First post and second board! I have a 6’11" stringerless egg shape ready to glass. I plan to do a 6oz bottom layer, and a 6oz + 4oz deck. For added strength I’m considering adding a strip of fiberglass down the middle on the bottom, or another 4oz layer (weight isn’t a huge issue, I’m not an extremely skilled surfer and surf the Great Lakes where the waves are shitty 80% of the time).
Now for my question. I would like to glass a leaf onto the bottom of the board just to have some design aspect. I’m currently pressing a few different leaves in preparation. Would this take away from the strength of the board, not having the fiberglass bonded directly to the foam? Specifically, if I add a fiberglass stringer on the bottom and it’s interupted by this leaf would that deplete the purpose?
I haven’t been able to find anything about this specifically. If anyone has any suggestions, about any part of my plan, I would love to hear them! And yes, it is a pot leaf.
If you have resin under the leaf and fiberglass over it, I don’t think it would compromise the strength - but I don’t think I would attempt it unless you are vacuuming your lamination.
Interesting- if you interrupt the ‘stringer’ or reinforcing strip you suggest, yes, you’ll definitely compromise the strength of it, to the point where you might as well not bother with it.
On the other hand, your alternative of double 4 oz on the bottom is a good one. I might think about double 6 on the deck too. Put your well-dried leaf under both and make sure it’s well saturated/permeated with resin, shouldn’t be that much of an adhesion issue, or at least no more than the incredibly tacky graphics so many people do with way too much paint on the foam.
Pot leaf. Well, yeah, there were a lot of those glassed in back in the day Made life interesting when travelling across borders. While a resin impregnated leaf wasn’t an effective intoxicant, going through the courts to prove that was a hassle. And any issues with the glass were as likely stoner glassing rather than the leaves.
You’re surfing the lakes? Why not a nice maple leaf?
That’s funny. The old Pot leaf under glass. I’ve got an old board out back that was left behind by someone. I’ll have to digg it out and get a pic. Has the five fingers. I guess Mr. Hynson glassed a little more than a leaf into some of his boards back in the day…