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Lap … cut & free (not dancing)

On the first two boards I did, the ‘jazz” and the ‘forty one”, I did free laps … the ‘jazz’ turned out quite ugly, and ended up with a very uneven line of cloth which is quite obvious after sanding the filler coat as can be seen in this pic:

the 'jazz' - showing nose laps

It’s smooth, and only cosmetic, but I wanted better. So, with the ‘forty one’ I also did a free lap and tried to get a better line, hoping that would blend the lap better and be less ugly looking, but, not quite there as this pic shows:

The 'forty one' - finished Click on any of these images to get a larger view.

So, with the ‘forty one two’ I decided I would try a cut lap. My first ever attempt … so I tapped up the rails on the deck, and went about cutting the cloth more ‘neatly’, I even bought so new super sharp and awesome scissors which made the cloth trimming process much much easier … but, in my usually way, I invited the fuck up fairy back by trimming the cloth so some ended up inside the tapped line, this then lead to the issues when I went to ‘cut’ the lap, since some was overhanging the tape, but other parts were back from it … so I ended up with a bit of an uneven cut. Getting the razor blade to slide along the tap edge and cut was OK where the cloth overhung the tape, but when it hit the spots where the cloth did not make the tape, ah, messy again. Here’ a pic of the lap finished:

the 'forty one two' - nose cut laps

That ‘gash’ you can see on the left hand side is where I managed to put the corner of some sand paper into the foam when I was sanding the lap at that point … it was one of the spots where the cut lap did not sit well and needed a bit more effort to sand it down …the right hand side is he best lap I’ve done, and almost blends with hardly (relative to my two previous attempts) any cloth line showing.

So, with the ‘nineteen 97’ the plan is to do a cut lap and I will be taping the whole deck, using butchers paper to stop any laminate resin getting onto the deck, which, on the ‘forty one two’ resulted in a ‘bumpy’ deck … I will also make sure the cloth is well past the edge of the tape. Watch this space … I’m sure the fairy will be back !

PS: My ‘cut lap’ knowledge came from watching you tube video’s !

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The ‘jazz’ – we’ve added some colour

With the machine cut for the ‘forty one two’ not here for the weekend … my gidget and I, took the spare time to add some colour to the “jazz” which is the first board I made, and which was actually made for her … when I made it, the colour and artwork were low priority as it was more about getting into the process of making, glassing, etc ..

Anyway, my gidget wanted some colour, so this is what we’ve ended up with on her board … it’s all water based kids finger paint straight onto the finished board … we have a few spots to touch up and then I’ll spray it with some clear acrylic from a spray can … it’s her design and colour choice.

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The ‘jazz’ – fin install

I decided to try the Shapers S-plugs … I like the idea of not having to link the fin box to the deck, and I’ve been an FCS user for years so I have a collection of fins … with a larger ‘footprint’ and the ‘scallopped’ edges the S-pug looked the goods … however, I was quite prepared enough when I did the install. I thought I could put some resin in the hole and then set the fin cant … bad, bad idea … very hard to get masking tape off the roll and onto the board and fins once your fingers are sticky from the resin … and then the time wasted stuffing around meant the resin gelled since I was using mekp (i.e. due to the ‘depth’ of the resin uv will not set) … meaning a messy install.

I also ran out of q-cell so the next batch was straight resin, and so the install looks a bit odd … ah the joys of the first project!

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The ‘jazz’ – glassing lessons 101

Being my first attempt at glassing, I knew there would be issues. Using UV cure was the best choice because I had more time … but, that did not stop the stuff up … when I was laminating the bottom, it felt like the resin started to get sticky, like the fist hint it’s about to ‘kick’ when using mekp … so I started to rush … bad move … using my hands to wet the laps in a hurry then meant pulls, and some area’s ended up not wet enough … the end result a really bad lap job and a lot of sanding ensured to get it smooth …

This also lead to sand thru’s after the hotcoat as I tried to get a “smooth” finish, and many, many patches to fix soft spots …

You can see the end result in this pic … a very ugly lap line!

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The ‘jazz’ – my test project

After many hours reading and researching, especially on swaylocks, it is time to actually “do” … I did not want to just ‘practice’ on old bits of foam, and thought the best solution was to try and make something … so, I grabbed a seconds blank that had been pre cut for $20 … this blank had a few “issues”, namely airbubbles and a weird discolouration in the tail and started it’s life as a 6’1″ … working around the “issues” it has ended up at 5’6″ …

Using the pre shaped blank gave me a feel for the little ridges the machine leaves, and how much effort it takes to smooth them down … then with the “issues” I had a play with shaping the nose and tail and blending the rails into the new nose and tail … this pre shape had some concave already, so I only smoothed out the ridges and went with what was already there.