Yes past what your vacuuming.
Was thinking if you didn't full wrap around rails an option would be glass the rails with basalt tape.
I remembered the ply we used was 2mm Gaboon.

Once you start vac bagging you won't go back, Good luck

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Tassiedevel said..
Glen any chance you could put up an attachment to the vacuum bagging blog - keen to give it a go but have a few queries - eg . do you need a vacuum bagging vacuum or will a shed/ house vacuum be enough / do you need the vacuum attachment or just tie / tape the vacuum hose in the bag / do you need the breather clothe some talk about . Also thinking of trying the next one fibreglass / resin free - some of the blokes are now using water based polyurethane paint to water seal - pretty keen to give that a go - save a bit of weight but avoid the stuff around it can be playing with epoxy and fibreglass

Tassie back to this post, I have made a board and just did an epoxy coat to save weight, the board is more than strong enough but punched holes straight through the epoxy surfing over reefs or if I knocked it at all where as if you use glass its a lot better.

The weight in the board (if using Paulownia over EPS) obviously starts with the wood and foam but its the glue in my case marine grade Polyurethane foaming glue (used about 1.5kg for the long board) fiber glass and epoxy resin (hoping to keep that at 1.5kg to 2.5kg) I glue and vacuum both deck and bottom in one go.
When vacuuming the deck and bottom I don't use breather cloth just a couple of clean towels from the bag connection to along the board to give the vacuum a path. the glue wont stick to the plastic so no need to isolate glue from the bag.

Its a real skill using less glue (I use to much but it dose impregnate the EPS foam making things stronger) and laminating using exactly just enough epoxy resin followed by fill / seal coat and having the skill to knock it all flat sanding without going through to the weave.

When it come to making boards forget the shaper its sanding that makes or breaks a board.

You can get lighter results if you vacuum the glass coat using peel ply and breather cloth.

Thanks again fellas - reckon I have it just about sorted - have a blank , some 2 mm Blackwood , plenty of glue / resin and fibreglass sheets , cork roll for rails ,have found some gear to vacuum bag with so chase up a vacuum I am in business . After I finish / patch 4 other boards / tables to clear space in the shed .

Lucky I am retired

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IFocus said..

Tassiedevel said..
Glen any chance you could put up an attachment to the vacuum bagging blog - keen to give it a go but have a few queries - eg . do you need a vacuum bagging vacuum or will a shed/ house vacuum be enough / do you need the vacuum attachment or just tie / tape the vacuum hose in the bag / do you need the breather clothe some talk about . Also thinking of trying the next one fibreglass / resin free - some of the blokes are now using water based polyurethane paint to water seal - pretty keen to give that a go - save a bit of weight but avoid the stuff around it can be playing with epoxy and fibreglass

Tassie back to this post, I have made a board and just did an epoxy coat to weight

When it come to making boards forget the shaper its sanding that makes or breaks a board.

yep mate agree with the sanding - have tried with the latest one with shaping the timber rails / deck to stick with the planer as much as possible - less mess

with weight I am obsessed with keeping the weight as low as possible but wonder if a bit of weight is really a bad thing . The middle 5 foot 7 board I posted up weighs from memory about 6 -7 kg with pad and fins . I notice the weight on the walk to the water but once in the water it is magic - easy to paddle / catches everything , great fun in big fat waves .

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Tassiedevel said..
Thanks again fellas - reckon I have it just about sorted - have a blank , some 2 mm Blackwood , plenty of glue / resin and fibreglass sheets , cork roll for rails ,have found some gear to vacuum bag with so chase up a vacuum I am in business . After I finish / patch 4 other boards / tables to clear space in the shed .

Lucky I am retired

At 70yo ,and ex tradie,still getting requests and still struggling to say no, family and close friends only now,the balance between having something to do,and doing to much is becoming more obvious ,as I age,as my priority is the sup \ocean,it feels full retirement is not far away

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Tassiedevel said..
with weight I am obsessed with keeping the weight as low as possible but wonder if a bit of weight is really a bad thing . The middle 5 foot 7 board I posted up weighs from memory about 6 -7 kg with pad and fins . I notice the weight on the walk to the water but once in the water it is magic - easy to paddle / catches everything , great fun in big fat waves .

Yeah found the same made a couple of heavy 6'4"'s (by modern standards) that go really well.

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IFocus said..

Tassiedevel said..
Glen any chance you could put up an attachment to the vacuum bagging blog - keen to give it a go but have a few queries - eg . do you need a vacuum bagging vacuum or will a shed/ house vacuum be enough / do you need the vacuum attachment or just tie / tape the vacuum hose in the bag / do you need the breather clothe some talk about . Also thinking of trying the next one fibreglass / resin free - some of the blokes are now using water based polyurethane paint to water seal - pretty keen to give that a go - save a bit of weight but avoid the stuff around it can be playing with epoxy and fibreglass

Tassie this blog is really good for the whole process including vac bagging.thewoodbuddha.blogspot.com/ has a great way to build board stand.

Bought a 3CFM vac pump off the net you get them for around or under $100 you also need a vacuum gauge ideally a switch but for the odd board you can switch manually for 3hours if you use PU glue.

For my own bag setup I used Bunnings plastic table cloth (www.bunnings.com.au/crystal-clear-0-3mm-137cm-vinyl-tablecloth_p6640026 can't remember what thickness I used ) stuck together with double sided tape leaving one end open.

To connect to the bag I used a boat fitting like this (www.boataccessoriesaustralia.com.au/bronze-skin-fittings) but I didn't pay that much added a couple of steel plate washers and rubber seals.

read the blog overnight- nice explanation of the whole process - am wondering though how he would shape a decent rail on the board so thinking maybe vacuum bag top and bottom then glue in 3-4 strips cork rail to allow for shaping

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Tassiedevel said..read the blog overnight- nice explanation of the whole process - am wondering though how he would shape a decent rail on the board so thinking maybe vacuum bag top and bottom then glue in 3-4 strips cork rail to allow for shaping

So the process is shape the EPS blank, cut enough rail off the blank to reshape in Paulownia.

Square up the rail and glue on one rail band cleanup (rail band = 5mm ish thick paulownia) then vacuum the deck and bottom on , that attaches to the rail band and EPS. cleanup then add further rails bands building out material to reshape the rails as you want them.

You can use cork in place of the paulownia many do.

A couple of examples

Here is one where I used a tail block saves wrapping the timber around the tail, Tassie as you have already made boards you will find it pretty straight forward no matter what you do.

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IFocus said..

cheers mate