hey im making my first board and wondering what a hot coat that everyone talks about. is it just a coat of epoxy without any fibers or what?

cheers hugh

Hot coat is another way of saying sanding coat. It fills in the weave of the cloth, and any imperfections in the laminate.

It's resin mixed with a filler -- the best I've found is West System # 410 Microlight Fairing Compound mixed with 105/205 resin.

Mix it to mayonaise consistency and squeege it on to the final (sanded) layer of glass or carbon.

Use masking tape on the tips of the board when you're hot-coating the bottom of the board to create a dam so that you can sand in a hard edge. Naturaly, keep the other rails soft -- just the tips need a hard edge.

Home board builders sometimes use Bondo for the sanding coat, but it's a lot more work to apply and much harder to sand.

Good luck!

Lee
http://www.roguewaveboards.com

I thought a hotcoat was a mix of polyester resine mixed with sum styrene and wax or something like that.
Can u really do a hotcoat with Êpoxy
If I use the Epoxy with that filler, will it be clear?

Nope -- if you want it clear, just use uv stable clear epoxy with no fillers (it's MUCH heavier that way though )

Thanx a lot for the answer rogue, I love the look of ur boards.

" Naturaly, keep the other rails soft -- just the tips need a hard edge. "
Can u explain a little more please

I keep the tips of the board hard, but the rails soft -- this lets the water release keenly from the tips as it exits the rear, but allows the rails to dig deeply into the water for good bite.

If the edges on the rails are hard, the board will skip out when you least expect it too (as you'll exoerience with the hard rails of a lot of poorly designed production boards).

Lee

Thanx a lot for your quick answers

Rogue:

Why is it called hot? Do you heat to thin?

I have heard that you must heat to thin the resin on this coat. This allows for a cooling during set-up. Which leads to a more clear final product, due to less air in this clear coat.

Any truth to this?

Nope.

The term "hot-coat" comes from the old polyester surfboard days where the resin was mixed with a LOT of hardener to make it kick (harden) quickly so they could flip the board ASAP.

Don't bother heating your resin -- it's not necessary (and is probably dangerous).

Lee

Once u finished the hot coat, u just paint , clear and polish right?

By the way good job on that board review in that magazine!!!!

Looks real nice to