Making a Skimboard

[Dec]

Wahey. I was very very bored today and I was looking at some left over marine ply wood and I thought I could make a board.
A skimboard seemed the most obvious.

I got some shapes from pictures, drew it, cut it out with a jigsaw, and sanded it. It looked pretty crappy.

Searched around for some stuff and came across some boat fiberglass and some resin. I didn't have enough fiberglass for the other side so I just did one..I'm going to finish it tomorrow.

Here are some pics of my awful work..(Note the high grade cloth line clips )


PS. Having some difficulty uploading pics so they will be on soon..ish..

[essex sucks]

sounds good "but we will see we will see"

[Dec]

Right, I am not even half way..In fact far from it. Just one layer of fiberglass and resin.

I am lazy and I dont know how to glass so I am not going to

Numeral uno..



I will keep you updated on how it goes. Might take me a month though

[Dec]

[Dec]

My work space


My fins.





KS, I don't know whether to leave them as wood (lol not you WooD) or to fiberglass them and then attatch them. I am going to attach them with some marine stainless steel, super small screws.


Any advice will be helpful!

[essex sucks]

thats sweet dec. i do the same when there is nothing to do. i make somthing

[GowerCharger]

i made a plywood skimboard as a kid, wasnt as good as yours tho, mine wasnt even symmetrical i suck at that sort of thing. good work.

[Dec]

I do have a rather useless collection of tools, and hardware because of my boating job. That kinda helped.

But I stole the shape from the internet

[scuba steve]

Good work Dec, I'd fibreglass the fins if I were you.

[sal]

note the high grade cloth line clips

Dec, are you sure they're not your hair clips?!?!?!

[FishKid Wales]

Am i being a mong but why the feck are you sticking fins on a skimboard?????????????????? + your gunna need to give that beast a load of rocker or your goin to eat a shed load of sand

[IdRatherBeSurfing]

im gonna agree with fishboy... ive never seen a flat skimboard with fins

[Dec]

lmao
Yea, I've given up on the fins because there is no way I can securely put them in..And, with the rocker I am kinda screwed already ...but I have a realy skimboard so oooh well...this is my mess around board.

I might finish off the other side tonight after work if I can get the fiberglass.

[.Jen.]

thats sweet dec. i do the same when there is nothing to do. i make somthing

I made 2 sock monkeys last week

[Dec]

Right, I have solved the rocker issue by adding some more pieces of wood to the front and shaping it out of that.

KS READ THIS: FLESHING RESIN! It's not drying even though I put 5 drops of hardener to 30mls (for tropical climate)..I think this is because of the resin paint I put with it.

Also...what's the deal with glassing? Is it possible for me to do? If so how? And what will I need.

This should be done in about 2 weeks

[Dec]

OK..not a problem with resin as I just did a sample test and it dried in like 10 mins solid...just the resin and paint!

(just another question...What type of foam do you use for shaping boards?)

Thanks

[FishKid Wales]

Dec after reading this post last night i FISHed out my skim board and i think due to the vast nose and tail rocker you are left with a far smaller plaining area which i think increases speed/length of ride and prevents you from burying the nose, so with out trying to sound negative i cant see how yours is gunna work, unless yuou use in on a steep beach as i use mine mostly in the tiny film that is left after the wave has gone back out.

N.b I could be way off the mark with this 1 so if any 1 can correct me feel free!

[Dec]

Well I have started building up layers on the nose section...which I am going to sand down into a nice nose rocker.

I think it's going to help tons on not diving it.

Thanks for the help!!

KS...Please answer questions!!!!

[tomcat360]

To glass--

Lay out the cloth, get it smooth, no bumps anywhere

Pour on the resin, dow the middle, and then using a sqeege work it towards the ouside. You must push the resin through the cloth in order to wet it out

Then take off the excess. Starting in the middle, angle your squeege (about 45*) and work it towards the rails.

Now usually on a surfboard, you would wrap the rails. However, I've tried wrapping the rails on some of my skateboards, and it is much more difficult due to the very hard curves. So if you want to wrap it (and it will create a sandwhich effect, which is very strong) lay the cloth out, and cut about two inches down. Then glass.

So then when you get the top wetted out, all of the excess resin should have gone into the rails. They should be completely clear. If not, you can add a bead of resin down the rail, and angle the squeege towards the rail and gravity should make it wet out.

Then, starting at mid rail, hold the squeege up, thumbs on the corners. Now, place the squeege on the edge, and push it back with your thumbs, in a gentle rolling action. Do that all the way down the board.

The nose and tail will need to be slit before glassing, and then grinded after glassing.

Flip it, do the bottom, hot coat, flip, hot coat.

And you should be done! If you haven't done glass work before, you're in for a treat! (just wear gloves and a respirator, you should be alright)

[Dec]

Sounds simple enough

Only problem is..what is hot coating?

And shal I just cut the fiberglass to the size of the board instead of rolling the edges?