Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Bottom contours

Hello Blogworld,

After about 8 hours of sanding with my Craftsman 5" orbital sander and 4 sheets of 80 grit sandpaper I have the board ready for fine tuned sanding with a block sander to eliminate some of the humping that the orbital left behind. Although I'd have to say that the way it is now I'd be happy with as the hull turned out pretty damn flat where it was supposed to be and nicely concave in the nose and the dual concave at the tail. The rails will need the fine tuning mostly. Especially in the tail. I'm considering a slight vee and may have to take more off of the hull at the rails. It needs a little of that anyway, maybe I shouldn't go overboard.

No pics right now. It would be very difficult to show the concaves with my camera.

I'm starting to plan for the fin box and glassing now.

Anyone have tips on putting in the fin box before glassing?

Anyone have resources for more glass and epoxy?

thanks y'all!

Have a great day!

3 comments:

Brad@GrainSurfboards.com said...

I am Costa Rica right now, so I have not really been able to check in... looks like things are going OK and that you have been able to keep everything moving forward! Congratulations!

As to the fin box... you may find it easier to add the fin box after the laminate and hot coats. That way, after it is all set up, you can sand it down, tape over the opening and then gloss coat over its edges.

It is quickest to use a router, but you would definitely need a guide or jig to do that. Routers can run right away from you if you are not careful, so if you have any doubts or haven't used one much then choose to use a drill, a forstner bit (great if you have one) or spade bit (sketchier - use an undersized one) and a sharp chisel to clean out the groove. I would also use a sharp utility knife to score through the glass cloth while it is still green (before hot coat) if I was going to try to clean the edges with a chisel later. You can even mark out the spot for the box with light pencil before you glass to save having to mess with marking when the glass is green (i.e. sticky).

Hope that helps.
Brad@GrainSurfboards.com

Miss Jeanette said...

Getting down to the nitty gritty honey!! Hope I get to see it before you peace out.

pushingtide said...

cool shit!