The Surfboard

I'm making progress with the surfboard, albeit very slowly. Not having an accessible workshop while a bit of building work is going on is delaying me and the intense rain hasn't helped, as I'm having to do everything on the patio table at the back, much to Hay's chagrin.

I started by rubbing it down, but the sandpaper kept clogging up. I resorted to an old car bodywork trick and lubricated the area with soapy water, which proved most efficacious.

Next the epoxy resin I was using to fill the dents and dings went all orange peel on me, necessitating having to puddle it quite proud of the surfboard surface, which certainly filled the holes, but the stuff is like cast iron and difficult to sand. My small orbital sander eventually gave up the ghost for some reason and I had to resort to a sheet sander, which was actually better, if somewhat larger and less able to reach corners and design depressions.

Next I filled the remaining depressions with car body filler to remove any slight imperfections and now have to rebuild the damaged corners, give it a final sanding and then it will be ready for priming. On reflection, because the filler is easier to sand and doesn't clog the sandpaper, I would have been better not using the resin at all and starting with the body filler, but because the board can flex, I thought resin would be a better option to start with. However, as a decorative item, the board is unlikely to undergo any flexing.

I did learn something - when car body filler gets old it tends to solidify and become useless; however, it's merely epoxy resin with solids in the form of talc powder for building up profiles. If you mix the old filler with some epoxy resin from a fibreglass kit, it becomes malleable once more and can be returned to usable normality.

I did consider dumping this surfboard and getting a pristine one that required no tarting up, except for a repaint, but they're a minimum of £200 to £300, even for a cheap one. I got a bargain with mine, as the bloke who sold it to me thought it was beyond repair, which it ain't - just needs some TLC and know-how.

I purchased these two bits of wood on Facebook Market, which are collectively called a Hawaiian gun rack, specifically to mount surfboards horizontally on vertical walls - if that's what I choose to do.

I've not yet decided on whether to convert it to a light fitting, merely use it as wall art or whether to sell it at a vast and disgusting profit - it will depend on the quality and colour of the final paint effect, but I'm not using it in the static caravan as it's simply too long for going over the dining table. 

The mono-ski suffers from the same problem of length for the static and, in any case, Hay has fallen in love with it and wants it for wall art in our house. I was speaking to someone yesterday who had heard of two water skis being used to make a bench, which seems a neat idea - might give that a go for the caravan's decking patio.