If you’re like me and have seen all sorts of decks with awesome graphics, but haven’t found the one that hits the spot just right, I’d suggest you try giving, “making it yourself” a go. It’s super easy and it’ll get you an amazing, professional looking finish on your deck.
It’s my first time working with fiberglass, so this is a testament to how easy it is to do. So i got the idea from @kai’s sweet sweet build, that if you haven’t seen it you should definitely check it out.
What you’ll need:
Fiberglass cloth
Fiberglass resin (Epoxy)
Fabric with desired
The hardest part of all this is finding a fabric with a graphic to your liking,
Wait 24 hours or till the resin has cured, then trim off all the excess fabic.
Then add another layer of resin, then the fiberglass, and lastly a final layer of resin, maink sure to sagurate the fiberglass, all the way out to all the edges.
Now just leave it to set.
Just a note. Most epoxy does not have uv protection and will yellow in the sun. To avoid this, do a final layer of polyurethane varnish that has uv protection. Nice job.
That would work! You would want to use waterbased discharge inks but it would work. Discharge ink bleaches the color out of the fabric and replaces it with ink so you don’t get any build up on the fabric. It keeps the weave open.
But you can also sublimate graphics onto your veneer before pressing a deck in your mold. Just be sure to use waterbased ink otherwise you will get delamination.
I do like the fabric lamination though, very cool.
Haha… i got that dragon print from joanns … there was actually some hot chicks in there but mostly old ladies… the florida life. I was just in there yesterday. I have yet to try printing to rice paper and laminating to the board with epoxy. Supposedly the ricepaper completely disappears.
Well surfboard stuff is poly and supposedly isnt as strong as epoxy is what i read so that’s why i stick with epoxy and a layer of poly for uv protection.
I have been doing coatings for 30+ years. Epoxy is awesome and a bulk of my business but it does amber. You need to block the UV from getting to it. Granted underside of deck rarely sees UV and top is typically grip taped. Just be certain the poly you are using is a UV barrier not just UV stable. If it allows UV to pass through you are still going to amber the epoxy underneath. Nobody wants to paint a carbon deck. I know the Corvette’s and BMW’s use a special resin on their carbon roof construction but I hear the resin is $1,200.00 a gallon 10 year warranty though.
Good to know. I am using a poly for boats that says it is a barrier on the top of my board. My board did yellow already due to the clear grip for decks that i used. But it still looks pretty good. I will update if it yellows more from the sunlight in my build thread.
Instead of using grip tape you could apply two layers of poly. In the first layer you sprinkle on white aluminum oxide (30-larger - 60-finer grit size )which is pretty clear once embedded in the resin. Then apply a second thin layer of resin to lock in the grit. You do not need that much just enough to give you the desired level of grip you want. You probably need less than a shot glass per deck.
When I do floors I use about 0.5kg/50sq.m (1 lb./500 sq.ft.).
i used a product called clear grip made for floors. it is plastic based but it had a yellowing effect. going to try spray grip next time to see how that turns out. trying to source more wood in my area right now. if that doesn’t come out nice i will try aluminum oxide like you suggest.
