Minor repairs to carbon wing

[dave1986]

A few of us tried to find an easy reliable answer to minor foil wing repairs,
Tried epoxy putty and it was poor at sticking,
Then we found this JB epoxy filler,
It dries grey, so has to be touched up, but after a while that gets to be tiresome, so I leave mine or if very small then use a black marker pen,
The good thing about this one is it bonds so well, and sands easily with wet and dry paper.
Also I finish the area with my small powered palm buffer using a few dabs of resin polish or T Cut black, which works great,
Resulting in a durable repair.
Palm buffer was £12 new off EBay.

Does this repair method (using JB epoxy filler) work on the sharp trailing edge of a wing? I have a Moses 550 front wing with a chip in the trailing edge (about 5mm by 3mm deep).

[dave1986]

Any tips and tricks to keep my brand new Moses 633 in tip-top condition? Presumably most damage is causes by riding in too shallow water?

[Foil]

A few of us tried to find an easy reliable answer to minor foil wing repairs,
Tried epoxy putty and it was poor at sticking,
Then we found this JB epoxy filler,
It dries grey, so has to be touched up, but after a while that gets to be tiresome, so I leave mine or if very small then use a black marker pen,
The good thing about this one is it bonds so well, and sands easily with wet and dry paper.
Also I finish the area with my small powered palm buffer using a few dabs of resin polish or T Cut black, which works great,
Resulting in a durable repair.
Palm buffer was £12 new off EBay.

Does this repair method (using JB epoxy filler) work on the sharp trailing edge of a wing? I have a Moses 550 front wing with a chip in the trailing edge (about 5mm by 3mm deep).

Anytime I have damaged the trailing edge it has only been a minor tiny nick, the JB resin will fill the tiny void if you use clear tape to hold the resin whilst it cures overnight, but as its so very thin its ever so easy to dislodge it whilst fine sanding,
so I gave up trying that,
and do one of 2 things now, simply use a small wood block and 800 wet paper to erase the nick with long straight strokes along the sharp edge at 90 deg then a few long strokes at 30 deg each side to finish off, or-
fill the nick with superglue gel, sprinkle with bicarb of soda leave for a minute or two to harden, (it goes rock hard using this method) then finish with wet paper, if any air holes can be seen, or the gap is still there then repeat until your happy, I have been told by trusted source that the trailing edge is not the worry as long as its not like a serrated knife which will cut your flesh easily, in fact all my sharp edges have been blunted back, which has made absolutely no difference in use, and are much kinder on the skin.

[Foil]

Any tips and tricks to keep my brand new Moses 633 in tip-top condition? Presumably most damage is causes by riding in too shallow water?

tip number one is to have a spare 633 wing with you in the car.
the wing is very easily damaged anytime you hit the bottom, and if there are shells or rocks down there then that damage can look serious, and will certainly need to be fixed before using again if the edge has been split open, keep a small straight edge screwdriver in the car and poke around any damage, don't be afraid to dig in a little to see if the top and bottom skins have been compromised, if they have then the wing needs drying out and repairing, this can take a day or two, even 3 days waiting for the repair stages to cure, but its no problem if you have a spare wing.

major damage I have done in the past was to run hard into a mussel bed tore the top and bottom skins apart and inserted a few bits of mussel shell.
and everyone's nightmare when sailing at Flag beach, wind too light, kite too small, over the reef area, and trying to get going by looping the kite,
failure is met with a horrible grinding noise as the reef is brushed by the wing set.arghhhhhh.

you will damage your 633, but the good thing is you will get quite good at repairs to carbon wings, always carry with you a little box with various grades of wet/dry paper and a little wood block, to do the minor scuffs and scratches you get on a regular basis.

and never leave your board lying on its top (upside down) whilst attaching the wingset to the mast, 4 of us that I know have all done this,
you turn away to pick up a wing screw or talk to someone, and the wind blows over your top heavy rig, the first thing to hit the ground is the wing tip,
which will certainly be damaged if it falls on a hard surface, like a car park.

[dave1986]

Thanks, very useful advice!

Regarding having a spare - that's quite a luxury, but I'd be more tempted to buy a different wing to compliment the 633. I have a used 550 / 325 combo (bought 2nd hand and needs repair). But could possibly be tempted with a 683 or something else!?

[dave1986]

I'm just getting around to repairing/ filling the chip in the trailing edge of my 550 wing (filling with 2 part epoxy).

I whilst repairing the trailing edge I noticed quite a few surface scratches- the type that you can only just feel with your finger nail.

Are surface scratches worth smoothing out? If so what's the best method? I was thinking of using a spray can of automotive clear lacquer over the whole wing which will hopefully fill these tiny scratches, then use a 600/800/1200 grit sandpaper to smooth it off. Thoughts?

[Foil]

use glass finishing compound, its red in colour and is for filling in minor scratches and air bubbles in carbon, drys very quickly, ready for fine 6-800 paper, available online or a car part accessory shop, cheap and easy to use,

600 grit the jagged end bits out and finish with 800.

To bring back to new degrease the area and run cold water over the area,look at the water film left, this will show you what the area will look like when you finish the wing with motorcycle tank gloss lacquer spray, this takes 2 days to dry(cure)
then your left with a new looking wing all ready for a good smooth fast run, until the next crunch.

[Huib]

use glass finishing compound, its red in colour and is for filling in minor scratches and air bubbles in carbon, drys very quickly, ready for fine 6-800 paper, available online or a car part accessory shop, cheap and easy to use,

600 grit the jagged end bits out and finish with 800.

To bring back to new degrease the area and run cold water over the area,look at the water film left, this will show you what the area will look like when you finish the wing with motorcycle tank gloss lacquer spray, this takes 2 days to dry(cure)
then your left with a new looking wing all ready for a good smooth fast run, until the next crunch.

Which glass finishing compound do you use? Most removed fine scratches by polishing instead of filler and gives a high gloss finishing.

[Foil]

Photo shows the 400grm tube which is way too large as you use so little, try to find a tiny tube
Use a stanley knife type blade or a old credit card to spread a very thin coating over the scratches or pinholes.

[Huib]

After filling the scratches with red 3M you paint them black with a waterproof marker?