Big Repair - Need help

So a 10" chunk of the nose is broke off and is still attached by a gnarly strip of glass that has pulled off the deck all the way back 3/4's of the deck. It is about 6" wide itself. This will be a first for me - I have read the archives for hours now and have some stupid questions in my head. 

So I’m going to attach the nose back on with resin and qcell and then wrap with two layers of glass.

Question is how to combine the strip wich is 3-4’ long down the stringer. This has to be weak and just glassing it back in seems lame.

Or should I reglass the whole deck?

After wrapping with glass wont there be a fat area needing much sanding?

Whats the best wax remover for PU board and do I need to use something different for epoxy boards?

Mahalo’s

That sounds like a mess!

After scraping off the bulk off the wax, I use turpentine (I usually keep a gallon on hand- mineral spirits might work, too- they’re both slightly oily) to soften the residual, and wipe it off with a rag. Then, DNA (denatured alcohol) with a rag, for the remaining oily residue…

Its hard to say without actually seeing it, but after re-attaching the broken nose, try squeegeeing a lightweight paste of microballoon/resin on the exposed deck foam (to fill the low spots). Then, sand the ragged edge of the tear, and sand a little more (into the weave) about an inch or so past the edge. That’ll help feather in the re-glass. Re-glass the nose, bottom, then flip and do the entire exposed area on the deck, taking care to lap the cloth that extra inch. Hotcoat, sand, and maybe some clear spray sealer, and it should be good.

[edit]- yes, get rid of the dangling strip of glass…

I’d do it like this…

Re-attach the nose as you said. Neatly cut off the strip of glass that’s detached, and cut off any ragged parts of the attached glass to make neat, straight edges. Sand the good, existing glass down to the weave at least an inch outside the trimmed edge. I would only add some kind of filler to the foam where there is torn out foam. If the foam is pretty smooth, don’t fill it. You actually want the foam a little lower than the original shaped foam, as you will be adding an extra layer of glass.

Cut a patch just to fit into the areas where there is bare foam. Try to make it one, continuous piece. Cut a second patch to go over the first that laps over the sanded, existing glass. Wet them both out. Flip, and do the same on the other side. Hotcoat and sand.

The best wax remover is direct, hot sunlight and a scraper, then rags or paper towels. Alcohol wipe after that.

Quote:

So a 10" chunk of the nose is broke off and is still attached by a gnarly strip of glass that has pulled off the deck all the way back 3/4’s of the deck. It is about 6" wide itself. This will be a first for me - I have read the archives for hours now and have some stupid questions in my head.

No stupid questions unless they go unasked. And looking at the archives is always the best way to start - at the very least it shows you’re tryin’.

And isn’t it irritating how there’s so rarely a nice, clean snap? Anyhow…

Quote:

So I’m going to attach the nose back on with resin and qcell and then wrap with two layers of glass.

Real good. Just set things up so the alignment of the two pieces is right, which can be a little tricky.

Quote:

Question is how to combine the strip which is 3-4’ long down the stringer. This has to be weak and just glassing it back in seems lame.

That it is, plus it’s always weak, and you’re never sure if the reglass job ‘took’ right, y’know?

Quote:

Or should I reglass the whole deck?

After wrapping with glass wont there be a fat area needing much sanding?

Well, rather than ripping off the whole deck, which can be a nightmare, here’s what I’d do.

Carefully cut away the strip that’s loose, and have a look at the edges of the glass it tore away from, carefully cut that away where it’s loose or peeled away from the foam.

When you have that strip of glass off, have a look at the underside of it. There’s a thin layer of foam that went along with it. Which means that you can’t just glass over, you need to put something else on there to get back up to deck level.

Some would use q-cell or cabosil, but ya know that stuff isn’t so terribly strong, it can crack and it’ll need sanding. Lots of sanding. And you wind up gouging the foam with your sander, that needs to be filled, and when you sand that you gouge it some more… it’ll make you crazy. I’m not saying that’s what happened to make me what I am today, but you get the picture.

Instead, maybe lay in a layer or two of cloth, cut so it fits in the tear pretty precisely and makes up the thickness you lost to the glass and foam departing. Laminate it with laminating resin if you have it, sand the old glass lightly so it’ll hold the new stuff well and then glass over the deck area near it - make it something like a deck patch, maybe, so it’ll look good. And that’ll tie it all together.

If you don’t have laminating resin, use sanding resin, just give it a little wash with either acetone or styrene to get rid of the thin coat of styrene wax that’s on top of it all to make sanding resin dry hard, then you should be able to glass on top of it.

Oh, there are always dribs and drabs of resin that go to the sides of your repair on the missing strip of cloth. I like to hold off on cleaning the wax off the deck 'til you get that bit done, so those damn drops will peel right off easy rather than having to sand 'em. Plus, the open foam is then sealed before you go working with the wax remover, and wax doesn’t get onto said foam and mess up how the foam looks and holds cloth and all.

That help any?

Best regards and good luck

doc…

Ho Braddahs - I have been saved! I will be fixing this board over the weekend and will post some pics. Thanks for all the good tips - I have the confidence now that my friends board will live again. Mahalo's