I have seen the signs about how people can turn their board and get it back within 24 hrs. How is this done? I was thinking they would just use UV catalyst instead of normal MEKP. I dont see anyother way how its done. thanks.
How do they do it in a day? By charging more!!! [wink] (couldn’t help myself…)
Probably they did use some UV but I’ve done big ding repairs in one day using mekp. In warm sunny weather its sandable in four hours…fill the hole in the am. wait, sand and cloth noontime, wait, sand and hotcoat mid afternoon, fine sand evening, call customer to say the boards done if your sober enough to speak! Charge $75
I few months ago I snapped a fin off a borrowed board surfing Rocky Point. I had the fin back on the board and tight with a glass patch on the deck, 6 oz cloth, rope, 6oz cloth then more rope. didn’t have time to sand it til the next day, but I was back in the water that afternoon. I’m not looking for a pat on the back, I was just trying to get the board back in shape before my buddy found out. He’s got one of those personalitys that would have ridden me for years if he would have seen that fin just hanging on by a few strands of shreaded glass. -Jay
I have fixed boards in a day, providing there were not too many steps involved. No UV resins involved either. Indeed, I try for a 24 hour turnaround time, just to get the damned things out of my shop. You do a very good job of filler molding, make it adequately hot, lay the cloth over the filler when it’s still tacky, wet that out and squeegee, power sand when that’s just hard enough to sand. Fill with a heavy gloss/hotcoat, sand and polish the edges when that’s hardened. Total time, maybe 3 hours on a warm sunny day. For what it’s worth, on a good day you can have several boards going in paralell. That makes life interesting and what you’re making an hour can actually get up to almost what they pay at Burger King. Power sanding is a necessity. hope that’s of use doc…
I just helped a kid fix up three boards (all with multiple dings) in an afternoon. UV resin!!! Yeah baby, that’s the stuff if time is a factor. Dig out the grunge, fill it with glass fiber/resin glop and a piece of fiberglass and wax paper to mold it. Put it in the sun and it’s ready to sand in 30 minutes or less. Hit it with a gloss coat or if really pressed for time, a shot of clear acrylic spray. 24 hours? No problem! Heck, I hear Herb Spitzer does entire boards - shaped, glassed, sanded and finished in 24 hours!
24 hrs? Scoff at such things. Built a board with suncure in 4 hrs. Lamed, fin boxed, leash cupped, sanded, and hitting the lip 4 hrs later. Shhhh though, we don’t want to lose our “lag” factor!
Hey DOC, you’re right about how much you can make sometimes doing ding repair. I have a love/hate relationship with dings. On the down side, they clog up my shop, cause me to be interrupted all day, and are just plain annoying.(The customer who thinks it’s the end of the world cause his boards down)But on the plus side, they keep me with pocket money all week(under-da-table cash baby!) If only you could control what kind come in…easy rail dings and simple holes etc. It’s the damn gnarly wet,brown soft-spot, water-logged,de-lammed projects that I really hate…
Oh man, you have it nailed there. The ding biz is a love hate thing. You got the jokers who want their boards done by dawn when they bring them by in the late afternoon, the other jokers who want you to take credit cards ( and generally pull up in the most expensive cars ), the ones that wadded in solarcrap, let it go off cheezy and then want it to look perfect… and then there are the morons who still put wax in their dings for a temporary repair. AAARGH!! I have a pricing schedule: Kids with beat up boards and no money - free. If I’m nice to them, maybe I can get one of 'em to take over the business. Normal humans - regular price Yuppie kids with Mommy’s gold card and Mommy’s four wheel drive expensive-mobile - triple price and up. Argghhhhhhhhhhhhh.
There is a ding guy around here that will do repairs overnight. I have seen alot of his work, as I am mostly repairing his stuff ups.Good for my business.He says I am two slow. Fine wine takes time.If a person needs a board quickly I will get it to a stage where it is water tight and they can bring it back for me to finish at a later stage. This I only do for my regular customers, because you have to look after you regulars. They are the people who tell other people where to go, to get their boards repaired. Business is about to go into over drive. Its hot, there are waves and there are tourists with brand new christmas presants just waiting to smash into each other and into the rocks at our beautiful beaches. Might have to put that fine wine on hold for a while.David. http://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/galv_series.htm