Havent posted in a while, Just showing what I'm working on and if anyone has any advice I'm all ears!
When I went into work today, my captain told me I was switched to maintenence and my job was to chainsaw 25 old lifeguard rescue boards up and throw them in the dumpster because they were "unfixable". About 10 of these are soft tops, some are giant eps boards and some are paddle knee boards. I couldnt let that happen to these old heroes! So I offered to repair them.. and for every few I fix, I get to keep one. Schwing. So I took the first one home today, An ugly som'bitch.. I cut as much of the soft shit I could with a knife and sanded most of the rest. The main complaint with these boards is some serious itch/rash factor. I found that soft-top just lams the board, then paints it with? and then applies the soft top. So when the soft top wears out you cant paddle it without getting filled with glass shards.
With the soft top gone, the board isnt in bad shape at all, only one little ding to repair. but it is yellow..and still has paint spots.. I guess I could put in some more elbow grease and sand off all the paint spots but Id rather not if I dont have to. I tried a small batch of tinted resin but I can still see the blemishes underneath..
So, I want to make this first one look amazing and last. Been looking through old posts and as of right now my idea is to spray paint it then seal it with a hotcoat. Anyone actually done this? Does it Work?
Any other ideas?
Also, This one I'm just gonna keep it as a hard board but my boss wants me to look into re applying the soft top to some of them so they cant be put back in service. Ive seen advice like, use EVA, use yoga mats, blah blah, but has anyone actually had any success with it? Does anyone know how the soft-top company actually does it?
Ill post my progress as I go, Feels good to breath new life into an old board.
yep , EVA is what you need…you need to vac it on with contact cement…wear a mask ,it’s toxic…and ALWAYS read the MSDS (Material safety data sheet)…as long as the cores are sealed , you’ll be good to go!
"why bondo instead of resin with cabosil or q-cell? Just curious."
"Bondo" is readily available at any auto parts store. It's not as easy to find cabosil or q-cell.
I've used flour, sawdust, foamdust as well as microballoons/Q-cell/Cabosil with resin and for some applications, as long as I end up with a putty-like substance, I catalyze it and slap it on. Much of it usually gets sanded off anyway. If it is a big deep ding, I generally insert foam scraps as the main 'filler' and putty to smooth any seams or gaps.
If repairing EPS dings, I'd use an epoxy/filler putty rather than Bondo (polyester based) to avoid the risk of a meltdown.
While I haven’t done much with soft tops, I have done quite a bit with the old Cons (easy) and some of the newer comp boards (PITA).
Having said that, the real expert is http://www2.swaylocks.com/user/patrick who has done dozens of all flavors. Lifeguard paddleboards might just be his specialty.
He hasn’t been around for a bit, but he’s a friend of mine and I may well see him in the next week or so, I’ll ask him to look in. If I remember, that is - this aging thing is getting tiresome.
In the meantime, see what you can glean from his older posts - very sharp fella, Patrick.
Ambitious project, good on you for rescuing the rescue boards! Please take necessary precautions, since you'll likely be working with resin far more than normal! Hope you can continue to post pics for us.
John - why bondo instead of resin with cabosil or q-cell? Just curious. I have used bondo on board repair - it gets kinda heavy 'tho, so I don't anymore.
I'd buy a couple gallons of Bondo from the local automotive body shop. Scuff the boards and apply as needed to fill in any divots or dents. Sand smooth, glass over with single 4 oz, fill coat, sand some more, and paint with automotive paint.
A company called "Hydroturf" sells peel & stick deck padding as used on SUPs. That stuff should work pretty good as a pad.
It'll be a lot of work but the rewards may be worth it.
Bondo is heavy also it is a moisture attractant. The filler in Bondo is industrial talcum powder. If you have the slightest leak it will soak up the moisture and turn into a gooey mess. Never ever use bondo if you have a craft that will spend any time at all in the water.
Amusingly enough, I’ve used extremely non-industrial talcum powder as a ‘thixotropic addative’ - means it makes resin into a paste. It smelled real nice when I sanded it.
Now, talcum powder, powdered talc, it’s not water soluble. Nor is diatomaceous earth or a number of other addatives that have been used successfully to thicken resin. But hold onto your hat - sugar is…and it works fine. It’s encapsulated in the resin, unless somebody did a real bad job of mixing.
And then we have things like high priced underwater fillers. For instance, Evercoat White Marine Filler. And what does that contain?
Calcium Carbonate; Thixotropic agent- water soluble if the water is a skosh acidic, by the way
Polyester Resin (Non-Hazardous)
Talc (thixotropic agent)
Styrene (thinner)
Titanium Dioxide - edit, forgot to spec out what this stuff is; White Pigment
Magnesite - Magnesium Carbonate- thixotropic agent, soluble in acid solutions
Quartz (Crystalline Silica)
Works just fine on the bottom of my boat, has for quite a while.
It damn sure won’t!! It’s mainly polyester resin. If poly was water soluble we wouldn’t have made surfboards with it for over 50 years!! It would make cleanup a boatload easier, though. <smirk>
Well.... several hours later it's still solid as can be. Absolutely no degradation of the Bondo blob and it's been under water all evening while I was at work.
I think we can lay this one to rest but I'll double check in the AM.
Maybe Artz was thinking of some sort of water based spackle? The acrylic/microballoon mixes seem to hold up fairly well under water too.
Sammy I was in the yacht repair and painting business for more then 20 years.A lot of my business was redoing repairs done by someone that had used bondo as a fairing compound over a fiberglass repair. Boards are not in the water as much as a Boat still in time a tiny bit of moisture will cause the bondo to fail.
After an overnight soak underwater I still don't see any degradation. It certainly didn't turn in to a gooey mess. I can't speak for failed yacht repairs but over a properly prepped surface I don't see why Bondo shouldn't be used as a surfboard repair filler.
There are better lighter versions of marine putty including homemade epoxy/microballoon mixes but Bondo is cheap and readily available. I bought that can at the local Ace hardware store which doesn't carry cabosil, microballoons or Q-Cell fillers.
