After a reecent overseas trip the bag snatchers at the airport decided to give my double board bag the 'crash test' The result was a crack in the tail of one of my wave boards.
Not through to the core (or even the wood laminate) but ugly none the less I sanded back the area and hit it with a dob of epoxy resin (one of the suncure varities where there is no mixing required) All though clear the fill job is A class EXCEPT for the fact the epoxy wont set ! As it was a coolish day when I did the repair I thought this may have effected the setting process. I rigged up a heat lamp but this made no difference The next day I left the board in the direct sunlight... still not set... I then re-rigged the heat lamp for an hour or so and then hit it with the hair drier on HOT
Still not set !
Loathe to dig out the goo (as the repair work is pretty slick - no pun intended) I am thinking about using some of the hardener from a 5 minute areldite mixture to try and set the epoxy mixture off
Any suggestions as to whether this would work or am i better off scrapping it out and going again with straight areldite mixture ?
I think you may have no choice but to dig goo out, clean and start again. If you added any hardener to current situation it would likely just harden outside and inside would stay gooey - as the hardener needs to be mixed through thoroughly. Selleys aqua Knead It is one of the best for quick fix - just cut and knead only takes 20 mins. or so to go rock hard- will suffice till you can get fixed properly.
Kremlin Big Gaz is right, use the product he recommended, I have used this to fix a few bashes and dents, sets well and doesn’t crack when re hit. good stuff.
In my mates words "sets like bloody concrete mate"!! (with a heavy European accent)
Agree with previous posts. + the 5min hardner probably won't work with suncure resin anyway. you'd want to do a teast first to make sure what happens. The hardest thing is getting rid of the old stuff, you have to be extremelly carefull about solvents, as most of them will melt your core if they get in contact. bets to use sandpaper to make sure you're down to a fresh surface. Any unset resin there will mean NO bond!
A big fan of aqua knead for travel repairs (when on location) but prefer something a little cleaner/stronger/asthetic when back home
The suncure epoxy is an over the counter epoxy repair kit from OceanEarth. Not sure if its simply a bad batch but I wont be buying it again... and dont like my chances of a response from them or a refund from place of purchase
Back to the job at hand... will areldite bond better to epoxy than the aqua knead ?
And if so... will a coating of white jelcoat stick too the areldite ?
Kremlin, I have sun-cure and found it ideal for on the spot repairs. Goes nice and hard and is sandable when you get home. Looks like you were unlucky.
A few hours in direct sunlight and it went off... i.e. it finally set Can only put it down to cool air (maybe a lot of moisture in the air) and limited UV rays (cloudy/overcast)
The epoxy was still a little tacky to touch but as soon as I hit it with some sand paper the tack was gone and it was rock hard below. Very happy with the repair... it's come up a treat !
Now I just need to get some white jelcoat or paint to match and it will be sweet
Any suggestions on paint that will stick ? Would prefer a spray pack so i can fade the edges and then cut back with a 1500 wet and dry
Sounds like you're trouble was lack of UV as you say, don't think it's a heat thing, it needs the nacked sun, unless you have a stromg UV lamp.
Don't use gelcoat, it's probably polyester and it doesn't like going over the top of epoxy that's not completlly cured (about a month after mixing). Think most automotive type spray packs will stick.
