Author Topic: How do I fix this paint bubble?  (Read 5462 times)

Deadbait

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How do I fix this paint bubble?
« on: July 23, 2016, 03:42:30 PM »
I left my board on top of my car and went out for lunch on a nice hot summer day here in Florida.  When I got home to wash it off, I noticed this nice 2.5 inch bubble on the bottom.

What is the best way to fix this?  I'm pretty handy, but no experience with sup or surfboard repair.

I took it out again with the bubble and noticed it is not watertight at the bubble area.  So it needs to be fixed and sealed.

Thanks for any info.

anonsurfer

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2016, 06:59:38 PM »
If it is a delam (likely) you'll need to cut out all the delaminated fiberglass and redo it.  You are lucky it is only a small area.  See the Board Lady site for more info:

http://www.boardlady.com/fiberglass101.htm
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PonoBill

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2016, 07:10:12 PM »
That looks like just a bubble in the paint. What kind of board is it? Delamination is usually flatter. The water in the bubble is hopefully just because the bubble stretched the paint enough to make cracks. The other possibility is that water in the board made the bubble. Only way to tell is to look. Sand the bubble off. You can do that by hand or with an orbital sander. Get a little margin all around the bubble. Wipe off the dust and take a look. if there's a hole in the glass, or some kind of crack you have a bigger problem. Even if you can't see a hole or crack, put you lips on the clear area and suck. If it's a leaker into the board you can tell right away. To see the difference, suck where the board is good, then suck on the clear area. If you pull air or even water, then you need a serious repair and it's time to either find help or read the board lady site.

If there's no leak you can just paint it. Find some rattlecan paint that's a close match, feather the edges of the sanded area, and put on a couple of new coats.

Hope that's all it is.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Deadbait

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2016, 08:49:39 AM »
I peeled the paint off and this is what I got.  It feels solid underneath when I push on it.  When I suck on it, I get air and little salt water, so it's not sealed. 

I've got the damage side down and it was lightly damp overnight.  How do I get it completely dry before I paint it?

This board is an ARK paddleboard, a local South Florida brand that is no longer in business.  I've had the board about 5 or 6 years now.

Thanks for your replies.


PonoBill

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2016, 09:08:51 AM »
That looks like either there's no hot coat, or what i would have assumed is just paint is the hot coat. That looks like epoxy with a thickener sanded smooth.

You have a couple of choices. You can do it the easier way, or the hard way. The board looks to be in nice shape, so it might be worth the hard way. You can drill a hole, open your vent, and pull a little vacuum on the board. I'd use a vacuum pump with a trap, but that's me. My brother would say a shop vac works fine. We've been arguing about that for years.

Then do a typical fiberglass patch. Boardlady.

Alternatively, you could cover the board and put damage side down in the sun for a few days. Then the spot gets dry, you can fix it. All you're going to do is seal it and paint it. Sand a little more to get a good feathered edge on the paint or whatever that is, then get the board good and warm in the sun, mix up a little fast epoxy (glue is OK for this, though it's a bit thick). Close the vent and bring the board in to a cooler place. While the board is cooling off, paint the epoxy onto the exposed area. If it sucks in, paint on a little more. Before it starts to gel cover it smoothly with plastic wrap. Just get it flat and smooth. After it sets up you can peel off the plastic, sand lightly, and spot paint the damaged area to match.

I'd be a little concerned about what happend. It might have been just a few pinholes in the sealed glass, or the seal migh be breaking down. Keep it out of the hot sun afterwards.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Bean

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2016, 11:34:14 AM »
Good airflow will definitely dry out the board but I have a slightly different view on the use of vacuum. 

I use vacuum to effectively boil the water out of the board.  We know water boils at 212F at sea level where air pressure is about 14.7 PSI.  We also know that if we can decrease the air pressure, the boiling temperature also decreases.  If we can get the air pressure inside of the board to around 1 PSI, boiling will occur at about 100F.  The best way to accomplish this is with a vacuum pump, in this case to get to 1 PSI, pulling about 28 inches of mercury.  But here is the difference, in order to hold at 28, the vent and any other openings should be sealed except of course where you are pulling from.  The vacuum has to be brought down and kept down for a long enough period to complete the boil.  Starting and stopping is like turning the flame on and off on the stove - very unproductive.  Can you pull enough vac to crush a board or delaminate it?  Yes you can, ask me how I know...

peterwSUPr

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2016, 01:27:42 PM »
If you drop the pressure in the board to 1psi, you'll have about 14psi trying to crush the board.  That's 2000 lbs on each square foot of the board.  Surely that would crush it really flat.  When I've built board vacuum bagging we use way less vacuum for fear of crushing the board.  Or am I misunderstanding something here?

It seems to me the paint lifted because unlike the fiberglass, the paint was still sealed.  Your board probably just got hotter than it has been before and it happened fast enough that the goretex vent (?) could not keep up.  The paint lifted and may have then stratched and got a hole in the paint.  If there was a hole in the paint all along I don't think the paint would have lifted as air tried to get out.

It may be unlikely that there's much water in there if it is a new problem.  If it's likely a new problem and not a lot of dampness in there, I would probably no go to town trying to dry it out.  Let it get hot in the sun and dry, and let it breath in and out a bit.  Then seal it.  Is it likely that there is a bit of dampness going to stay in there?  Yes.  Will you be able to tell when paddling?  No.

Peter


Bean

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2016, 02:02:19 PM »
Peter, for vacuum bagging I'm at 5-7" Hg, not for the fear of crushing but rather to ensure a better ratio of resin to glass.   


PonoBill

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2016, 02:23:58 PM »
I'd never pull even two pounds of vacuum on a board.
Even if you didn't crush it visibly, you'd distort the board and crush the foam under the glass, creating delaminations. I've learned this the expensive way as well.  Never pressurize a board for the same reason. I put less than a pound in a hollow SIC to find a leak and distorted it enough to knock some of the internal foam braces loose. At the most I just blow into the vent tube with blowing up balloons pressure. It's enough.

If you wanted to boil water in a board you'd have to drop pressure a hell of a lot. If you dropped it to 5 pounds (10 pounds of vacuum) the water would still boil at 150F.  and you'd have 1440 pounds per square foot squeezing the board to a frisbee.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Bean

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2016, 09:11:18 PM »
This is a good discussion for me, because as we speak I'm in the process of de-watering a board in my garage and noticed that I'm holding at just 24" Hg which would put my boiling point somewhere north of 133F.   My garage does get hot but not that hot, so I guess I'm not really boiling, just vacuuming.  I'm ready to drill that second hole now...and maybe even try Stoney's shop vac approach to increase the air volume.

Bloody-hell, one week I find I'm not planing, now I find I'm not boiling, yet I am making progress.

PonoBill

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2016, 09:35:06 PM »
Long as you get it out. Of course to teally get salt water out you need to soak the area with distilled water a few times. But no one does that.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

eDUBz

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Re: How do I fix this paint bubble?
« Reply #11 on: August 23, 2016, 11:19:38 PM »
Probably pin holes in the board. Let dry out for a few days put some fast setting epoxy, sand smooth and paint. Feather edge the paint and prep the area well for a good bond.
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