Should I repair myself or bring to surfshop?

Suncure is a temporary fix. Solarez offers a lot of products from ding repair to epoxy and poly resins. I've used solarez because i liked the ability to take my time with the glassing and not be on a time schedule......

Well, it turns out I only have time to glass at night. Not a lot of UV rays reflecting off the moon during those hours.

 

I've used suncure with no issue of cracking or flaking. But if you have the time its better to use resin/hardner for dings. But the repairs I have done with suncure have not failed and some have been over a fairly wide area.
I think solarez is a better choice between the two.

 

If you think surfing and more boards are in your future, get a copy of The Ding Repair Scriptures and have at it yourself.

 

Fix it yourself!...trust me...you drop your board at the shop...you'll be waiting 2wks to get it back!. Go to homedepot get a can of resin, and some fiberglass cloth...total cost $20.00...you'll have enought to fix 20 boards. Your ding is super, super easy fix. Just mix up some resin...dab it on the ding...cut a bit of fibercloth, cover the ding..dab more resin...let dry..sandone.

 

Where are you at, calcium? I would check with a few local shapers before taking your board to a shop. The shop will most likely take your board to a nearby shaper anyway. After marking the job up, of course!

If you're in the Wilmington area, PM me and I'll send you to the right dude.

 

Your pictures are a bit dark so I can't really tell how bad it really is but to me it doesn't look bad. If I were you I would definitely fix it solo because then you can do all the work yourself in the future and be a self sufficient surfer. To fix that I would tape off the section where the damage is bad and fill the gouges with epoxy (resin + hardener) mixed with a 403 micro fiber to thicken the epoxy to a peanut butter consistency so it will blob in nicely. Allow to cure for a bit until semi hard and shape it off with 40 grit sand paper ( easier to remove the epoxy when not fully cured) wear a carbon filter mask tho which are cheap and available at hardware stores. It's. really good idea to wear a mask when sanding epoxy. After you have filled the gouges and shaped it to the desired form you then will want to mix another small batch of epoxy ( resin + hardener) and paint that over the repaired section to rebuild the hot coat and thus seal the board from water. You will want WEST system resin 105 and 205 hardener and 403 micro fibers. Some small cheap paint brushes, some masking tape or blue tape and some latex gloves. And a good mask. For 100$ you can get all this at a marine dealer or online and have plenty of materials to do repairs for the next few years assuming you don't repair boards weekly. Send me a PM if you want more info. Good luck !

 

Absolutely. Try it your self, and if it doesn't work you can always take it to a pro. Suncure does not last long. Do it right, like Charles Taylor describes. Give a man a fish and he can eat. Teach a man to fish....well you know.

 

Google just told me that Twin Lights Glassing is in Gloucester. It may be an hour drive, but at least you'll get a professional job that you can trust. I've heard good things about them on here and their repair rates are pretty reasonable too!

http://www.twinlightssurf.com/repairs.html

If anything, you should ask your local shop if they can recommend a local shaper. I find it best to play it safe when it comes to dings. I'd rather be safe than sorry...

 

Calcium I have a shop in York Maine where I could fix it for you very cheaply or you can trust me on the west system stuff and have at it ! Or if you want to just swing by the shop here I can show you how I would do it and then send ya on your way with some knowledge if anything. I have a furniture shop here but we build boards too for hobby and I've taken to repairing my friends foam boards for amusement and to help brothers out. Or like I said I can give you a detailed written explanation to fix it. It's very very easy and judging by your pics this looks like a simple but important fix. Do you know if your board here is epoxy resin or polyester resin ? That's important

 

Strong thumbs up for Keith Natti at Twin Lights. He makes seamless repairs, charges less than you expect, and he's either lightning fast or painfully slow, according to some internal biological clock I haven't yet figured out. But it couldn't be any slower than Cinnamon Rainbows or Pioneers, and he'll do a much better job.

 

Actually epoxy will bond to polyester perfectly fine and epoxy bonds to epoxy well too so the resin type won't matter. What I'll do is post some pictures of a board I'm fixing now on this thread so you can see how I go about it. I'll be working on it tkmorrow so I'll start a process with pictures and explanations. Sound good ?

 

hey your going to want to remove the damaged fiberglass before you start adding anything to it. You could use a dremel with a sandpaper attachment on it, just be carefull not to go too deep and gouge the foam.

 

Yes absolutely. Pull out broken loose fragments / de laminating fiberglass from the damaged area then sand to clean it up. After its dressed like a wound is when you want to fill the gouge with thickened epoxy to rebuild. It's ok if it looks ugly because after its cured you want to shape it off with sandpaper. Judging by your pics it doesn't seem like you will need to put more fiberglass cloth on the wounds. I'll post a couple pictures today of a fix job I'm doing.

 

Ok so tape off the area that's damaged and clean it out remove any debris and loose stuff. Sand it clean. Get epoxy products like shown , I recommend the pumps it makes mixing thoughtless and perfect , the ratios of resin to hardener is important and the pumps make it seamless. The 403 you will want to add to the resin + hardener mix after you have stirred it well. Bring it to a peanut butter consistency ( my picture shows brown epoxy that's because I added wood flour which you will not need just showing you the consistency that's good) after you mix resin hardener and 403 micro fibers it will be a clear paste that will be thick and peanut butter like.

After your have dressed the damaged area put the thickened epoxy into the gouges. Make sure you have taped off well otherwise you will be cleaning and sanding parts of the board where the epoxy wasn't supposed to go..

After you have filled the gouges you then want to shape off the rough shape epoxy within the area that's been repaired ( inside your tape section and be careful not to scuff other parts of the board). After its shaped and clean looking mix another small batch of resin + hardener ( don't add the 403 micro fiber to this mixture) this will be the 'hot coat' which is the glossy smooth outer layer of surfboards. The epoxy hot coat seals water from ever being able to enter the board.

You can also consider but not essential to the repair add a layer of fiberglass cloth over the repaired gouge before the final hot coat. But I don't thing it's entirely necessary but it's up too you perhaps some more opinion would be good from other readers on this forum.

Let me know how it goes. Glad to help

 

Another trick you might wanna try is if let's say the gouge is in a position where the epoxy will (run) out of the gouge try putting a piece of tape underneath so to stop the forces of gravity and thus keeping your filleting material in the area where it needs to 'set up' (filleting material is epoxy with thickening additives to repair voids and gouges ) like in the case of your board. Also epoxy gets hot very hot when filleting so keep an eye to not allow something to burn your home down. And when you shape the excess filleting material off your board I implore you to wear a carbon filter mask. Non fully cured epoxy is especially carcinogenic ( cancer causing ). A cheap carbon filter is available at any store that sells west system products.

 

If you go to a marine dealer and tell them that you need an epoxy with filleting additive (the 403 stuff ) they can probably set u up .. Also WEST SYstem offers smaller batch epoxy stuff that will be cheaper than getting the half gallon stuff that I have. But the half gallon resin + hardener works well with the West system mini pump set up which makes mixing so simple. Plus if you get the half gallon there's no reason you can't start charging your friends to fix their boards and you'll be able to pay off your investment easily. That's what I do