old board restoration...

Hi there, Just talked to a old friend few days ago, he got few old boards in hand and he wanted to restore these boards. Any tips to skin off the layer or the ways to restore old boards? Thanks. Regards, Crabie http://www.sunriseprinting.com.hk/fins/fins.html

Hey Crabie, are you going to strip these boards, reshape, and then reglass them? Or are they wall hangers that you want to restore to their old glory? Or are these boards you are going to patch up and ride one day? Knowing what you are going to do with them makes a huge difference. If you strip them how are you going to reglass them if you can’t get poly resin in HK (I assume they are poly boards?)? Full on restoration is an art in itself. Be careful!!!

Yup Mike, I m going to to strip these boards, reshape, and then reglass them. But I have no idea how to proceed. Do you have any idea? The availability of polyester resin in HK is such a headache and I 'll use epoxy resin instead of polyester resin. My friend runs a surfboard shop, he got lots of used boards laying idle, he’ll order some suncure polyester resin. I 'll try to use it. Crabie http://www.sunriseprinting.com.hk/fins/fins.html

Others might have a different technique but I have reshaped a few in the past. Your problem areas will be the rails and the any areas that have a fin box or fin system installed (ie. fcs). I take a utility knife (you know the type with the retractable stiff razor blade) and make a cut along the deck at the top of the rail (where the top of the rail blends into the deck). Take advantage of any delam or cracks in these areas, as it will be easier to start your cut. Once you cut a section say around the nose, flip up the edge of the glass and pull it back. It should tear along the rail line of the deck. What I am saying is that try to cut an area whereby you can get a grip on the glass and pull on it, see if the glass will tear without having to make a initial cut with the blade. This will save you some hassle and minimize any cuts to the foam. I ususally make an arc or horseshoe cut up around the nose from one rail to the other and grab there. The goal is to get the glass off without doing too much damage to the foam. If the glass won’t tear (don’t force it) without the cut then you have to make the cut all the way around. Do the same on the bottom. If it has a fin box in it the glass should come up around it pretty easy. Depending on how the rest of the glass comes up (with or without damaging the foam) you can determine if you are going to keep it or cut that section off. If you cut it off then you just entered the wonderful wolrd of Rocker & Foil Manipulation. You can learn a lot, but it can be a nightmare. When you get the deck and bottom done you will have the rail area left. What I do is grab the deck flap and bottom flap and pull them up and out from the foam (like you are going to make the glass straight instead of curved). Go slowly and work your way from nose to tail or vice versa. This area will give you the most trouble as you will have 3 layers of glass to deal with. You might pull out some chuncks, depending on the quality of the glass job but this is easily fixed when you plot out you new planeshape. Long story short, be careful on the rails and watch out (take rocker and foil into consideration) if you have to cut the tail off to eliminate a fin box. If you have old boards to play with, this can be a great way to learn and screwup. For me they are one in the same. Some smart guy once said, if you don’t learn from your mistakes you are doomed to repeat them (or something like that). Good Luck Oh yeah just a reminder, only use Epoxy Resin on EPS FOAM!

Thanks Mike, It sounds like scary ~~… I m gonna beginning the restoration with a delam board. Dont worry Mike, we dont have surfboard polyester resin here. I 'll keep using epoxy as it’s only the best resin in here. Thanks. Crabie http://www.sunriseprinting.com.hk/fins/fins.html

Crabie, here is a speed trick for striping the old glass. If you can get a router & a 1/2" flat bit, set the depth to 1/16" for starters ( ajust as needed). You can strip the rails, & around the fin box with little or no damage to the foam. Ware protective clothes & eye protection, the brittle resin will send out some nasty shrapnal. This will also happen when you peel the flat areas. Good luck

Thanks Ray, I’ll tell my friend to do so. Cos I dont know how to use a router… Regards, Crabie http://www.sunriseprinting.com.hk/fins/fins.html

Are these EPS foam board you are restoring? If they are poly urethane (like a traditional foam board) foam then you will MELT them with epoxy resin. That was why I was reminding you about that. If they are poly urethane then you have to use polyester resin (like sylmar 249A & 250). If they are eps or styrofoam then use Epoxy resin. The router tip sounds like a great idea. Good luck to you.

GOSH~~~~~~~~~…These boards are PU board~~~~… In addition, if use epoxy to repair/glass a small part of damaged board, will it melt the PU? Regards, Crabie http://www.sunriseprinting.com.hk/fins/fins.html

GOSH~~~~~~~~~…These boards are PU board~~~~… In addition, if use epoxy > to repair/glass a small part of damaged board, will it melt the PU?>>> Regards,>>> Crabie Epoxy resin will melt Polyurethane foam. Even with limited exposure. Get a little scrap piece of PU foam and then mix up a little batch of epoxy resin. Put them together wait a little bit, and watch what happens. Not pretty. You have got to use poly resin with polyurethane foam. This might put a wrench in you restoration projects, but it is better than watching your hard work melt away.

Thanks Mike, Does epoxy work in ding repair over PU board? Regards, Crabie http://www.sunriseprinting.com.hk/fins/fins.html

For some reason I was thinking that you were putting Poly resin on eps foam which will not work (melting action). However epoxy resin on polyurethane foam should work, although I don’t think it is not an ideal match. Before you glass any of these boards let me talk to my buddy. He has been doing epoxy for a very long time. I have a call into him now. He should contact me soon. I will get as much info as possible for you. Sorry for any confusion.

I just called clark foam. They told me you can use epoxy resin on polyurethane with no problems. Just not the other way around. Not very many people use epoxy resin on polyurethane simply because of the added cost of the epoxy resin. You should be good to go, I would still do a little test piece to check it out. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks Mike, It does’nt matter, I was wonder how the exothemic heat generate in kicking. Cos I m still using styrofoam cup to store the mixed epoxy resin. I just mix the the right qty plus 20% more. After the glassing work done, I found that the styrofoam cup was melt. Anyway, thanks for your advice. Regards, Crabie http://www.sunriseprinting.com.hk/fins/fins.html