Author Topic: gel coat repair  (Read 5126 times)

toolate

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gel coat repair
« on: May 05, 2019, 01:22:24 PM »
Got reacquainted with some old coral heads from my youth this morning. Dinged the bottom of my JL Stungun Carbon Edition.
The size of this ding is about half penny. The material in the center appears to be carbon. So it looks like i took of the gel coat. No water leaking.
Thoughts on best DIY repairs? Was thinking Epoxy resin with some pigment ...

TallDude

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2019, 02:37:13 PM »
Sticker ::)
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

TallDude

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2019, 02:45:16 PM »
Clean out the foam sandwich with a little sand paper. Gorilla it with just a mist of water and let it expand. Once dry, shave it down flush and sand the surrounding surface down to glass leaving about 1/2" margin. Couple pieces of glass cloth epoxied down. Sand smooth. Then a thin finish epoxy coat (hot coat). Sand again smooth and do your best faux finish with some grey and black paint brushed. Then spray a rattler can flat or semi clear.
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

PonoBill

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2019, 04:54:41 PM »
There are a few boards with gel coat, but this ain't one of them. Boards made in a mold may use a gel coat finish, but not anything laid up over a blank. Talldudes suggestions are right on if you want the board to like like it did before you bonked it. Don't even think about just resin or something like Solarez. You'll eventually get water in the board.

After several recent bad experiences with hotcoat (after many years of zero problems) I've taken to using aluminum tape as my hotcoat. Looks like shit, but it doesn't leak and it weighs nothing. I do the fiberglass repair, but then finsh with a layer of aluminum tape. I don't really recommend as some kind of great practice but it works well.
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toolate

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2019, 07:20:17 PM »
Clean out the foam sandwich with a little sand paper. Gorilla it with just a mist of water and let it expand. Once dry, shave it down flush and sand the surrounding surface down to glass leaving about 1/2" margin. Couple pieces of glass cloth epoxied down. Sand smooth. Then a thin finish epoxy coat (hot coat). Sand again smooth and do your best faux finish with some grey and black paint brushed. Then spray a rattler can flat or semi clear.

Thanks for the detailed repair advice! So what I am seeing there is foam sandwich with carbon underneath? I realize the photo doest show it but the depth is like 1/16 max....

toolate

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2019, 07:21:55 PM »
Sticker ::)

A sticker would get me in the water fastest...

TallDude

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2019, 07:53:29 PM »
Clean out the foam sandwich with a little sand paper. Gorilla it with just a mist of water and let it expand. Once dry, shave it down flush and sand the surrounding surface down to glass leaving about 1/2" margin. Couple pieces of glass cloth epoxied down. Sand smooth. Then a thin finish epoxy coat (hot coat). Sand again smooth and do your best faux finish with some grey and black paint brushed. Then spray a rattler can flat or semi clear.

Thanks for the detailed repair advice! So what I am seeing there is foam sandwich with carbon underneath? I realize the photo doest show it but the depth is like 1/16 max....
That's what it looks like to me.
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

Badger

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2019, 11:53:24 PM »
It looks like the ding goes through the outer carbon layer and through the 1'8" ultra high density foam layer to the inner carbon layer below that. The foam may be thinner than 1/8" in some spots.

Here is what you're looking at. Just insert carbon where it says fiberglass.

http://jimmylewis.com/board-construction/
« Last Edit: May 06, 2019, 12:02:49 AM by Badger »
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Area 10

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2019, 12:48:12 AM »
Unless you have some decent repair skills already, I’d take this to a professional. By the time you’ve bought the various stuff needed to do a good repair, and ended up with an ugly testament to your ineptitude anyway, despite hours of faffing about, you’ll wish you’d just flashed the cash and let it be someone else’s problem. A good pro dung fixer will get that looking so good no-one will know it ever happened.


eastbound

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2019, 04:49:16 AM »
if youve got a good repair guy nearby and you're unlikely to enjoy the craft of repair, go with a pro

i enjoy repair, so long as i have time and space and the right stuff---resin research resin, microballoons, good quality glass cloth, a little 30$ black and decker "mouse sander" with appropriate sandpapers, gloves, mask, shot glass size plastic cups, wood stirring/application sticks, blue tape, reasonably color-matching spray paint

what'd i forget??

the good news is that, if you arent really careless (with the sander especially) you can erase poor work and start over, without dealing any permanent damage to the board

i enjoy the process---but big incentive is that there are no ding repair guys anywhere near my house in bklyn---easier to just do myself than do a bunch of round trips to a shop an hour or more's drive away--if i just do it myself it's faster, and ive gotten pretty good

finbox issues i wont touch--need a good alignment jig and skills
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toolate

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2019, 10:10:13 AM »
It looks like the ding goes through the outer carbon layer and through the 1'8" ultra high density foam layer to the inner carbon layer below that. The foam may be thinner than 1/8" in some spots.

Here is what you're looking at. Just insert carbon where it says fiberglass.

http://jimmylewis.com/board-construction/

Thanks! Thing is, i should see a layer of carbon or at least some carbon threads and i dont except at the bottom which appears to be the outer sandwich. And it seems there is no way that the "foam" in that picture is 1/8 thick.
So maybe i just took of the paint?

TallDude

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2019, 10:30:04 AM »
That looks like more than "just paint" to me. Maybe you should take it to a professional repair person???
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

Bulky

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2019, 11:49:32 AM »
It looks like the ding goes through the outer carbon layer and through the 1'8" ultra high density foam layer to the inner carbon layer below that. The foam may be thinner than 1/8" in some spots.

Here is what you're looking at. Just insert carbon where it says fiberglass.

http://jimmylewis.com/board-construction/

Thanks! Thing is, i should see a layer of carbon or at least some carbon threads and i dont except at the bottom which appears to be the outer sandwich. And it seems there is no way that the "foam" in that picture is 1/8 thick.
So maybe i just took of the paint?

If you see foam, you went through all the glass & carbon.  Since it's so small, you might not see any individual carbon threads, but the gray in the foam is probably carbon dust.  I have lots of ding guys around me--and I do all repairs myself.  Not that hard just to do as TD says.  Or, get a good sticker/puka patch and go paddle.  I usually cover most of my small dings with stickers until I have a few things I need to fix and then get them all done at once.
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toolate

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2019, 11:21:18 PM »
what is everyones fav sticker /patch

toolate

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Re: gel coat repair
« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2019, 11:26:57 PM »
It looks like the ding goes through the outer carbon layer and through the 1'8" ultra high density foam layer to the inner carbon layer below that. The foam may be thinner than 1/8" in some spots.

Here is what you're looking at. Just insert carbon where it says fiberglass.

http://jimmylewis.com/board-construction/

Thanks! Thing is, i should see a layer of carbon or at least some carbon threads and i dont except at the bottom which appears to be the outer sandwich. And it seems there is no way that the "foam" in that picture is 1/8 thick.
So maybe i just took of the paint?

If you see foam, you went through all the glass & carbon.  Since it's so small, you might not see any individual carbon threads, but the gray in the foam is probably carbon dust.  I have lots of ding guys around me--and I do all repairs myself.  Not that hard just to do as TD says.  Or, get a good sticker/puka patch and go paddle.  I usually cover most of my small dings with stickers until I have a few things I need to fix and then get them all done at once.

well that is just it. i dont really know i do see foam. Seems to me if i went through carbon and foam i should see some water. Or be able to suck some air or water out with my mouth which i cant.
Or at least I dont think i can because that test never really works for me somehow....

 


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