honestly, I wouldn’t try to patch it until you are convinced all the moisture is out.
Yeah, I wouldn’t rush it. If you fix it and seal water in the board you’re setting yourself up for much bigger problems. Cut out the damaged wood and open up a decent sized hole to the foam then let it sit with the nose down and let gravity do it’s thing.
double post
it feels completely dry in there. I don’t see or feel any moisture. I think most the weight is from all the impurities in the ocean water that remained after the water dried out. Danny Hess said take the board out of the sun and do the shop vac. If the board is cooler the foam beads shrink making it easier to get stuff out. We’ll see, i’ll let you guys know if that helps. I think when i patch that gouge in the nose i’m going to drop in a butterfly joint. Those seem to be the rage in woodworking these days… don’t think anyone has tried one on a Hess yet. should look cool. I figure if i try to hide it, the hole will always be considered an imperfection in the board, you’ll always be able to see the edge of the inlay and the grain will never line up. Its funny no one likes imperfections when it comes to boards, but with wood, imperfections are beautiful. Hoping i can find some middle ground with a butterfly joint surfboard. I’ll document it with some pics.
I think you’re imagining the weight gain. How long was the board actually in the water after the ding happened?
Even if it sucked up a lot of water, once dry, the supposed “impurities” from seawater would leave a negligible amount of mass behind.
FYI - A quart of water weighs 2lbs, Salt water weighs a tad more.
Agree with Sammy - should not be noticeable weight gain if completely dry. Impurities in water won’t cause noticeable weight gain.
After sucking out the water I ran my finger around the open ding and there was a lot of salt crystals. I’m sure the foam is well salted and cured like a ham.
I’m practicing with this 2 part epoxy on another epoxy board repair I have going before I have a go at the Hess with it. The ratio of epoxy to hardner is like 2;1 but in other experiences I’ve had that’s too much hardener and the mix bubbles out of control. I was very conservative with the hardner this time and no bubbling but it’s taking a long time to cure. I left the board to set up over night a good 12 hrs and the epoxy is now finally at its jelly state, but not ready to sand. This stuff will 100% dry firm to the touch eventually if I’m patient right? Or should I scrape it off and make another batch.
In my experience, the mix shouldn’t bubble out of control at 2:1 mixing ratio, if that’s what’s called for on the directions - in extreme heat I’ve had it go off quickly, but on a repair sized batch that shouldn’t be a problem. If the epoxy is gelling, then yes, I would say it should harden eventually. I had some long set up times like you’re describing with West systems epoxy, but never with Resin Research. Scraping and re-doing is also a possibility, hard to say without photos. Why don’t you post up some photos of the repair?
Hi MG-
I agree with Huck, a batch of epoxy should not bubble on its own. I would try mixing another small test batch per the ratio in the manufacturer’s instructions and see what it does. The ratio of resin to hardener needs to be exact so the reaction uses up all the resin and hardener. Stay stoiched my friends. -J