Bought a used Dom, checks on repairs?

[Matt_s]

Was fortunate enough to find a 5'6 Dom in a shop in Cardiff the other day used going for £250 with tail pad n fins, still bright white with one little pressure dent on top and a couple of dings repaired underneath. Was an impulse buy as it was 300 less than new and looks like its in perfectly good condition.

My only concern and I'm probably Being really over the top is wether it's dry inside with the repairs that have been done.

I weighed it by weighing myself and then weighing myself holding the board and it appears to be about 4 or 5 lbs or around 2kgs

Is there any checks I should do? Or things I should keep an eye on baring in mind someone else has done these repairs and I'm not 100% sure of its repair history.

Looking forward to trying it out as I'v always been curious about the Dom but since I have an el fuego and sweet potato I couldn't justify a full price Dom or spit

[prjwebb]

2kg with a tail pad sounds about right to me. How does it feel compared to your other boards?

[Matt_s]

Thanks for the quick reply

Do you mean to hold ? Or surf, havnt been able to surf it yet.

It feels same weight as my ef under my arm (5' 9 and same vol) so im pretty sure it's not logged.

Do you thibk it Would it hurt it if there was even just a little though?

[prjwebb]

I think there would have to be a decent amount to cause a problem. Certainly enough to create some weight difference.
I'd say if it feels ok then dont stress on it. Aside from drilling a hole in it you'll never know so I'd just enjoy the board!

[Matt_s]

Thanks,

Sounds like good advice to me, I'd definitely make more of a mess drilling into it

[Slowman]

Yes the ultimate test is whether it floats you. Even if there were a few molecules of water left inside it is not a solvent like acetone that would eat the foam and weaken the structure. As long as it floats you and is the expected weight I wouldn't worry.

Large amounts of water is a different story but the extra weight would be obvious. From what I've seen large amounts of water cause all kinds of contamination by absorbing into the channels between the foam cells bring with it salts which then crystalise and make it harder to get the water out - so time is of the essence in removing water, do it sooner rather than later!

[Matt_s]

Thanks that's good advice I didn't know what the score was with a few drops being left

[surferireland]

FW will discolour around the damage if there is leakage. If you are worried post some pics of the damage, I get my little brother to do my repairs - they take time and patience - both which Im in short supply of - and skills of course

[Chris]

if its 4 or 5 lbs then I want it!! that is a great weight. rip that thing!

[Matt_s]

if its 4 or 5 lbs then I want it!! that is a great weight. rip that thing!

Sorry for the late reply guys, its been a busy week. Appreciate the feedback. I have posted a pic of the ding and my progress with it so far in my attempt to get a nice dependable fix.

Chris - its about 4 and half lbs nice and light! feels good under the arm! so hope its all good!

Ireland - I sanded back the one ding that looked a bit substantial to see if i could do a neater job at fixing it (first job proved not to be the case, but im learning from my mistakes). It looks like its had a small ding about the size of 2 coins, I cant tell how deep, they seem to have filled it with some putty, glassed it and painted it white (it actually looked ok) I wasnt even aware of the putty until I sanded it back.

The only thing that worried me a bit is that once I sanded it back there seemed to be a tiny little hole next to the puttyed area. I stuck a needle in a little to test the strength and I ended up chipping a little bit away about 5mm into the board. You can see it in the photos (through the layer of resin/fibre glass) Im not really sure what was in there but it was kind of dark grey, not sure if this was some other fixer/filler or the colour of the foam.

My action so far on this attempt has been to mix up some resin, put some chopped fibreglass in the hole and then put a layer of fibreglass and resin over the whole area. Im going to sand it back, use a white posca pen and then glass it finished.

Does that sound like it would work? or do you think I should worry more about that grey colour where I chipped into the board a bit?

Thanks for any help404

[iggy]

Yeah that could have sued a much better job indeed. The ideal thing is of fill the whole with a piece of eps and the =n sand it down to level it with the rest of the board, once done apply finer glass and epoxy resin.
Those edges are too close to the puttied area, I would definitely of a bit bigger than that and then sand it down

[Matt_s]

Yeah that could have sued a much better job indeed. The ideal thing is of fill the whole with a piece of eps and the =n sand it down to level it with the rest of the board, once done apply finer glass and epoxy resin.
Those edges are too close to the puttied area, I would definitely of a bit bigger than that and then sand it down

Thanks for taking a look iggy,

Do you think I should cut out the putty and put some eps foam in?

Or just put a larger area of fibre glass/resin over it?

I'v got resin and 4oz cloth but not sure where to get eps, maybe PRJ knows some uk based companies ? I'm still quite new to this repair stuff but it's all good practise.

I'm kind of worried il make it worse by cutting the putty out

[iggy]

It will hold the way it is I believe but with eps will look better.
If you are new to repairs I would suggest to bring it to the repair guy if it's something bothersome, otherwise sand down and apply another cloth with EPOXY resin and resend (not too much). Maybe a little sticker after to keep the sexyness

[prjwebb]

For EPS you can use any styrene from packaging as foam. I don't think that's what you'd be wanting though. It'd be the high density corecell foam you be wanting as the top layer.
To be honest, in that areas I wouldn't think you'd need it. It's not going to be an area that gets regular impact.
If the putty is solid in there and it's not too heavy, and it sounds like it isn't, I'd just sand that whole area a few inches wider than the ding until you expose a little weave, and lay a new piece of clothe around 2" wider than the repairs and try and laminate that down nice and tight. Maybe use a little cling film and tape it down tight. Once it's properly hardened sand it back flat and the brush a top coat of epoxy on their and sand it in once it's set.
Not sure what stage would be best to paint it in. Either before the cloth goes on or before the top coat of epoxy I guess.

[Matt_s]

Yeah, good advice for sure, I think the eps foam thing is likley to go wrong for me.

I might just sand it and recloth untill I can get it to a repair guy and get a quote.

I have a white posca pen to paint over it which I recon will keep it looking acceptable till I get a professional job done. If not the sticker sounds like a good call. Apart from that ding it looks brand new :)

[iggy]

Happy for ya buddy!!!!.Enjoy it!!

[Matt_s]

One more question actually, when sanding I use 60 grit to rough up the area pre fix. When I sand down after a layer of cloth and resin what sort of grade would I use if I'm trying to be careful not to sand too far. I sometimes wonder if the 100's too corse but the 240 takes forever to sand with

[prjwebb]

for sanding the lam coat i usually use 80 or 120. 100 would be good i reckon.

Where abouts are you based Matt? I know ding devils in north devon do ridiculously good repairs on firewires. however, i'd say you're well on your way to handling this one yourself.

[Matt_s]

Thanks for the tip phill. I'm based in London unfortunately (I'm working on that). But I get down to Cornwall or up to Scarborough/Whitby (only 3.5 hours amazingly) about twice a month so I'm getting by despite not having surf on my door step at the moment

Got a boat trip booked for Maldives in 5 weeks, so pumped! Ding devils may be a good call if it all goes wrong at some point so appreciate the recommendation.

Just spent an hour or so sanding down that fibre glass/resin layer with 60 (maybe a bit to corse it seems) it actually looks pretty good now appears to be solid and relativly flat right over the previous repair.

You think I could get away with just putting the final layer of glass on or do I need a second patch of cloth? It all seems solid and water tight.

Oh and by laminate layer do you mean the fibreglass/resin layer or the final lick of resin over the top to finish?

Cheers again for everyones help so far

[prjwebb]

Lam coat is the coat binding the fibreglass.
Regarding going with a finish coat of resin other the existing repair, maybe throw up a pic of how it's looking now. I'd say yes, but that bottom right area of that photo the cloth patch ends VERY close to the edge of the putty repair and now that it's been sanded I worry that you might be a bit exposed in that area.
If you do leave it as it is I'd keep and eye on that area after surfs and just make sure there's no cracks appearing around that edge of the putty.

[Matt_s]

414415


unfortunately being as impatient as I am I went and used the paint pen on it already so its going to be difficult for you to tell, I know what you mean about that corner being close though. I had a good look at it and it was well covered on that corner and wasn't exposed, the only bit that worried me a little was that tiny air bubble you can see in the picture, but i figured the last coat would cover that.

I could sand it down more and put some more cloth on it if you think thats the thing to do from here?

[prjwebb]

Well that would be the belt and braces approach, but it could just as easily be fine as it is. It's your call, but it's probably easier to make sure it's 100% at this stage rather than have problems further down the line. Or if you're doing a run down to cornwall anytime soon drop it into ding devils and have them colour match the repair also.
They do some amazing work
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SsHSUkGD-nE/TQHo7u-Q51I/AAAAAAAAAYw/vipqqYa7_sU/s1600/DSC00532%25231.JPG
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SsHSUkGD-nE/TQHoi34h2ZI/AAAAAAAAAYo/cIMbiKX0MK0/s1600/DSC00544.JPG

Another smaller one here
http://dingdevils.blogspot.com/2010/05/firewire-surfboard-repair.html

And an absolute beauty here
http://dingdevils.blogspot.com/2009/11/firewire-surfboard-repairs.html

[Matt_s]

Yeah good points, think il sand it back one more time and go for another piece of cloth.

Those ding devils did some amazing colour matches so maybe il pay them a visit sometime soon for a more permanent fix. Amazing work!

thanks again for all your help

[prjwebb]

No worries. I think if I had an bigger ding I'd take it there even though it's a trek for me. Gets the board back to looking new, and when the boards stay looking so pristine for so long it's a shame to have an ugly repair letting them down!

[Chris]

good stuff guys.

[Spitato]

Hey Matt_s
I think i know the history of your used Dominator, a friend of mine traded it in at Cardiff city surf shop for a sweet potato giving him a sweet potato & alternator quiver. If its the same board im thinking of it is well used and has had a couple minor knocks but woud have been taken straight out the water and left to dry out before another friend of mine woud have repaired it for him, he is not a prefesional ding repair but an old school long boarder who likes tinkering with boards and a good air brush artist hence the spray paint over the repair. Hes local to us and happy to repair boards and does a better job than i could tho he aint up to the Devil standards, his repairs are awesome!
Enjoy the board she is sweet.