How to Glass a Surfboard

Find a garage or shed where you can do the glassing -- not the room of a house or outside in the elements. Before you start, practice with a piece of foam and bit of fiberglass, concentrating mainly on wrapping the sides and bottom. Put the board on a stable, elevated surface. Place tape on the surfboard, evenly and equally on both sides. Before you layer it with fiberglass, sprinkle sawdust along the board. Make sure you wear protective goggles when you cut the fiberglass. Use a jigsaw with a medium tooth scroll type blade to cut. Use 6 oz. fiberglass cloth.

Use a clear polyester resin to make sure the fiberglass adheres to the board. Add to the resin the color you want the board to be -- at least initially. Test the resin on a foam piece to make sure it's the desired shade. Coat the board with a layer of resin, applying it with a brush or squeegee. Cut out and add decals on the foam base of the board at this point, before glassing. Wear a mask to avoid the resin's toxic chemicals.

Drape and layer the fiberglass cloth in a single sheet evenly across the board, with about an inch of excess cloth hanging from the sides. Wet and brush the bottom of the board to make sure it's flat and without air bubbles. Do this with gloves on; you don't want to get the resin on your hands and fingers. Coat the fiberglass with resin throughout, in even, thorough strokes. Do this quickly -- in 15 minutes or less -- so the fiberglass doesn't gel. Brush over so that no fiberglass is hanging over the edges. Again, brush over the surface with a squeegee, making sure the resin isn't bubbled or over-concentrated anywhere.