The materials required to build a windsurfer are not straightforward to source in the UK board builders in the US have it much easier! If anyone has any additional suppliers that warrant a mention here, drop me a line and I’ll add them.
The only high density foam I’ve used is Airex R63.80. This is an open cell foam that takes a sharp curve, it is easy to use for board building. R63.80 comes in 8’x4’ sheets of varying thickness. The thinnest is 2mm, and this was perfect for the speedboard. Ordinarily I’d use 3mm sheets. The UK supplier for Airex is IMPAG UK (http://www.impag.co.uk/), who stock R63.80 and give excellent service. It’s relatively expensive - £154.62 for two sheets.
I would really like to find a reasonably priced UK supplier of high quality fibreglass and carbon. I’ve tried SP Systems and a bunch of others, but none of them come close to meeting the price of importing cloth from the US, even when customs and carriage are considered. The supplier I use is Fiber Glass Supplies (http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/). They sell all manner of cloth, and are reasonably priced. Customer service is excellent ask for Sherl and she’ll help you out! The price of the cloth depends on the quantity that you buy. Carbon and S-type glass (which I use in all boards) are particularly keenly priced. If you are building a board for the first time, you could consider using a cheaper grade of cloth this can be sourced from multiple surfboard supplier based in Devon and Cornwall.
Like fibreglass, epoxy is much cheaper in the US. Trouble is that is a weighty item and so shipping it across is not economic. I use SP Systems (www.spsystems.com) products, which are distributed through Marineware (02380 330208, based in Southampton). SP115 reasonable working times at workshop temperatures, and is used by the surfboard industry as it contains UV inhibitors that remove the need for an overcoat. I’ve used SP115 on 6 boards. More recently, I’ve started using Ampreg 22. Ampreg comes with a variety of hardeners, and I like to use a slow hardener for the deck high density foam lamination (it just gives more time). It’s more expensive, but it does have improved mechanical properties over SP115. As well as epoxy, get hold of some Glass Bubbles (.25kg or so per board) from the epoxy supplier.
The supplier I’ve used in the past is Combat Polystyrene Ltd. They have now been bought by Springvale (www.springvale.co.uk), and I haven’t tried this supplier yet. Combat could supply an 8’x4’x2’ block of 11kg/m3 EPS for about £75 + VAT. They also didn’t mind dividing the main block into four 8’x2’x1’ smaller blocks for free. This is enough foam to make 4 boards. By the way, you may find that some suppliers only stock 16 kg/m3 EPS foam using this density of foam adds 500g to a 100 ltr board.
If you are using epoxy, you have to overcoat with 2K paint. 2K yacht paint can be sourced from most chandlers, or Marineware. When you buy, make sure you ask for high-build epoxy primer, and be sure to get the right colour of primer for the top coat. The best non-slip covering is acrylic dust sprinkled onto polyurethane 2K varnish. The varnish can be supplied by the paint shop, and Fiber Glass Supplies (http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/) stock acrylic dust. Sprinkle the acrylic dust using an icing sugar duster from your local hardware store.
I get all inserts from Fiber Glass Supplies (http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/) in the States. The website is easy to navigate. In terms of fin box, you can buy a US Box (R51-3910/41), various Tuttle boxes, or a Powerbox (R54-4654). There are lots of different mast boxes, but I’ve always used R63-4993. Some mast boxes come with an inbuilt vent at the front of the box. I don’t like these, as to give access to the core of the board you have to drill through the reinforcement under the mast box. I use a separate vent (R62-5088), with an aluminium slot screw (R62-5154). I recommend the North 3 post footstrap inserts (R65-5553) these have a brass thread that is filled with gel, and are supplied with a screw and washer (which you must use I think the screw is a US sizing, not the conventional ‘M’ sizing used in the UK).
The board building process uses large quantities of everyday consumables such as masking tape, kitchen roll, sanding paper, wet and dry paper, etc. These can all be very easily sourced and so are not included here. The niche consumables required by the board builder are vacuum consumables.
I’ve used two suppliers for vacuum consumables Aerovac (http://www.aerovac.com/) for large quantities, and Marineware if I get caught short and need a few yards of something or other. The vacuum bag material is Capron 77C, which comes in several widths. I tend to get 1.5m width for the larger bags and 1m for everything else. It is sold by weight, don’t ask me why, but they can calculate the length for you. The sealant tape for the bag is SQLTS90B, and well priced at £4 or so per 15m. Release film is D2000P, peel ply is A100 and breather fabric SQ Airbleed. You need to be careful in specifying the width of each material, and remember that the curvature of the deck adds significantly to the width of the board, so factor this into your width estimations.
This section covers only specialist tools required by the aspiring board builder. More conventional tools (such as the wood working tools required in the production of plywood templates) are not detailed.
Every composite board builder needs access to a vacuum pump. I’ve heard of people using refrigerator pumps for this purpose, but I would feel uncomfortable trying this especially if it needs to be left unattended for 12 hours or so. I bought my vacuum pump from Rietschle (http://www.rietschle.co.uk/). The pump I use is a VTE6 (I think this was about £300), but with retrospect I may have got away with the VTE3. Be sure to specify that you need a release valve fitted to the pump, as this fitting allows you to vary the vacuum created by the pump. Aerovac (http://www.aerovac.com/) supplied the components that connect the pump to the bag, and monitor the pressure applied to the board. They supplied a vacuum gauge (£30), two non-return plugs (£5 each), a length of vacuum hose call Amphose (£2/m), two hose ends (£2.64 each), two sockets (£5 each) and two through connects (£14 each). By the way, I might lend out my vacuum pump for a small rental fee for anyone based in the South of the UK, its quite an investment to make.
Board building does not require a heavy duty router. I bought a Trend T3 router (http://www.trendmachinery.co.uk) that has proved just the ticket. I think the base model costs about £40, but you can buy packages that include set of bits. You certainly need a¼ straight bit. I’ve heard of people using a ¼ drill bit in a router, but I don’t recommend this as I don’t know whether drill bits can operate safely at router speeds.