Process for fabricating a closed, foam-filled, reinforced polyester resin shell article

Claim 1

A process for fabricating a closed, foam-filled, reinforced polyester-surfaced object, such as a surfboard, said process comprising the steps of: disassembling a mold into at least four parts so that the surface of each part is readily accessible to be sprayed by a resin spray gun the joint between the parts being positioned away from the outer edge of the reinforced polyester-surfaced object; coating the surface of each part of the mold with a liquid resin and reinforcing material and allowing the liquid resin to at least partially cure; assembling some of the mold parts to form one of the halves of the desired object; assembling the remaining mold parts to form the other half of the desired object; pouring a prefoam mix into each of the mold halves; inserting a baffle member across the entire upper surface of the mold halves before the prefoam has commpletely risen said baffle member having at least one hole therethrough; allowing the prefoam to rise and allowing a portion thereof to pass through the hole in the baffle member; removing the baffle member; cutting out a portion of the upper surface of the foam so that when the two halves are joined, a generally I-beam shaped hollow depression is formed between the mold halves; supporting the two mold halves into the desired final orientation while pouring a joining resin into the generally I-beam shaped depression; and permitting the joining resin to cure to form a final part.