Step 1 - (Analyse the damage)
Let’s see how bad it is. Often enough damages to a surfboard look worse than they really are. Normal pressure dings do not matter at all.
The Hydroflex blank does not suck any water, so you do not have to care about tiny white pressure cracks. Check the ding once in a while – only if it gets bigger you need to do something about it. Check out the rail damage shown on the pic - this one should definitely be repaired. Click on the pic to enlarge.
Before getting to it, you should keep several things in mind: how big is the damaged area? What do I need to repair it? Do I have everything I need?
This is what you need:
* Repair kit
* Measuring Cup, scale if necessary
* Instructions
* gloves, goggles
* cup for mixing, something to stir
* sandpaper and wheel stand, rasp
* fibreglass cloth, scissors, fibres to fill up holes
* tape
Make sure your time window is big enough. Once you mixed the resin, the clock is ticking and you can’t stop the hardening process. According to the resin system, you have about 30 minutes to get the job done. Please check the resin system’s hardening time, to make sure you are ready before the resin has completely hardened.
Step 2 (Clean and dry the damaged area)
Clean and rid of the wax in and around the dinged area on both sides of the board. You want to make sure that the tape sticks to the board. Resin and tape do not stick to wax!
The area has to be dry before repairing.
Step 3 (Sanding/Polishing):
Sand all loose laminate with sandpaper (120 granulation) down to the foam. You want to use a block/wheel stand for this.
If possible, try to spare the foam, so the rail outline is preserved.
This is how the area should look like after sanding. The loose laminate was sanded down all the way to the foam. Most pressure dings have also been removed (milky areas) as far as possible. This prevents the area from looking milky after the repairing job.
Step 4 - (Cut the fibre):
Cut the fibreglass cloth: Once the resin is spread onto the damaged area you need it right away. You will need two identical pieces.
Step 5 - (Mix the resin):
When mixing the resin components, you should stick exactly to the
indicated mixing ratio. The tiniest variance will have the effect
that the resin does not get hard at all.
After adding resin and hardener to the cup, mix it up with a spatula. Do
not mix it to fast in order to get rid of all the air bubbles.
Do not mix it up too strongly either, otherwise resin bubbles may soar up just
like soap bubbles. Make sure you do not inhale these bubbles. Protect
your eyes!
Do not use too much resin! Big leftovers, more than 50 ml, can get really
hot due to exothermic reactions. Fire hazard! Remedy: Spread
the leftovers out over a large area on fire proof ground.
Do this in room temperature, if possible.
Please notice: the higher the room temperature, the shorter the
hardening period. The colder the room temperature, the longer the resin
takes to harden.
Hydroflex Technology Surfboards may be repaired with any Epoxy Repair
Kit available on the market.
Never use polyester for your Hydroflex Technology Surfboards! The used
thinner can damage the foam tremendously!
Almost all Epoxy Repair Kits change color to yellow, which looks terrible. Make sure it’s a good Epoxy System before buying it.
Step 6 (Spread the resin onto the ding):
The easiest way to do this is using gloves and your fingers. Make sure
no hollow areas are left.
When filling in big holes, you should add little fibres to the resin. Add
fibres until it gets rather thick, so that the resin does not drop
out of the hole.
Step 7 (Apply fibreglas pieces):
When you have spread out enough resin, apply the cut fibreglas pieces.
Step 8 (tape the area):
To make sure the fibre covers the rails closely so that the outline of
the board is not changed, tape the area with paper tape. Do not use
PVC-Tape or Scotch tape, this sticks to the resin.
Make sure the tape covers the fibre really tight. This makes sure that
the rail outline is preserved and not much sanding is necessary later.
This is how the taped area should look afterwards.
Step 9 (hardening time):
Allow the area to harden for 12 hours. After that you may continue.
Step 10 (Get rid of the tape):
Step 11 (Sand the area):
Step 12 (if necessary, repeat steps 2-11 on the deck):
As you can see, the damage did not only affect the rail but the deck also. In this case steps 2-11 should be executed on the deck as well. Both repair areas may overlap, but that’s ok and the way you actually want it. So don’t worry and feel free to put the fibre on the repair area you worked on the day before. You get 4 layers and gain more stability.
Step 13 (get rid of entrapped air):
Step 14 (Sanding):
Both sides should be sanded again.
The weel stand should be moved with a big curve radius to get best results.
Depending on the damage and the boards deformation, irregularities may still appear within the rail line. You get rid of these in step 16.
Step 15 (Mix resin with filler)
Fibres with resin are spread onto the repaired area to eliminate last irregularities. Please mix the resin as described in step 5. Add the little fibre pieces slowly until it gets pasty and can be piled on.
Step 16 (Spread the resin onto the repaired area):
All irregularities can now be eliminated with the pasty resin mix. You want to make the resin layer thick - that enables you to sand and shape the board easier after hardening.
Step 17 (hardening time):
As described in step 9, allow the area 12 hours to harden.
Step 18 (Finish):
Sand the area until there is no difference to the rest of the board.
