40 years ago I bought a skim board made by a local surfboard manufacturer. I felt a bit ripped off because it was nothing more than a round piece of plywood coated with polyester resin. Before that I used just plain uncoated plywood until the edges got too ragged and started eating the skin off the bottom of my feet. The resin-coated board was a big improvement but it took much longer to float to the surface.

My suggestions are:

Use 3/8" or 1/2" plywood, bevel the edges from the bottom (so it will plane on the water), round over the top edge (when you jump on a board with too little water under it, it sticks to the sand, if your foot is partially off the edge lots of skin is lost), forget about using glass the plywood is stiff enough (glass will add weight), epoxy resin will work great, you can paint on top of the epoxy, it would be good to add color in the epoxy on the bottom (it will get sanded from use), make both sides a bright color (when you ride the board into a shorebreak it gets buried in the sand and can take several minutes for the sand to get washed off by the subsequent waves, good visibility helps in finding the board). I hot dribbled paraffin on the top to avoid slipping.

: This is a little off topic but I promised my son that I would make him a skin
: board with the leftover fiberglass and epoxy I have. A skim board is a
: piece of plywood shaped in a short thin surf board shape. You run along
: the ocean's edge throw the board in front of you in 1" deep water,
: jump on and slide for 25-50'. Great fun in the summer time as our beach
: has a long flat sandbar in front of it. Some questions related to building
: this.

: 1. He wants to paint a design on the top. Should I paint the plywood core
: first then fiberglass or will the paint prevent the glass from adheering
: properly. Jumping on these things create a lot of forces and I am
: concerned that the glass will delaminate. What type of paint would work
: best

: 2. Any recomondations on layup. I have a lot of 6oz cloth left over and
: didn't know if two layers top and bottom was overkill

: 3. I am using 1/4" plywood as the core and rounding over the edges with
: a round over bit. Any thought on how to glass the edges. I can't immagine
: that the cloth tape would lay flat in the front bending around an arc
: shape with a 1/4" edge.

: 4. What is the best way to get a non skid surface for the top. If you don't
: do a fill coat it would be non-skid but it might not hold up to sandy feet
: jumping on it.

: Thanks for the help any suggestions

: Jack