Epoxy ding repair?

Question

i have an oxbow sup that recently met up with some rocks. the dings weren't that bad but they were far from watertight. there was a 3 inch crack in the rail along the nose and a small ding underneath it. i bought some epoxy putty (one of those kind that you knead to mix the ingredients and can mold like clay) and did a good repair on it, sanding it perfectly smooth to the point where the only change from board to repair was the texture. the main body of the repair was water tight but there were some small hairline cracks along the edge of the repair that were not, and were too small to get the putty into. i fixed these with some super glue to make the repair water tight. will this hold or should i cut out the repair and give it another try?

Answer 1

Epoxy is epoxy, you just pay more for it if it comes in a "surf" related kit. Just read the label contents. I have seen Oxbow boards for sale at 'Wet Suit World', but I don't know much about their construction. I think they are built on conventional PU foam blanks with a fiberglass wrap. If that's the case, the cracks probably aren't leaking water, but I would not worry too much about it unless it starts to discolor. The problem with epoxy is that you can't pinch it (too stiff) and see if  any water comes out of those cracks. Just as tip, before you patch any dings like that in the future, make a nice even cut out around the ding. That would have eliminated those cracks, and it gives you a neater (easier to hide) border of the repair.

Answer 2

Personally, I don't use the putty. Get an epoxy ding repair kit. It comes with the epoxy and hardener, sandpaper, mixing cup and cover sheet. The directions are easy to follow if you don't know what you're doing. This way, you glass over those hairline fractures and have piece of mind, instead of a rotten core a year later.