I have a small crack on the rail on my S-core and I was wondering what I should use to repair it. I know the glass is epoxy. I don’t want to screw it up and put some epoxy on there, and then here I wasn’t supposed to. Please help, even advise would be greatly appreciated!
Epoxy should work fine… even 5 minute stuff from the drug store in a pinch.
That’s what I thought, But I took it to the repair shop (Joe Roper) down here in San Diego and he said he doesn’t have the material to fix it. I thought well it’s made with epoxy, why wouldn’t I just be able to put epoxy over the crack? He suggested I just keep the clear ding tape on it but I would like to cover it up and not have ding tape on my board? It’s only about a 1 centimeters length on the rail!
Thanks for the feedback John much appreciated
I think the Salomon boards are painted on the outside… like Tuf Lite/Surftech(?)
If you’re after a perfect cosmetic result, matching the color with the right paint might be a problem. I’ve always heard that Joe Roper is a great ding repair/restoration guy.
See this from “TheBoardLady” website…
S-cores are not painted like surftech/tuflite. Standard-style glassing over XPS foam. Repair as any epoxy surfboard… use epoxy resin and typical repair techniques.
Thanks for the props EL.
I actually like working with RR epoxy… I must be a glutton for punishment considering how difficult it is to work with, so so says the anti-epoxy crowd 
Nah, it is a pleasure to work with it, just need to refine your technique a little from poly practices. Well worth it IMO as I am not dizzy and nauseous when I finish nor am I dragging fumes or heavy residue home to my wife and daughter. But I wear a respirator anyway, because I figure I will cover all bases and not let go of the dream of living to be 100.
EL is right, any ding in the rail of the S-cores is asking for trouble, especially since there is a seam along the rails of salomons where the deck and bottom pieces were clam-shelled together. There is a big load being placed on those rails, and any ding, dent, or crack becomes an instant weak-point. Recipie for disaster, for sure.
Here is my suggestion. It does not sound like this is much of a “ding”, more like cracked glass. But you want to take care of it and at least reinforce it a bit to spread out that load. Rough the area around the crack. Cut a small piece of cloth to go over the cracked area… make sure the glass covers at least 1/2" in each direction. Wet it out with epoxy, and then squeeze excess resin out (you want to see the weave). Cut a piece of waxed paper big enough to cover the glass patch with 1" to spare in each direction. Place this waxed paper wax side down in contact with the glass patch, then tape it taught with blue painter’s tape. Let cure and pull it all off.
If done correctly, this method will flatten the weave and create a seamless transition between the edge of the glass patch and the original fiberglass surface. You will not have to fill in with a hotcoat and there should be no, or minimal, sanding involved.
You CAN substitute a piece of clear plastic sheet (heavy duty, like what is used in blister packaging of just about anything that is sold in a clear plastic display) for the waxed paper BUT I have found that sometimes the RR epoxy does a good job of bonding to some plastics (and not others… perhaps it is due to chemistry of the plastic itself). If you go the plastic sheet route, make sure the epoxy is FULLY cured as the bond between the repair epoxy and board epoxy should be better than between the repair epoxy and plastic sheet… if the epoxy is only partially cured it might still be tacky enough to grip the plastic sheet.
I believe that Bill Bansfield did a good thread a few months back describing this technique… he actually repaired a CF road bike that was damamged in transport, but the pictures he posted were an excellent representation of these methods.
Thanks for the details on the patch. I’m not extremely concerned with this little crack especially since it’s up near the nose of the board. I got off a wave and it was submerged popped out and slammed directly into my wrist. I looked at it, “ahh your kidding me” it hit my wrist pretty hard it always seems like stupid shit happens on small days. I think I’ m gonna use that technique with the wax paper it sound super easy. Any other recommendations besides resin research epoxy? I don’ want to order it just for this little mini-crack. Maybe like hobbie shack 2 part smelly stuff?
The hobby store stuff should work…that stuff turns really yellow but it may not matter much since your board is blue.
If this ding is all the way up by the nose of the board, it is in a much less-critical spot and creating less vulnerabilty than we thought. It is on the less-bendy part of the board, so it is not experiencing a lot of load. That is some good news for you. You could prob get away with a “band-aid” instead of reconstructive surgery, but keep in mind if you nose dive it into a shallow bottom it could still cause the nose to snap off.
About any styrofoam-safe epoxy could be made to work on this repair. I would suggest testing it first. Mix up a small bit and put it on some styrofoam (any styro will do- either EPS or XPS… if you happen to have some home-depot pink or blue foam lying around, even better as that stuff is more closely related to the foam in your board). If it does not melt, it should be safe for your board.
If you have a little time to wait it out, Javier at epoxy pro sells ding kits for $10. http://epoxysurfboards.com/accessories.shtml This epoxy is not RR, but is a decent resin from what I hear (I have not used it personally). I have a small amount of this ding-kit resin lying around. PM me if you want to figure out a way for me to get it to you.
Some surf shops have 2-part epoxy repair kits. You might be able to order online. Try beckersurf.com or fusionsurf.com.
I do suggest avoiding the solar-rez style epoxy repair kits often sold in shops; that stuff sucks. Solar epoxy resins are very difficult and expensive to engineer, and that stuff is the bottom of the barrel, quality-wise.
I have a small crack on the rail on my S-core and I was wondering what I should use to repair it. I know the glass is epoxy. I don’t want to screw it up and put some epoxy on there, and then here I wasn’t supposed to. Please help, even advise would be greatly appreciated!
Epoxy should work fine… even 5 minute stuff from the drug store in a pinch.
That’s what I thought, But I took it to the repair shop (Joe Roper) down here in San Diego and he said he doesn’t have the material to fix it. I thought well it’s made with epoxy, why wouldn’t I just be able to put epoxy over the crack? He suggested I just keep the clear ding tape on it but I would like to cover it up and not have ding tape on my board? It’s only about a 1 centimeters length on the rail!
Thanks for the feedback John much appreciated
I think the Salomon boards are painted on the outside… like Tuf Lite/Surftech(?)
If you’re after a perfect cosmetic result, matching the color with the right paint might be a problem. I’ve always heard that Joe Roper is a great ding repair/restoration guy.
See this from “TheBoardLady” website…
S-cores are not painted like surftech/tuflite. Standard-style glassing over XPS foam. Repair as any epoxy surfboard… use epoxy resin and typical repair techniques.
Thanks for the props EL.
I actually like working with RR epoxy… I must be a glutton for punishment considering how difficult it is to work with, so so says the anti-epoxy crowd Nah, it is a pleasure to work with it, just need to refine your technique a little from poly practices. Well worth it IMO as I am not dizzy and nauseous when I finish nor am I dragging fumes or heavy residue home to my wife and daughter. But I wear a respirator anyway, because I figure I will cover all bases and not let go of the dream of living to be 100.
EL is right, any ding in the rail of the S-cores is asking for trouble, especially since there is a seam along the rails of salomons where the deck and bottom pieces were clam-shelled together. There is a big load being placed on those rails, and any ding, dent, or crack becomes an instant weak-point. Recipie for disaster, for sure.
Here is my suggestion. It does not sound like this is much of a “ding”, more like cracked glass. But you want to take care of it and at least reinforce it a bit to spread out that load. Rough the area around the crack. Cut a small piece of cloth to go over the cracked area… make sure the glass covers at least 1/2" in each direction. Wet it out with epoxy, and then squeeze excess resin out (you want to see the weave). Cut a piece of waxed paper big enough to cover the glass patch with 1" to spare in each direction. Place this waxed paper wax side down in contact with the glass patch, then tape it taught with blue painter’s tape. Let cure and pull it all off.
If done correctly, this method will flatten the weave and create a seamless transition between the edge of the glass patch and the original fiberglass surface. You will not have to fill in with a hotcoat and there should be no, or minimal, sanding involved.
You CAN substitute a piece of clear plastic sheet (heavy duty, like what is used in blister packaging of just about anything that is sold in a clear plastic display) for the waxed paper BUT I have found that sometimes the RR epoxy does a good job of bonding to some plastics (and not others… perhaps it is due to chemistry of the plastic itself). If you go the plastic sheet route, make sure the epoxy is FULLY cured as the bond between the repair epoxy and board epoxy should be better than between the repair epoxy and plastic sheet… if the epoxy is only partially cured it might still be tacky enough to grip the plastic sheet.
I believe that Bill Bansfield did a good thread a few months back describing this technique… he actually repaired a CF road bike that was damamged in transport, but the pictures he posted were an excellent representation of these methods.
Thanks for the details on the patch. I’m not extremely concerned with this little crack especially since it’s up near the nose of the board. I got off a wave and it was submerged popped out and slammed directly into my wrist. I looked at it, “ahh your kidding me” it hit my wrist pretty hard it always seems like stupid shit happens on small days. I think I’ m gonna use that technique with the wax paper it sound super easy. Any other recommendations besides resin research epoxy? I don’ want to order it just for this little mini-crack. Maybe like hobbie shack 2 part smelly stuff?
The hobby store stuff should work…that stuff turns really yellow but it may not matter much since your board is blue.
If this ding is all the way up by the nose of the board, it is in a much less-critical spot and creating less vulnerabilty than we thought. It is on the less-bendy part of the board, so it is not experiencing a lot of load. That is some good news for you. You could prob get away with a “band-aid” instead of reconstructive surgery, but keep in mind if you nose dive it into a shallow bottom it could still cause the nose to snap off.
About any styrofoam-safe epoxy could be made to work on this repair. I would suggest testing it first. Mix up a small bit and put it on some styrofoam (any styro will do- either EPS or XPS… if you happen to have some home-depot pink or blue foam lying around, even better as that stuff is more closely related to the foam in your board). If it does not melt, it should be safe for your board.
If you have a little time to wait it out, Javier at epoxy pro sells ding kits for $10. http://epoxysurfboards.com/accessories.shtml This epoxy is not RR, but is a decent resin from what I hear (I have not used it personally). I have a small amount of this ding-kit resin lying around. PM me if you want to figure out a way for me to get it to you.
Some surf shops have 2-part epoxy repair kits. You might be able to order online. Try beckersurf.com or fusionsurf.com.
I do suggest avoiding the solar-rez style epoxy repair kits often sold in shops; that stuff sucks. Solar epoxy resins are very difficult and expensive to engineer, and that stuff is the bottom of the barrel, quality-wise.