So I dinged my base over a rock and now it is extruding out a bit. The edge seems to be ok but does anybody have advise as to what I could do to sort the affected base area out to stop water getting in? Cheers
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razors-chazOnce the base gets pulled away from the rest of the ski and deformed like that it’s difficult to get it back together.
You’re best bet is to carefully cut away the bit that’s separated from the rest of the ski. Then you want to get some 2 part epoxy, (p-tex candle doesn’t bond to the edge well and will pull out easily), mix it up, fill the void and then clamp down a metal scraper/piece of sheet metal over the epoxy. Try not to use too much as you will just have to sand it off. This will give you a flat piece of epoxy and puts pressure on it, helping it bond to the rest of the ski. Once it’s fully cured, use some wet, fine grit sandpaper and sand off any excess epoxy until you have a flat base again.
It’s not going to be particularly pretty but it’s going to do the best job in sealing the ski and holding.
Julius_SteezerThanks for the detailed reply, that’s really helpful. For the epoxy are there any particular brands / types of epoxy I should look for or should any epoxy work fine? And will the epoxy work fine when it comes to waxing the skis? Sorry for all the questions, I haven’t epoxied a ski before so just want to be 100% sure so I don’t wreck my whips
razors-chazOnce the base gets pulled away from the rest of the ski and deformed like that it’s difficult to get it back together.
You’re best bet is to carefully cut away the bit that’s separated from the rest of the ski. Then you want to get some 2 part epoxy, (p-tex candle doesn’t bond to the edge well and will pull out easily), mix it up, fill the void and then clamp down a metal scraper/piece of sheet metal over the epoxy. Try not to use too much as you will just have to sand it off. This will give you a flat piece of epoxy and puts pressure on it, helping it bond to the rest of the ski. Once it’s fully cured, use some wet, fine grit sandpaper and sand off any excess epoxy until you have a flat base again.
It’s not going to be particularly pretty but it’s going to do the best job in sealing the ski and holding.
runforlove2018What about metal grip? Versus using epoxy
razors-chazYou’re based in the UK right? It doesn’t need to be specialist. Go to your local B&Q and in the adhesives section they should have an epoxy bit. Dont cheap out but you don’t need to go for something overpriced. Don’t go for a super fast setting one though. Having some working time is useful and the slower the cure the stronger the bond. I’ve used loctite epoxy before but they’ve moved to a self mixing tube thing and I prefer mixing it up and applying it myself. You should be able to get most of the other bits you need at B&Q too.
Julius_SteezerYeah I’m in the U.K. so that sounds good, thanks dude. I’m assuming epoxy won’t hold wax, is it worth putting small marks in the epoxy once it’s cured and ptexing it or is that an overkill given the size of the affected area?
razors-chazYes, sorry I meant to say, epoxy won't hold wax but for a small fix like this its not a worry, you're not going to notice any difference to your speed.
For a big fix it would be worth looking at epoxying/metal gripping in a p-tex patch, you can buy these from decent ski shops like The Piste Office, but in this case it's not worth it.