Ok, surfboards are NOT the main reason that tanning beds were invented, but a call the other day got me thinking. I have helped over a dozen people design “tanning systems” for curing finishes on wood or the wood itself, but this was the first time I had a call about surfboards. I visit the ocean once or twice a year, but I have never even set a foot in salt water, so the idea had never dawned on me.

It appears that the newest finishes for surfboards are UV cured, so the recommended way to cure the finish is to “put the surf board out in the sun for a few hours on each side”. Simple enough, except the young lady that called happens to live in a place where the sun doesn’t shine every day during the winter (New England) so either they don’t finish surfboards half the year or find a way to produce UV along a 6 to 10 foot area during December. As usual, when someone calls with an “unusual request”, it is immediately routed to me.

Turns out she has an OLD tanning canopy in the attic. Since the lamp sizes haven’t changed, all she has to do is slip in some new F71 100W tanning lamps and they are ready to go. $100 for 10 lamps, $30 for shipping and they are done. She said he will likely chop off the base and attach it to the ceiling, making the unit take up zero floor space and make it easier to adjust the amount of UV it gets, as well as the angle of exposure.

I also pointed out that since a tanning bed (canopy, etc.) puts out a consistant amount of UV each time, and the sun certainly does NOT due to clouds, they can actually get a better finish by controlling the intensity and time for curing. It is about control, and nothing controls UV output like an old tanning unit with a timer. This is particularly important for wood and other finishes that darken with UV exposure.

So for all of you that are wanting to build a UV device for finishing guitars, violins, or even surfboards, you might want to start by looking in your local newspaper (or even your attic…) for an old canopy or tanning bed first. It IS much cheaper than custom building your own UV system. If you are using the UV from tanning units for other purposes, please forward it on to me, I would love to hear it.