Glass and Resin:

Getting started:

The resin mix used for fiberglassing surfboards consists of a few different things, depending on what you are doing with it. For laminating the glass cloth, you use surfboard resin and MEKP, which is the catalyst for hardening the mix. For the final "hot coat" or sanding coat after you are done with the laminating, you use surfboard resin, MEKP and a surface agent, which contains wax to seal out the air allowing the resin mix to fully cure so it's sandable. If you use a resin with the surface agent already in it for the laminating you'll have to sand between layers. For mounting the fins, fin box, or leash plug, you use a mix of surfboard resin, MEKP and filler. The filler add strength to the resin, which is really brittle on its own.

Choosing a resin:

Its best to use a resin specifically made for surfboards. This is because it will already have UV inhibitors already in it, most resins used for marine repair sold at boating stores don't. Also, surfboard resin is pretty clear, so you end up with a white board, instead of puke yellow. Fiberglass Supply is a good source, but there are others you can find with a little searching on the web. My longboard took 2 gallons of resin to complete, however I did waste a lot of it by mixing too much at a time.

Choosing a filler:

I like to use micro ballons, these are tiny glass spheres that look like powder. They are extremely light and make sanding easier. Other choices are talcum, graphite, silica etc… Ask what color the filler is before ordering it, other wise you might end up with a white board and red colored resin around the fins and leash plug. Again, Fiberglass Supply is a good source, for about $5 you can get enough to do about 10 boards.

Mixing:

To mix the stuff you are going to need some small paper or plastic buckets and a way to accurately measure the MEKP. I used a squeeze bottle with a graduated cone on top for the MEKP, it cost a few dollars and was from Fiberglass Supply and worked pretty good. Fiberglas supply has a mixing ratio chart online for their resins, they call for about 5 ml per quart. I used around 2 ml since it was so hot out when I did mine. It took a little longer to fully cure, but you don't want it setting up in the middle of a laminating coat. Also, the longer it takes to cure, the stronger the cured resin will be. Be careful, the reaction can make the mix get really hot, if this starts to happen you are probably using too much catalyst. Once you mix the MEKP in, get started right away, it hardens pretty quick. There are three states to the resin mix, 1) liquid, keep laminating 2) gelled, you took too long, stop now and 3) cured solid, get ready for the next layer.

You are going to want to wear glove, this is nasty stuff, especially the MEKP, and is all known to cause cancer in California. Also, get a respirator with charcoal cartridges for organic fumes. The resin really stinks, it will probably make you sick without a respirator. You may not want to do this in your basement, even in the summer with the windows open, I did and my house stunk like resin for a week.

When you are done, you can clean up your stuff with Acetone. I would just let the left over resin harden in the plastic buckets I used and flex the sides and bottom after it hardened to pop it out before I used them again.