SEA STATE SUP Kit board

Today we glassed the bow and stern decks to the hull.
It is our first kit board.
Two additional stringer blocks will be added in the standing area.  There is also some gel coat re-touching to do at the deck joints.  Once these things are done, it will be ready for the SUP building class that begins next Tuesday night at St. Louis Sail and Paddle.
The molds are ready for the next set of parts and we will spray in the gel coat tomorrow.

In preparation for the class, we ordered epoxy, leash cups, breather vents, fins, additional fin boxes and more gel-coat.
The board looks good now but add a little wood and the two tone style will be great!

Glass 10/5 kit board with loose cedar strips.

Bow deck showing flange where wood strip deck attaches,

First deck castings out of the molds

We mixed the barrel of resin with a drill paddle.  Next we located some possible barrel pumps on Grainger.com.  If anyone can suggest a good hand pump for this application, please tell us.
Grainger is closed on the weekend so we were able to extract some resin with a hose.  This enabled us to cast the two deck parts.
Today we will trim the parts and prep for glassing them to the hull.

The stripped molds, ready to go again.

Hickory Nuts for the winter

A cold front came through town at about 5pm.  Earlier in the day it was up to 84 degrees which is crazy for October 25th on the edge of the Great Planes.  But it dropped.
It is 49 out now and tomorrow night it might hit freezing.
That is perfectly normal but it is a little unsettling to me, a displaced Alabamian.
This is the time of year I get a little scared and feel like burying Hickory nuts.
No Hickory trees near here, so I an collecting shop supplies for the winter.
Today we had the long awaited run to Advanced Plastics Inc.
In addition to the drum of vinyl ester resin, we purchased 40 yards of 6 oz cloth, 50 pounds of chopped strand mat, 50 pounds of biaxial glass cloth and an equal amount of woven roving.

Shane and Richard dropped by to chat and were coerced into helping us unload.
Thanks!

That's the stuff !

Non-traditional plug fabrication

Having never learned surfboard shaping with a foam blank and a Skill 100 planer, I approached our paddle board plugs more like a small thin boat hull.
This means math and lofting.
On paper we decided on the overall characteristics for the board, next we decided on where the split would be in the form.  Then we start with the bottom half of the hull and build it up from a strong back.  Unlike a our past boats though, the strong back is a plywood plane.  (our second board has the rocker built in to the strong back (see below).
With thin ply, foam and fairing we shape the rails, rocker and concave.  This method allows us to easily keep the board symmetrical.  It also provides a great surface for the mold's flange.

After passes with gel coat, fairing and addition gel coat, the plug / form can get as smooth and fair as you like.

Final call for our November SUP class

We are offering a boat building class in conjunction with St. Louis Sail and Paddle this November.
We have a couple people signed up for the SUP class and we have room for a couple more.
If you are interested please call David @ (314) 308-3753
or Chris at St Louis Sail & Paddle
The final cut off will be Halloween!
http://www.stlouissailandpaddle.com/

The Sea State Stand Up Paddle 

Board Building Class

Build a SUP @ 

St. Louis Sail and Paddle!

WHEN:  4 Tuesday evenings: November 6, 13, 20, 27; 6:30-8pm

WHERE:  St. Louis Sail and Paddle, storage of projects is provided during November.

HOW MUCH:  The fee for the SUP class is $1100

WHAT"S INCLUDED:

• Pre-formed fiberglass hull section of the paddle board (Made in Chesterfield, MO!)

• A selection of beautiful wood strips to choose from: Cherry, Walnut, Bass wood, Cedar and Mahogany.  With these you can design your custom deck look!

• Pre-formed stringers (for internal support)

• 4  yards of 6 oz glass cloth

• 1.5 quarts of epoxy (UV inhibited)

• 7 inch high quality fiberglass fin

• Tie downs for gear

• Pad material

• Breather valve

Sea States Paddle Board is a fiberglass composite hull with a wood strip / glass composite deck. This is and easy project and you will end up with a beautiful and one of a kind watercraft of your own. No prior woodworking skill is needed.  Some hand tools and a power sander is all we will be using.

Instruction and assistance is provided by boat builder, David Kreutz of Sea State Marine.

Class size will be limited. Sign up early!

Shop work: repairs

This weekend we have some SUP repairs in progress.
A friend has two boards with some damage.  One has a crushed rail and the other has some punctures in the skin. Both are fun looking Pau Hanas.

Deck Molds for the SUP

The hull, nose and tail of the Sea State SUP will be made of gel coated fiberglass.  The remainder of the deck will be wood strip construction.
The deck molds popped off of the plugs with little effort!
They have a smooth finish and only require a little finish work on one edge of the bow deck mold.
We got a call from our material supplier.  Our new barrel of resin is in.  495 pounds of liquid parts.
The first kits will be ready in a week.

Tooling gel coat sprayed on the plugs

Today we sprayed tooling gel coat on the plugs for the bow and stern deck of the SUP.
This will form the molding surface of the mold.  After the gel coat sets up, we will add layers of glass and resin to create a strong durable mold.

After the entire lamination is cured, we will separate it from the plug.  The coating of PVA we sprayed on the plug prevents the mold from sticking.  That is the theory.
But of course "past performance is no guarantee of future earnings."

Fabricating the stern deck

Our Paddle Board kit is progressing.  Now that the hull mold is finished, we are working on the deck structures.  The bow deck plug is ready for molding.  We wanted to do the molds for both the bow and stern in one go, so the next step was to get the stern deck plug ready.

We used a similar method, but instead of foam, we used a thin ply and fairing material only.

This part is not intended to be as thick.

Today we will polish the gelcoat finish and prep for molding.