After doing a bit of research on board-lady website I decided to have a go at repairing the nose of my fanatic slalom board.
Mate had some epoxy and fiberglass in his garage and we went over to a local catamaran builder and managed to beg a small piece divinycell style material.
Sanded the damage back and then decided I would go with a layer of glass then divinycell, then some more layers of glass over it. First layer of glass went on and I started to have problems as bubbles of air kept appearing under it, so i removed the glass and just left a thin coat of resin on, I figured it would seal the damaged area so I could put the glass on without it bubbling up. I had the bung open too, but I don't think it really made a difference. In hindsight I think the best thing to do would have been to leave the board out in the sun, and then bring it into the shade as the day was cooling and then glass it. Or possibly vac-bag it but didn't really have the gear available.
Anyway, after that layer hardened, I put on a layer of glass and a sheet of divinycell which I slightly preformed with a heatgun, then taped down with some masking tape.
Left that to harden overnight, and came back the next morning, trimmed excess stuff off with a stanley knife, and then sanded it all back nicely:
Then I glassed on two layers of glass one the size of the damaged area, then another piece slightly larger about 1cm on all sides over it.
Pretty pleased with it so far. I will sand it back tomorrow and probably paint it for a nice finish and to protect the resin from the UV.
Tools + Materials:
West systems 105 resin + 207 hardener (I think).
Plastic syringe for measuring stuff.
Divinycell stuff.
approx 200gsm glass cloth.
Crappy paintbrush.
Stanley Knife
Plastic cups to mix it in.
Sandpaper of various grades, mainly used 80grit.
Disposable gloves!
Anyway, maybe this will help other people who are interested in doing their first repairs. I'm pretty pleased with the results so far, and it didn't take much time (2 afternoons).
Oh and does anyone have any suggestions for what kind of paint to use? Or criticisms on my technique? Thanks, all comments would be appreciated!
*edit*: I should add, that the original damage was from the mast hitting the board, and basically the corner/top of the deck was crushed and had about a 7-8cm crack running along it and the top was very soft. The rail was still solid thou, so I didn't touch it.
Congrats, well done for a first time effort!
Any old paint, spray cans from the hardware. An epoxy paint liek Killrust or Galmet seems harder wearing and better depth of colour, but there is a lot of different colour whites 
so maybe try two or 3 of the cheapest ones on a bit or scrap and see what matches
I just found a cheapo one called "Boost" matches Starboard's white spot on
Hahah, I didn't know you were doing a write up on this 
Anyway, the resin was R180 resin and hardener was H180. You buy it from FGI (fiberglass international).
Turned out pretty nice for a first repair.
yeah I wasn't, but then I got home and had nothing to do, so I did a writeup hehe. Should I put up pics of your board? :D
so maybe try two or 3 of the cheapest ones on a bit or scrap and see what matches
Select to expand quotei noticed high edges wich means to much resin in the glass, and the fibers in the glass are raised,(they need to be compressed) the resin has fallen through the glass and if you sand it without bogging you will sand the glass and thats what you dont want
swoosh said...
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what you needed to do was get a cheese wrapper stick heeps of pin holes in it then tape that down with pressure, masking tape ect, it does two things, it gets rid of excess resin , and the plastic and tape compressers & fills the glass fiber and blends the glass in into the rest of the board less sanding and les bog
hey bender
quote] Bender said......
The closest i have found is "Appliance White"
the only "appliance white" that im aware of is a plastic paint and can't be sanded, if its that stuff dont use it
Can I ask,
Where can I buy stuff like Divinycell and the glass / resins etc?
Marine shops?
For my stuff I went to a fibreglass/composite supplier, http://www.fgi.com.au/
Talked to the guy in the front office there, explained my situation and he refered me to one of their clients, a local fibreglass catamaran builder. Went over there and the guy just gave me a small offcut from his scrap bin which was about 30cm*30cm. You would probably be able to get some scrap bits of fibreglass too.
Otherwise someone like FGI will sell you pretty much everything you need I think.
Also I think if you search the forums for board building/repair threads, a few of the more experienced guys posted names of the local suppliers that they use.
Nice job so far, one thing you prob. realize now though.
Shouldn't wet you glass right to the edge, you end up with a hard edge you have to sand off, this can be a pain, next time cut the glass a bit bigger than the repair and leave the glass dry on the edges and only wet where the repair is, easier to blend.
The fun starts next with getting it looking like it was not even damaged.
One more thing, if there is pin holes etc after all the glassing is done. mix up some more epoxy and pain it over the repair with a paint brush, not too much or it runs everywhere, then sand to smooth finish, should be able to paint straight over it without even undercoating it..
I have an 06 Fanatic Slalom that needs a bit of touch up paint. It's a grey that looks similar to car primer /undercoat paint.
I wander if you grey is the same. Has anyone used a good matching fanatic grey?
Yes i have matched it before, on a Falcon TT i have repaired 2 of them, think i had to make it with a slight green tint. Most grey's and light blues on boards are a pain to get spot on.
Thanks heaps for the tips guys.
keef: I think my next repair, I will try do with a vacuum pump, so that should give even better results.
P.C: Seems fairly easy to sand with a cork block and a bit of sandpaper. I haven't had any diffficulty anyway, but it is only a very small repair. I will try leaving the edges dry next time.
I enjoy hands on stuff so it was actually quite a bit of fun repairing the nose on my board. And with epoxy its got almost no smell to it, very nice to work with.
