I'm after some resin to do some minor repairs and re-base some fins. Any recommendations of decent resin available in small quantities would be great. Also after some microballoons, again, small quantity, cheers.

I'm in Windsor - so preferably not too far away.

I saw a fiberglass repair kit in Bunnings the other day near the silicone and liquid nails, was fairly cheap too

TSmith said..
I saw a fiberglass repair kit in Bunnings the other day near the silicone and liquid nails, was fairly cheap too

I don't think you get it, he doesn't want to venture out past the 5km radius. Thanks for the tip re: bunnings need to do one myself.

Cheers all. Was at Port Melb Bunnings the other day and they had no fibreglass repair kits there, just araldite and then some more industrial type epoxy-based filler. Will try some of the local board builders.

How much repairing you doing? I use araldite for minor dings and use anything handy for filler. Sanding or filing off some foam dust works, as does flour, sawdust, whatever. For black colouring add some carbon from burned matches.

bought my kit from bunnings $22 upon aforementioned advice, to strengthen a wobbly fin. Fibreglass matting is pretty thick, probably designed for boats but there's plenty of it, now at least my fins are rock solid! Now for the sanding part...


b

djdojo said..
^^^ Which Bunnings? And is it epoxy or polyester?

Mentone, its the resin for old style fibreglass PU surfboards, instructions specifically say "not for epoxy surfboards". I didn't see epoxy repair kits but then I didn't look all that hard (got to get out of there before I buy something else I don't need).

Try the surfing section, or (god forbid) the windsurfing section on seabreeze as they all want to share their board repair war stories.

There seem to be a few epoxy repair kits for surfboards online, you can even get solarez for Epoxy boards. Whatever you do dont use polyester resin, good luck.

Epoxy in tube form grey in colour. Knead mix together. Fixes poly and epoxy boards. At Bunnings. Don't use poly mix on epoxy board it doesn't work. Enjoy

Hope this advice is not too late - I'm new to making comments on Seabreeze but thought I might be able to help.

For reinforcing fins like that on an epoxy board, you could use polyester resin. As long as the resin is not touching any EPS foam, you'll be OK. Poly resin is way cheaper. I have built a few boards and in the "old days" we would glass in fins. These days I just use fin boxes - way easier - but that's when making a new board so not relevant here anyway.

I wouldn't used chopped glass mat like you have, its too bulky. You should have used some glass cloth, both 4 and 6 oz in a few layers to get a smoother finish with less sanding. What you have done will be quite strong, but unless you sand a real lot off, like 95% of it, your fins will be too thick at the base and create too much drag.

And finally the question about a slot in the glass to seat the fins in - no they just sit on top of the glass.