Board damage - repair

A few weeks back I damaged one of my new babies. I know, I was a dope, left it in the bow (too many boards on the boat), and was not thinking when I lit it up and headed for the dock at about 30 mph. Good thing the walk-through was closed. Yea, the red paint is from the very top of my tower! Doh!!

Anyway....I was debating on filling in the damage with eopxy, or taking it maybe to a surf shop and have them repair it. What is the best way to repair this. I am mainly concerned about sealing it up, but also would like it to look like a good repair job. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Buzz

Buzz mail it to me and I will get my tools out and try to fix it for you

Most board shops have an epoxy repair kit, and better shops will fix it for you. It looks like Fido's butt when it's done, but smooth......at least you can put a sticker over it afterwards.

Marine Tex in a marine epoxy kit that sticks and seals well and is pretty easy to work with, it is about $12 for the kit. It comes in colors, grey or black would work well for your board. Do not get the quick set, as it sets up too fast. After you slop some of the mixture on and work out any bubbles, just stretch a piece of Saran Wrap over it and try to match the original contours of your board, then use some masking tape to hold it on place. After it sets up overnight you can just peel the saran wrap off and you're left with a perfectly smooth glossy finish. If you have any high spots, you can sand if you want, but it will no longer be glossy. Anyway, that's my technique, looks good, hard to even see the patch with some practice.

The regular epoxy repair kits set up clear but turn yellow in the sun, looks bad IMO.

Or, the really core thing to do is just slop on a bunch of random colored bondo, forget the sanding, and go ride. This works better if you are a good rider, because there is something about having a jacked up board plastered with bondo, then going out and busting the sickest hugest stalled-out inverts and thus making all the guys with shiny new boards look silly, right Christopher?

And use a hair dryer to warm up that black foam traction pad and then peel it away before you do the repair, or else it will leak at that spot. Don't get to too super hot or it might distort the traction pad, just warm enough to get a knife under there and lift it out of the way. put a couple clothes pins or something on the traction pad to the left and right of the repair to keep it out of the way. When you are done just press it back down, the glue still should be good.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7172974884&ssPageName= MERC_VI_ReBay_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT
I bought one of these from ebay. Apply the stuff from the tube they give you, set in the sun for a few minutes, sand it down, good to go...

Ben, that stuff is fine in a pinch, but it starts to look like yellow boogers after a while, and it does not last super long. I used some to fix my shortboard, and it flaked and leaked after not very long. High quality epoxy filler will be much better for wakeboards. Even if you decide to use the surfboard ding repair kits, I would avoid the sun-cure and instead get the ones designed for epoxy (aka "tuflite") boards.

Of course, this is just my opinion, but I've repaired some wakeboards, snowboards and surfboards in my time. Good luck.


Plus the Marine Tex is cheaper. Get it at West or any boating supply store.

(Message edited by dococ on February 10, 2006)

dococ, you're 1 post for a 1000! lol/jk
you may be right I only used that stuff for a little crack in my board his dent is a bit bigger.