” Glassing a paddleboard is much easier than glassing a canoe or kayak.”
If you have never worked with epoxy laminating your paddleboard probably seems a bit intimidating. Most of the information you read or see on Youtube is how professionals glass foam surfboards. Most of this information is correct but this section is written specifically for homebuilders glassing wooden paddleboards with epoxy. When you break down the steps involved, glassing a wood board is actually quite simple and enjoyable. Glassing a paddle board is much easier than glassing a canoe or kayak.
This video shows me doing the lamination coat on a paddle board. I speed up this video x2 as it is meant as in introduction. The video starts with me mixing epoxy resin, placing a logo before the lamination coat begins. When laminating a SUP it helps to section the board and start from the middle and work towards the nose & tail. This strategy helps get the epoxy out of the mixing cup quickly without having to walk from nose to tail or reach over your board. You could fully laminate the half of one side before the other but “slow” hardener seems to allow a fair amount of time even if when you heat the epoxy.
Pro Tips:
- Heating part “B” of your epoxy reduces the viscosity making it easier to get a nice coat.
- Thoroughly mix epoxy 1-2 minutes as unmixed epoxy will not cure.
- Epoxy cures with an exothermic reaction, meaning it creates it’s own heat. The faster you get the epoxy out of the mixing cup and spread out on the board the slower the reaction and greater the working time.
- If you section the board like shown here, you should finish by doing long strokes to tension the glass evenly once the epoxy is on the board.
The following tutorials go into great detail…
