Back in Action!

I smashed the nose of my board on the second outing, so I glassed it up. It’s not pretty, but it’s water tight.

First I hung it upside down for a week, but it was still damp, so when it got real cold I fired up the woodstove, brought it in and dried it good, for 48 hours.



Then, one 50oF morning, I took it back to the shed and sanded it (80 grit) until all the pink was gone. After sanding, I wiped it thoroughly with acetone for good bonding with the epoxy. This is a very important step.





I cut up several pieces of fiberglass tape, brushed on some epoxy with “fast” hardener. Laid the glass pieces and brushed more epoxy on top of them. I used the fast because that’s what I had at the time and it was 50oF, so it was actually pretty slow.

I thought I could just rely on the wet epoxy and glass to keep the gaping hole in the nose closed, but I was wrong. I figured this out after wetting everything and laying the first glass. So, I pre-drilled right through the repair area and then drove a drywall screw through the board. Then I continued glassing around the screw. It worked like a charm.

The first layer, with the screw still in.


After the first layer of glass hardened, I removed the screw and sanded the heck out of it, which opened some of the original damage. So, I wiped it down and laid more glass. After the second layer of glass I hand-sanded the burs and voila! I went windsurfing.

If I get around to it, I can clean the area with soap and water, sand some more and then wipe with acetone and apply Colloidial Silica to the West System epoxy and fill any low spots. Then, I can sand and repeat until I achieve a desired shape. After that she can get paint.

I could give the board a whole new look, or I could go windsurfing, like we did today and it was great! Besides if I invest a ton of effort to make it look beautiful and then re-bash the nose with another catapult, I’d cry like a baby.

James taking her for a spin.


Macky Launching.