What I learned from my first SUP repair

[Kip]

I was installing a second handle on my Blackfish, slipped, and punctured the deck through the pad.
I messaged a member here who gave me great advice that I mostly followed.

Here's what I learned:

1. As I was told, take your time. The more methodical you are with sanding, applying epoxy, etc. The better the repair will look.
2. Use proper Epoxy! I was told to do this, but was impatient and cheap, so I used Loctite Marine epoxy. I don't think there's anything wrong with what I used, but it did take me 3 hours to dry & wet sand, which was pain in the ass.
3. Get the air bubbles out. Once I applied some plastic to squegee the excess epoxy and air bubbles out, I rushed the process and ended up with extra bubbles (and epoxy) which I then had to sand out.
4. Practice on something else. I was offered this advice and did it multiple times. I took an old laundry detergent bottle and laid multiple peices of epoxy with cheap 5 min epoxy to get the feel for the materials. So thankful I did this!

Here's what I did (based off of the advice I was given, which I think was spot on)

Removed 3" to 4" of deck pad around the puncture.
Sanded down to through Carbon to the PVC around the hole and tapered out about an inch.
Filled the hole with JB marine weld and let cure.
Laid a small piece of carbon with epoxy.
Laid a larger peice of Carbon with epoxy over that.
Applied plastic wrap and [attempted to] squeegee out the excess epoxy and air bubbles.
Left covered, and let cure.
Sand (I did both dry and wet sanding until I was satisfied).
Clean (didn't bother painting because of location) and apply section of deck pad.

It doesn't look "awesome" but I'm sure it will do the trick 

Thanks to all of you awesome folks for being so helpful!

Hope this helps someone too.

[Kip]

A few more images

[surfcowboy]

Merely a flesh wound!  Looks fine man. But yeah, the right stuff is easier. Would have taken 15 min to sand out with surf epoxy.

[Kip]

Merely a flesh wound!  Looks fine man. But yeah, the right stuff is easier. Would have taken 15 min to sand out with surf epoxy.

I’m going to take that 45 min drive and get the proper stuff next time. Although I will say that the unnecessarily long sanding session was somewhat therapeutic 

[PonoBill]

Order online. Most of the stuff you'll buy from a shop isn't the primo stuff. I'm a resin research fan, though others have their preferences. I like Greenroom too but they are hard to buy from.

[Kip]

Thanks, Pono!