Epoxy repair supplies in UK?

[Dubber Lang]

Hi all... Apologies if this is a repost, but a brief search showed up nothing, so 'ere goes..

I've a couple of chips on my mission board, 7'6" epoxy with expanded polystyrene core, and I wanna fix them.
I've used fiberglass before (just halfords stuff on my car) with good results, but i wasn't sure where to get the stuff, or if there's anything i should avoid using?
i know MSW sell stuff like this-

http://store.magicseaweed.com/Big-Swell-Epoxy-Repair-Kit/Item/1346/

but i don't need all of that, just Epoxy, hardener, matting, and filler.

is it still best to use magicseaweed? It's just i get the impression that once you know what you're doing, you start thinking maybe they're a bit of a ripoff. like halfords :p

any better options? Cheers, Simon

[jt111]

If your just doing the one repair, and are unlikely to do any others in the future then the MSW kit is probably reasonable value. If you bought the resin, hardener, glass matt and filler seperately you would probably be closer to £30. Thing is you would get 4x as much resin, way more matt and loads of filler, so per repair it would be way cheaper, but that assumes you keep needing to use it!

A comparible pack would be the West Systems Mini Pack, it contains similar items as the MSW kit, but around double the quantity of materials, if you search you can find it from around £10 to £15. You would still need to buy glass matt on top though, approx a £5er. This would give you a lot more materials for the money. Delivery on items like this can be quite expensive though due to the resin and hardener.

I've used East Coast Fiberglass Suplies a few times and their pricing is pretty good and quick delivery, west systems mini pack in link below, bear in mind thats exluding vat. http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/c ... fault.aspx

Other places such as http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/ or even http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-West ... 364830.htm

One of the best places to get this kind of stuff from in person is a local yacht chandlers, most will stock epoxy resin systems, fillers and fabric. They will most probably be slightly more expensive than buying online, but you don't have to pay delivery if you go in person.

Hope this helps, doesn't look like theres an easy answer unfortunatley!!!

[Dubber Lang]

No, that's brilliant, thanks! i've a small chip (about the size of a 5p piece) on the tail of my board, and the water from that has caused the centre fin plugs to crack around the edges (they've only recently been fitted in a previous repair)
Think i'll try for one of those west systems packs then what sort of weight mat should i get?
apologies again if this is standard stuff... Simon

[jt111]

I've used 124g plain weave cloth for my repairs and seems to do the job well. I think most boards use 4oz cloth (with some 6oz in some areas) which is 113grams, so anything there or there abouts weight wise should be fine i'd have thought.

[Dubber Lang]

Fantastic mate, cheers!

[unsunghero]

Hi,

Just a word of warning on WEST epoxy. The 205 hardener, and even the 207 special coating hardener, are NOT UV resistant and therefore not designed for surfboards. If left in direct sunlight, not only does it discolour, but it degrades surprisingly quickly.

I am a shaper/repairer, and if you have a local board repairer near you, I am sure they will "sell" you a small quantity.

Good luck

[jt111]

Well you learn something new everyday, thanks unsunghero. I know epoxy isn't very UV resistant, didn't realise different brands would be better/worse in sunlight. Obv if the board is painted then it doesn't matter as it will act as a uv shield. Out of interest, how long before it will discolour if kept in a boardbag and used a few times a month, compared with the resins you would use?? Any chance of a link to a manufacturer of Epoxy resin that you would recommend?

[esonscar]

Whhhoa there ^ - with no looking up stuff, my gut $00.02c is - paint might not be a UV barrier - like glass is not a barrier to light !

Now go google to make sure !

[jt111]

Well glass is translucent so is of course not a barrier to visible light (without going into avenues such as filters and polarisation etc.). Spending 5mins on google doesn't really provide any clear cut answer... My understanding is that paint (being opaque) provides a physical barrier to visible light penetration, now UV may be able to penetrate a material to a certain extent, but i would have thought not enough to affect the substrate (ie the epoxy). This doesn't mean that the UV won't have affected the paint itself, which is essentially a sacrificial coating. My understanding of UV resistant paint is that the paint itself will remain stable under exposure to UV light and not fade, peel, degrade etc... Varnish on the other hand needs to have UV resistance or else the substrate will get affected, I assume because its translucent in the same way that you want polarised sunglasses.

Who knows, i may be barking up the completely wrong tree but that is my understanding. Feel free to correct me!

[unsunghero]

Hey,

Don't forget we are not dealing with visible light but UV. There are lots of clear varnishes that incorporate UV "absorbers" which work fine. This is what WEST would recommend.

Don't get me wrong about WEST epoxy, it isn't designed for boards, but it will more than do the job. What I said earlier was more of a warning about leaving the board out in the sun all the time. If you do a decent repair with WEST, cover it in a Two-Part Polyurethane Varnish (with UV inhibitors) and store it is a boardbag, then the repair will last as long as the board.

However, a WEST repair left out in the sun will start to crumble (literally in your fingers) after about 9 months. It is actually designed as an adhesive, but works fine (not as good as other brands) as a laminating resin as well, thus why it is so popular.

BTW The magicseaweed pot of epoxy repair works fine, just as long as you don't have too many dings to repair.

[jt111]

Interesting stuff, thanks for the info. Good to know that with proper treatment a West repair will be fine, had me worried for a minute that it might have degraded within a few days exposure! As with a lot of materials in many applications UV is the un-seen affect that can turn perfectly useable items into shabby faded poor performing products. What next, board suncream!