, these are also found in the hulls of boats and prevent the board/hull from flexing a ridiculous amount). To solve this, I had to re foam the nose and shape it, Ideally I should've  tried to insert a new piece of stringer then foamed it, but, I didn't have any wood around to replace this with, and it is in fact quite small. Just to make sure though, I will place one layer extra of glass over this section.
  The next snag was at the other end, The Tail. This too had half done repair, well, I say half done. It was actually just a repair to water proof the end, it had a little part of the tail gone and rather than the previous owner wanting to get water in the foam, he did a quick resin/glass repair. This would mean that I had to re foam and shape the tail again, which was shaped as they call " a Swallow Tail". Like the bird. Instead, I decided to straighten the tail out into a "Squash Tail" shape. Tail shapes also change how the board performs, This link will provide a break down for you:http://www.surfscience.com/topics/surfboard-anatomy/tail/basic-tail-shapes

  So, with my saw in hand, I reshaped the basic shape of the tail, then finished it off with a Sanding block and piece of sandpaper. 5 minutes later, TA DA!! new tail 

My new tail.

For the most part, as bad as it looked before the glass came off, the condition of the foam wasn't to bad, I mean it had it's dents and dings, but no gouges or breaks. There was of course the problem of the holes in it, and, as what happens usually when you go under the surface of things, something quite unexpected.

The Unexpected.

This Unexpected "thing" ( I say "thing" because I still can't figure out what it is). Now, during my time repairing boats, you get pretty good at knowing what has happened, Despite the owner claiming other reasons, eg. " No the chain broke and the boat came off the trailer" not " I forgot to put the chain on my boat, then drove off causing it to come off the trailer". But this has me stumped.
   What we are looking at in the photo above is a very solid patch of almost plastic like material. The 2 white dots go all the way through ( more holes), so it is definitely a filler of some sort, but not like any I have come across before. The problem this causes is the fact that I can't sand it out. Sanding hard substances next to soft ones will cause you to eat away at the softer material before the harder material is gone. Solution? Well this one is a tough one, I tired to put foam around it to fill the little change in height, this hasn't really worked, Next thing is just to go ahead and glass the board and place some more resin through this area. This will work as it is the only option really left.

  This would be a good time to describe the foam i'm using. Its called Endurathane. It comes in two parts, Part A, and Part B. You laugh now, but the reason we call it this is because Part A contains a chemical called  Methylenebisphenyldiisocyanate. And Part B contains some really unhealthy stuff as well, so best we call it B instead. The foam is mixed in equal parts, and rapidly reacts to make a closed cell foam. The reaction causes heat ( Exothermic Reaction)  and is best used in a well ventilated area along with proper safety gear. 

Foam from after the reaction of the 2 parts, Mixture was only about 2grams of each part, 32grams will fill a cubic metre 

 

      After the tail and nose were complete, I took time look over the board and fill in any dents, and the holes, that would be too big to fill with resin during the next step. Now I can get set up and glass.

Under the surface, it was a nice surprise to find the original surf shop that shaped it. It also had a dent that needed filling.

A rather large dent in the rail, filled and awaiting fibreglass.

A Bruce Fitzgerald graphic was once here.

Not sure when I'll get around to glassing the board, so I may be a while updating the blog. My hurry up though is that foam has a tendency to draw moisture into it, so I will need to hurry up and get it done before too much moisture is absorbed and needs drying back out.


Nick