Damaged nose of rapidfire spitfire. How to fix it?

[norspit]

Hi!

My board got damaged when bringing it on a flight from the US to Europe. Pretty bad damage to the nose, and also some cracks along the rail further down.

Can anyone give me step by step on how to repair this? At least some basic guidelines would be great! There's no repair shop that can do the job in my area.

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[prjwebb]

That's a bummer. I'd cut out all the damage areas with a stanley knife and sand a good area around the damage to key it for the repair. You want to sand back until you start to expose a little fibreglass. The mix some epoxy resin with Qcell until it's a nice paste. Use that to fill the damage so it's flush with the rest of the board and wrap it with plastic wrap until it goes off.
Once it's hard sand it until it's shaped in with the rest of the board and paint back the pin lines if you want. The cut a section of fibreglass to cover the damaged area and overlap by 2" all the way around. Mix up some more epoxy and laminate that fibreglass down tight. Again, I'd wrap with cling flim and tape it down tight to get a nice, tight lam where it wraps around the nose.
Once that's gone off sand it back so there's no big steps where it meets the orignal glasswork and it fairly smooth and then mix up more epoxy and top coat the repair. I recommend brushing it on with a clean, soft paint brush. Leave that to go off and then sand it back smooth and blend it into the orignal glass work. You want to start with 120 grit paper and work your way up to 400-600 wet and dry.

If you're not experienced with repairs it's not going to be very easy so I'd consider finding someone more experienced if you're not confident.

[Baker]

Ha! i smashed mine up in exactly the same place this morning but it's about 6 inches long. Think its going to take a week to dry out as i stayed in the water for another hour after doing it.

Norspit, if your not too good with resin and cloth you might be better getting a tube of premixed resin and chopped glass. Just make sure you use epoxy else she'll bubble away. In the UK there's two brands, solarez and suncure, to be honest neither have ever worked for me though so i just use polyester and hope it goes off before melting the blank! (don't try that option if you want to sell your board one day)

[prjwebb]

Ha living on the edge! Your better off ordering some epoxy and hardener, some q cell and some fibreglass from seabase.eu
That'll have you covered for a long time and it'll do a better job. I don't think repairs are too tricky, there's plenty of videos on youtube to guide you through the process.
That said if your intentions are to sell the board down the line then a pro job is the best idea. Most of my repairs are tidy and water tight but very few of them end up invisible...

[FW - Fan]

Ha living on the edge! Your better off ordering some epoxy and hardener, some q cell and some fibreglass from seabase.eu
That'll have you covered for a long time and it'll do a better job. I don't think repairs are too tricky, there's plenty of videos on youtube to guide you through the process.
That said if your intentions are to sell the board down the line then a pro job is the best idea. Most of my repairs are tidy and water tight but very few of them end up invisible...

Be careful there, most resins that require hardener are PE resins not epoxy and that will melt the EPS foam on contact. Better to use UV cure epoxy or even Araldite..the 2 part epoxy adhesive that is also an epoxy resin. Araldite is however quite yellow so mix in some q cell.

[prjwebb]

Be careful there, most resins that require hardener are PE resins not epoxy and that will melt the EPS foam on contact. Better to use UV cure epoxy or even Araldite..the 2 part epoxy adhesive that is also an epoxy resin. Araldite is however quite yellow so mix in some q cell.

Epoxy is 2 parts, the resin and the hardener. You're thinking of catalyst I think.
I wouldn't recommend attempting to use a UV epoxy in Norway, although I'm not sure how the summers are, but I've had issues with it not going off well in the UK. Especially in winter. I don't like the epoxy in small repair kits either. I found the Ding All epoxy kits yellow quickly and sometimes don't go off completely. The epoxy I picked up from a local board builder/blank blower is good. Goes off well, dries clear and sands much better than the stuff in small kits.

[FW - Fan]

Epoxy is 2 parts, the resin and the hardener. You're thinking of catalyst I think.
I wouldn't recommend attempting to use a UV epoxy in Norway, although I'm not sure how the summers are, but I've had issues with it not going off well in the UK. Especially in winter. I don't like the epoxy in small repair kits either. I found the Ding All epoxy kits yellow quickly and sometimes don't go off completely. The epoxy I picked up from a local board builder/blank blower is good. Goes off well, dries clear and sands much better than the stuff in small kits.

I have a UV epoxy that is not 2 parts. You just squeeze out of a bottle and when in the sun (goes off by sunlight, not heat from the sun) goes hard in 3 - 5 mins, summer or winter. You have to work any ding etc in the shade and then when you are ready for it to harden just move outside for 5 mins. I will post what it is called later. It is very clear too. Highly recommend it.

[iggy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRWU3...eature=related


Please make sure you use EPOXY RESIN!!!!!!! otherwise a chemical reaction will occur in which the foam will littlerally melt!!
Hope this one helps

[iggy]

Where are you in Europe?

[norspit]

Thank you all for the help, I appreciate it! I have only done some minor repairs with suncure earlier so I guess this one will be quite a challenge. I'm not planning on selling the board, I just want it to get back in good condition for me to use it.

I'm in Norway. Spent the last 10 months in California and started surfing there :)