Glassing with wet out table

[TallDude]

I'll add that for cloth longer than 8' I fold the excess under. That way when wetting out I don't start getting strings as I'm pulling the resin around. And I use the fast set epoxy without problems.

+1

As Pono said, It's better to get most of the epoxy on the table to spread it out, that will give you more time to work with it. If you leave it in your mixing cup too long, it will kick, get frick'n hot, and start to smoke a little. As soon as I'm done with the laying the fabric on the board, I'll dump most it the left over epoxy into my board rack base buckets. I'll leave a quarter inch or so in the bottom of the cup to wet any dry patches. That little bit won't have enough mass to really get hot. A half inch or more in the cup will get hot. If it does start to get hot, put the cup on some concrete preferably outside. You'll have enough time to mix another batch if needed.

[magentawave]

This wet out information is all GREAT so thank you for sharing! 

[surfcowboy]

Ok, sharing my experiences, I'll update this as I go.

First, get some help, there's a lot to do and it was tough to manage everything. I had a buddy and we got it done but it was tight.

Watch your temps, resin kicks faster over 70º. That said, you have a good bit of time. We worked the glass back and forth for at least 45 min. Even after you think it's all going to hell, you can get those laps down (a little new batch of resin can help stick things down, if you need.)

We did the bottom without a pipe to roll it up on and it was a mess (shots coming on my build thread) so the second time I had a pool noodle to work with. (Worked great and you can just rub the resin off when it's cured, but a PVC piece would be best.)

With a roller, things go down much easier, but if you're doing more than 2 layers, just do the first 2 together and then go back and mix the resin for the second set (I was doing 6-6-4.) I ended up losing 3 yards of 4oz S glass because I put it in the old resin thinking we'd have time to saturate it and place it. I should have pulled the sheet, like DW says and used fresh resin. Live and learn.

In the end, the wet out table is a hassle but it does give you a super lean resin to glass ratio. I doubt I could have gotten it that well done doing it on the board, but if you want to keep it simple, on the board is easier in my opinion.

I'll continue to use a wet-out table and learn to get the process dialed but I'll also do a shortboard soon with "the old way" just to learn both.

One backyarder note, I had my table outside at night and got a ton of bugs in it. I kinda like it as it keeps me from being too precious about it all and it's proof that I built it. But know that doing it in the daylight if the temps allow or inside, would keep bugs out of your lam.

I think it's like anything, practice makes perfect. Review your steps and move with a quickness, but not panic and you can get a really nice layer of glass on your board.

It's looking like this thing will come in around 15lbs, which is really cool.

Pono and others, do you cut the glass to shape at all before you wet or do you just sacrifice the resin and glass on the edges? I left it all and just cut it away to be sure. You can leave the edges a little dry and wet any dry laps on the board as well.

[magentawave]

I used to roughly cut my cloth to the approximate shape, plus some, but I wasn't using a wet out table. I was watching some professional glassers at the last Sacred Craft and they cut the cloth to length and trimmed it later with big scissors. They didn't do free laps either. They taped off the rail on the underside and trimmed the cloth later with a single edge razor blade.

Pono and others, do you cut the glass to shape at all before you wet or do you just sacrifice the resin and glass on the edges? I left it all and just cut it away to be sure. You can leave the edges a little dry and wet any dry laps on the board as well.

[PonoBill]

I rough cut just to save scraps. But I'm not building boards, just modifying them and fixing them. I'm going to re-glass my old F18. I'm taking off all the old fiberglass and doing a complete new skin. We'll see how that goes with the wetout table and bagging. I want it to stay light. It has an unusual construction for an SIC board--there's a hollow carbon "box" inside with PVC and EPS to form the shape, then a light skin. The original skin was super thin--probably just veil. It's going to get one layer of 4 OZ S-Glass and some reinforcement in the areas that get pounded. Probably carbon and one more S-Glass layer. Doesn't need stiffening, the carbon box is super strong. Doesn't need much skin strength either because a lot of the shaping foam is PVC.

A strange board deserves a strange rudder, I'm going to do an RC/autopilot for it.

The wet out table is great, but rolling up the glass is the way to go. I skipped it for a layer recently and had big problems. I immediately bought some new 8" PVC pipe and cut it to roller length. Good to have more than one.

[karl]

On Swaylocks many years ago Bert Berger showed how to fold up the glass into a square, wet it out in a container, then unfold it on the board. I've tried it with a short prone board and it works ok. Not sure how it would go with a larger SUP.

[Biggreen]

First time is always the most nerve wracking. To me that's the beauty of the wet out table. It allows time and patience. Once the resin is poured out on your glass and spread around you have far more time than you imagine. And yeah, it takes a little practice to roll out and smooth the glass. The nice thing is that by the time you've done all that your glass is nice and tacky and wraps the rails smooth and easy. Almost makes me feel like I know what I'm doing. Thanks DW for showing us the way.  I'll bet your board is gonna look great, Cowboy.

And for the record, you need this. Go down to your local grocer and pick up a shaker of these babies. I've discovered that if you preempt the little bastards and get some on before they have a chance to land that it pisses them off and they choose to move along. Fiesta brand is the best by far!

Great job, Cowboy!

[surfcowboy]

Lol, thanks BG and yeah, first one is a hassle. I've learned so much, I can't wait for the second one.

I'll probably hot coat tomorrow and hopefully get it locked this week.

In a cruel twist I leave next Saturday for a work trip to the UK so I'll have to wait till the 4th to get it wet. I'm glad to have the messiest part over with.

[TallDude]

Lol, thanks BG and yeah, first one is a hassle. I've learned so much, I can't wait for the second one.

 I'm glad to have the messiest part over with.

I got news for you, start sanding. You got to sand a little before the hot coat. Then sand a lot after the hot coat. Just when you thought you were on the home stretch

[surfcowboy]

But I can sand outside man. And, I break it up over time so I don't got nuts. I'm also committed to learning to use my sander finally. I've done all my previous stuff with blocks but this time, sand throughs be damned, I'm doing it.

[PonoBill]

On Swaylocks many years ago Bert Berger showed how to fold up the glass into a square, wet it out in a container, then unfold it on the board. I've tried it with a short prone board and it works ok. Not sure how it would go with a larger SUP.

Hard to see the advantages of that over wetout and roller--or even just pouring and scraping on the board. You'd probably have more resin trapped than conventional glassing.

[surfcowboy]

Oh and I'm at 11 lbs for this thing pre hot coat. I'm hoping to hit under 15 with fins. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten that without the drier lam from the table.

[TallDude]

If you do sand through it, no big deal. You can patch the spot with some glass. Getting it too hot when you sand is worse, because you'll get delam problems down the road.

[surfcowboy]

Did my rough in sanding with the sander and it went pretty well (first time for everything.) Mostly kept it cool and only dipped in a couple of spots. No glass was severed and the laps are pretty flat.

Deck looks to be pretty straight forward but those weird relief cuts on the bottom will need some filler to get them level. That'll be a couple of layers there but I have some fast resin so should be a one-nighter.

And yes, I've had to spot treat sand-thrus on the hand planes. This lam is way flatter which give me hope. It's like they say, each step done well makes the next easier. My first lams were so wavy that there was no way to sand them easily. This one I've taken the top off of everything and am starting pretty flat.

[magentawave]

Does anyone have the link to the DW video where he's using a wet out table and rolls the cloth on a tube?