Surf Bort Repair Thread

I use the Blue "painters" tape. Don't be slack on the sanding....finish your work with Proper grit

 

Grab a beer or fatty and take your time. You can do it!!!!!!! I just repaired my cousin's battle ship with some heavy a$$ cloth from my dad's boat project. HA HA It wasn't mine and he will prob never even use the board, so I wasn't going for perfection.

 

Tips...

Make sure you have a good particulate respirator.

Good stands (and their height) are worth their weight in gold--hunching over a stand grinding away at dings will cause you issues.

Get a good grinder/sander...my Milwaukee is over 10 years old and is still going strong despite all the fiberglass dust its endured. Make it look like new...

Buy a good sanding disc/pad...

Learning how to sand a ding will make all the difference--100, 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000 and then come light rubbing compound or a polish.

Tape everything...help you feather dings, makes hotcoats easier to sand...

Buy this book... ...watch youtube videos...then try it yourself.

Ding repair is easy...even the first boards I worked on looked okay...the more you do it the better your technique the happier you'll be...

 

- A random orbital sander (5 inch Velcro backing pad to swap out different grits) is a very forgiving piece of equipment that wont tear into your board if you get careless. I get many years out of a cheap $40 Ryobi orbital doing dozens and dozens of small ding repair sandouts. 60, 120, 220 grit discs will sand it out nicely.

- Use fresh sandpaper constantly. There is nothing more penny wise/pound foolish than trying to use clogged up old sandpaper.

- If you are repairing around a rail or on a flat spot, use masking tape (this is where cheap tape will work just fine) to get a tight wrap of the fiber glass cloth to the repair area. REMEMBER that if there is any concave whatsoever in the repair area, then the tape can tend pull the cloth taught and lift the cloth off the board. Just lay the cloth down with a squeegee in this case without pulling tight with tape.

- Razor blade the tape off the cloth as soon as the resin is set up to a rubbery cure. Be careful to cut with a fresh sharp blade and don't tug...

- Prepare any area to be reglassed by thoroughly scuffing with 36 or 40 grit paper. 60 will do. Nothing finer.

- I personally like using poly sun cure resin for a lot of repairs where quickness is important to me.

 

Invest in a fan deck to match colors: http://store.benjaminmoore.com/stor...decks&utm_campaign=ExploreColor_ClassicColors

 

I do all my repairs with epoxy. I understand this is a touchy subject for diehard poly folk, but if you aren't fortunate enough to have a detached garage or shed, you should not be using poly near where you live/sleep.

 

me too, epoxy on everything.

I'm lazy and figure boards have a limited lifespan anyhow, so I don't mind doing just a passable job than the perfection you get out of the repair shops.

I have a tube of suncure epoxy fiberfill for small repairs. For larger repairs, my kit includes a bottle of suncure epoxy resin (pre-mixed...why mix anymore?), glass cloth, a bag of Q-cell, 3 grades of sand paper, a sanding block and a roll of masking tape. Nothing fancy and it gets the job done good enough.

 

One thing not to over look is the time of day to do the work on EPS core boards. Because epoxy takes so long to cure and generates heat when stacked and cures so slowly beware the burned/melted foam and air pockets on hot summer days. It can trash boards when performing large repairs. Best to do in the evenings as it is cooling or let the board warm outside then move to AC and do the layup as it is cooling. I also always do a polyester gel to fill pin holes and to level and blend the repair to finish.

 

Never had to do an epoxy repair. No epoxy boards Will do that. Blue painters tape like suggested. Proper grit sand paper like suggested. Both very important. Atleast for a repair that's easy on the eyes. Also the book live4truth posted is awesome. My lady got me it for Christmas. Actually hadn't had to do a repair since getting it, but it looks like a awesome guide to have handy.

Like I said, hadn't done a repair in awhile. But the most important thing for me is to do the repair in my head before starting. Get all set up. Crack that beer open or light that spliff. And go over everything in your head. When I first started doing repairs I'd always run into an issue over the little things you wouldn't think about. Like if it's a rail repair. Resin is going to drip on both sides of the board. Building a little tape barrier helps. Frantically trying to stop resin from going where you don't want it isn't fun. I'm a back yard repair guy, so I often have to rig something up to get the board in a position where I can work on it. Go crazy with the tape. It won't hurt. Plan your attack. And go!

 

And what, pray tell, is the proper grit??

 

"True"

 

or....wait for it....the "finest" money can buy!

 

90% of a good repair is sanding- take your time with the sanding.

Tape off area propre

Sand area prior

Fill with choice of poly /epoxy

For small cracks - use a disposable paint brush to apply

Once choice poly/ expoxy starts to cure/gels- take off the masking tape! (1 hr)

After cure- start sanding - using 120- paying attention to only sand the repair not ye surfbort

Sand almost flush.

Then wet sand- 200, 400, 600 ect

To obtain polish/ gloss- you can use rubbing compound found at some hardware store or advance auto.

 

If your looking for a sander- I bought one of these on a whim years ago- it's still going strong! Better then my other more expensive sander! Has a variable speed too. And you can use it as a buffer for the rubbing compound

These type of sanders sand much quicker then an orbital sander (orbital sanders take forever!) - but practice first tho... And all you need to use is the edge of the rotating disc. Don't try to use the center of it- unless it's a large area. I could rough sand down a ding repair in a matter of seconds with this- then touch up with 120 grit by hand. Then wet sand

You can also polish your car if so inclined (don't use rubbing compound... Or the same pad that you used rubbing compound on!))

http://m.harborfreight.com/7-in-10-amp-variable-speed-polisher-60626.html

Yea it's cheap.. And made in China ... But hey- for 40$ it's worth it!