Reshaping a broken board

[Ajeff37]

Hey,

So last year I snapped the tail off my board (dodgy repair done before I bought it and knew what to look for in a board). Originally it was a 7'2 x 21 1/4" x 2 3/4" Bonga Funshape. Rather than having it rot in the shed, I'm thinking about sealing it up and turning it into a round/fat squash tail beater board for small days. I was wondering if it is possible to salvage the leash plug or if I'll have to buy a new one.

Also can anyone recommend the correct resin to go with epoxy because all I've found from bunnings is this: http://www.bunnings.com.au/diggers-250g ... n_p1565562 which I'm assuming is PU and will eat the epoxy.

Don't have any pictures of the bottom but it was a clean snap on the bottom, little bit of the top is fractured but that'll be simple enough to fix.
Any tips or advice regarding fin set up or shape would also be sweet.

[jaffa1949]

The reshaping will involve repositioning the side fins and the centre fin a swell as the leash plug, so fin plugs as well needed.
You might notice too there is no stringer, all the structural integrity is based on the fibreglass and the build sheeting, so reshaping the tail with with the EPS foam is problematic unless you just glass it as a square tail.

The epoxy resins I don't know where you can get that in quantity.

Is it worth repairing ? IMO borderline

You are right about the Diggers Resin dissolving your board, specific Epoxy is needed and you have to be precise in in your mixing and your curing times are different, you cannot make a hot mix to speed things up!

I believing recycling but I think some thing do have a final end point.

[Ajeff37]

If it's my only option then I'm happy to glass it as a square tail. I'm willing to give it a shot just to see what it comes out the other end like.
I found this on ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aerosil-1-Lt ... WSOoRcqKMA
Has a lot of other types of epoxy resins as well and appears to be reputable from his rating. Would you know the specific epoxy type/blend/make up I need or will any epoxide resin work?

[waikikikichan]

If you're going thru the trouble to re-shape, re-glass, put on a leash plug ( and maybe re-position the fins ), it'll be much easier to glass back on the broken tail.
Shove some chop sticks or bamboo skewers in the foam. Glue up both sides with Gorilla glue and press together. After sand down the expanded glue ( it expands a lot ! So use sparingly ). Then sand and re-glass properly.

[Ajeff37]

Yer it's probably worth a shot. I was told it would be too weak though. Would the skewers, glue and 2 sheets of 6oz on the top and one on the bottom be strong enough to withstand the force of the leg rope? and how far into each piece would I need to glass?

[oldenglish]

Gorilla glue. I like it!

I like research resin epoxy. Lots of sources for it online. I would figure out how you want to shape it and pick a basic well rounded fin for the job and just glass it on. I think it takes special tools to place fin boxes correctly. A leash plug is cheap and easy. Just buy one from wherever you buy your resin. I've met a couple of people that did this with their broken longboards, results varied from having a fun rideable board to having a dog.

[waikikikichan]

Yer it's probably worth a shot. I was told it would be too weak though.

How many molded epoxy boards has that person put back together ?

2 sheets of 6oz on the top and one on the bottom be strong enough to withstand the force of the leg rope?

I would put a smaller patch cloth under the layer of cloth on the bottom also. Usually boards snap from the lip of the wave. I havent seen many board snapped because of the leash. Leash plugs pulled out, yes.

how far into each piece would I need to glass?

What's important is you don't make a straight line across the deck and bottom with the cloth.

[waikikikichan]

Can you take a photo of the top of the tail piece? Is the leash and leash rope still attached as how it was when it broke ?

[Ajeff37]

I have no idea, was one of the repair guys from a local shop. Yer the lip's what did the damage last time.
So a 30 - 45 degree angle on the cloth? and should I change directions for either cloth on each side or just have the top and bottom in different directions?
The pieces are up at my mums house at the moment so I can't get a picture just yet. I took the leash out to use with a different board. Everything on the piece is fine though except for that little crack you can see on the bottom.

[waikikikichan]

what i meant by not having a straight line is to cut the cloth in a pattern like a diamond or scallop. If you look on those nice tinted longboards, you can see a "diamond" deck patch for knee paddling. A lot of times you can see these beautiful reverse swallow tail layer of glass on 3/4 deck glassing. That's to disperse the energy.