We have a customer who, for one reason or another, wants to resurface a heavily repaired soft top to “restore” it. My question, is this: What is the material they laminate over the top of the boards that gives it the “soft top”? Does anyone know where to buy the material in rolls or small sheets? I assume they need to be applied with a vac bag?
Thanks for the help, he’s pretty intent on doing this so we wanted to give him the info at least
Anyone? I’m not talking the bodyboard style soft-tops, i mean the stuff on the eps/glass soft-tops brand boards - it seems to be some kind of high-density rolled foam?
I guess I’m anyone. It’s an easy fix. Do a google search for EVA foam. I have the name of a source but not on the tip of my tongue at the moment. I’ll get back to you with my source in a later post. Start by grinding off the old EVA. I just take my Milwaukee with some coarse paper and sand it off. That’s easier and quicker than trying to razor scrape it off. Get all the old EVA off, clean up and sand the deck area. If it is a standard “Soft Top” it is most likly covered with EVA from rail apex to rail apex which is the easiest to reapply. The Soft Tops with the exsposed rails are a little more difficult in that the EVA has to be cut to “size”. If necessary make any repairs to the deck. On a rail to rail. no deck is exsposed so it is not necessary to prime or paint the deck. Just make sure it is sanded, but still left semi coarse. Don’t sand any further than 120 or at the most 180, It is better for the deck surface to be a little coarse so the EVA bonds well. Roll out your EVA over the deck just as you would if you were rolling out and trimming a layer of glass cloth from rail to rail. Cut the EVA just beyound where you will want it to end. Say 1/4 inch all around Take the EVA off and lay it on a table or other flat surface bottom up(the side that will be glued to the deck). With a throw away “chip” brush, spread a coat of contact cement onto the EVA. No dry spots. Also apply contact cement to the deck. Let it tack up but not dry. With the help of a friend pick up the EVA and flip it on to the deck of the board. With a roller or plastic squeege press the EVA onto the deck and work out the air bubbles, Get the EVA all pressed down and secure, Let the contact cement dry throughly. Overnight if necessary. Using a Dremel with a barrel sanding disk; Grind the EVA at the rail down flush. You be suprised at how easy and flush the Eva grinds down. I may have simplified a bit, but that’s the process. I used to repair lots and lots of Soft Tops for Surf Schools on Maui. This method worked well for me. Lowel
Shoots man thank you so much that’s exactly what we needed! The board is rail-to-rail, though I’m sure in the future we will tackle other kinds. I’m just stoked to hear I don’t need to vac-bag it
wait- upon searching it seems that EVA foam is the same stuff they make those foam puzzle-lock mats that lots of us use under our upright surfboard racks? Sick man, that should be very easy to get
There’s a trick for using contact cement with larger pieces of material. After you spread the glue on both surfaces place a bunch of 1/2" or 3/4" dowels across the deck of the board, spaced about 6 to 8 inches apart. This allows you to position the new sheet of material where you need it to be without having the two surfaces make contact. Double check the placing, then remove the dowels one at a time starting at one end. Use a hard rubber roller to stick them together and get the air out as you go. A squeegee will not be as effective as a roller. You can get a roller for not a lot of $$ at most any hardware store or building supply co.
I have done this alone a number of times. With two people it’s even better. One removes the dowels and checks position while the other just does the rolling. Good luck. You only get one shot with that stuff.
Heres how to glue it down forever!! Cut your EVA to exact fit. Lay it down on the board exactly where you want it. Tape half of it down with blue tape, The front half of the board has the most flat surface area so thats the half you should tape down. Run a couple loops of tape all the way around the board to make sure the EVA cant shift.
Now fold back the EVA on the un taped end of the board so it is folded over the taped end. Put a dowel pushed up against the the EVA on the deck of the exposed board, this is the guide to where you will put your contact adhesive. Now use the smelliest most toxic contact cement you can find. Put on a chemical mask and paint on the contact cement to the exposed board deck all the way to the dowel. do the same on the EVA that is facing up.
Oh Crap !!! I forgot to tell you to tape around the edge of the EVA while it was laying in place on the board so you would have a taped edge to paint the contact cement to. Anyway, you will cover the EVA and the board surface with one coat of contact cement and allow it to dry about 10 or 15 minutes. (make sure there are no wet spots !!!) Now paint on a second coat and let it dry completely !!!
With that done you can remove the dowel and carefully role the EVA down onto the board. (Don’t just flop it down and don’t press it down hard as you go cause you can squash it out of allighnment. Once it is down you can role it with a hand roller or a hunk of 2/4 wrapped with a towel.
Now that you got that half glued down, untape the other half and fold the EVA back and repeat but you dont need the dowel now. When that half is glued down you can pull the tape you used to mask off the board around the EVA. If you screw this up you shouldn’t be doing repairs on anything. (Get a job pushing papers or something) !! Never glue wet contact cement to contact cement, you will get soft spots with a poor bond and you can get squeeze out .
Now that I told you how to do it the right way I will tell you how I do it nowadays. Instead of using the contact cement brushed on with a brush, I use 3M heavy duty spray on adhesive. Its faster, but ya gotta be careful of overspray. (I just hold a hunk of cardboard next to where I am spraying, to block the overspray) The down side of this (the 3M) is that it is expensive and takes about 2 1/2 cans to to a large board deck.
PS. SammyA thats the way I used to do it until one time the EVA sagged and stuck between the dowels and I ended up with a dowel glued to the board . Thank god for lacquer thinner in a spray bottle!!! I always work alone, never with a helper! Helpers are like elves, they are small, dirty, talk too much and get in the way!!!
Would this method work for cork as well?
I’ve just got back in the water after 6 months out and the big scar down the centre of my abdomen doesn’t seem to like the wax much.
I’ve not long finished my 1st board and wasn’t really planing to go the vac bag route just yet but hope to put cork on the next few and maybe on some of the boards I already have if it works for me. I was planning to just try to glue it down like deck grip but was sure someone would have already tried this. Maybe my searching isn’t up to scratch.
I’m willing to make a vac bag if necessary, especially if the cork works.
yes it will work for cork.
Well boys, it seems that the process is the same as laminate placement on a kitchen counter----cut material to size, contact cement to the sides to be glued, dowels to keep the material above the surface for placement, shift to desired spot, remove dowel, press, then final trim.
I just love these crossover encounters from different mediums—most excellent.
Aloha, Randy
Excellent! Thank you Wood Ogre, I’ll use a vac bag eventually but this will get me corking sooner!
to resurrect an old thread, would vac bagging the eva/contact cement be overkill and totally unnecessary for re-skinning a foamer? figure just a really light pressure, but it’d be nice and even.
if it is not a huge repair, replacment soft top foam with resin and release film and tape is sufficent. Big repairs I use the full vac bag. The surf tech high end soft tops are made really well. Some of the cheaper brands(black tips, etc) are inexpensively made for the not worth the cost for repair unless you do them yourself. Night and day difference in quality. I have 15 year old soft tops from my surfing school that are in 7/10 condition after decades of abuse and proper maintenance. Can have a newbie surfing in less than 20 minutes on the 11 footers.
That’s right Charlie. With a little care those boards last and last. Taught some big Back East tourists to stand up on 11footers . Put a few snapped ones back together after a snap. Paint the bottom and they look like new. Lowel