Chunk glued in place

This repair might be strong enough already. The chunk is butt glued in place with West System epoxy. We did more anyway.

Ground out joint

We decided the butt joint was insufficient and ground out an area to accept some glass and epoxy on each side of the blade

Ready for filler

The groove is cut and ready for filler

Another shot

just showing it again

Glass and epoxy in groove

I chopped up some glass with scizzors and floated the epoxy and chopped glass into the prepared groove

Another view of the puttied joint

just another look

Sanded joint

I probably sanded this with 60 grit on a dual action sander

busted ctb tip

ground ctb tip

I think this is the Laser CTB. The tip is ground with a 16 grit disc

Wax paper, cardboard and clamp

The key is to hold the cardboard and wax paper in the same plane as the other side of the board. It is a good idea to grind the wax paper residue off after the epoxy hardens....and before applying glass to the other side

Glass and epoxy over "mold"

When this epoxy repair dries I will flip the blade, grind it to make it rough and then make the same glass mess on the other side.

Plan to drip and protect your floor. It is lots easier to spread newspaper than clean epoxy off your floor.

More glass and epoxy

This is the glass on the second side

Another glass view

Notice how much extra is put on. It is easy to grind it away and it sets up better when it has some thickness to hold in the reaction heat.

Marine Tex as fairing

It is likely this entire repair could have been made with Marine Tex and been adequate. I think Marine Tex is stronger than the original blade itself. But...I like glass and used glass and West System to make the inside structure and the Marine Tex as the fairing compound.

Note: polyester fairing will NOT adhere to West Epoxy.

Slathered on Marine Tex

It simply has to be thick enough to sand it down to the correct shape. I would rather slather it on way too thick than do the fairing twice. The key to thick application is special care to work out every tiny bubble.

Nearly shaped

Make it look like you think it should look and ...at least YOU will think it looks fine

More shaping

almost

Painted

You can see the spray can. The stuff is at least as good as the original coating the factory uses

Sunfish or Laser

One or the other ...It is ground for glass application

Tip ground for application of glass repair

I probably used a 16 grit disc. I like deep grooves for better adhesion. I think this is a Sunfish blade

Sunfish blade shaped

same process

Same paint does it

Sure, coating with VC Performance Epoxy is better but the material is expensive and the project is labor intensive

Chipped trailing edge

Another chipped trailing edge

Ground trailing edge

Another ground trailing edge

Another ground chip

Another one

One more

Tape, wax, paper and some already installed

I already put tape and paper on the blade . The wax paper and tape is for another chip

Tape with wax paper

The key to this method is to stretch the tape across the gap...but not wrinkle the tape. If the tape can sag...it can't do its job.

Beware of attempting large jobs with this system, if the glue warms up it drops the tape and ruins the job

I usually use the cardboard system but I felt like showing alternative ways

just another view

OK I should have shown at least one shot from the taped side...but no such hindsight was available that day

A little glass

Glassed on bottom

prepped on top

Glassed on bottom again

prepped on top

Ready for second layer

Trailing edge glassed over cardboard

Second side glassed

Sanded a bit

If you are careful NOT to sand the paint off...you can do a better job of fairing the blade. Mine is always the same montra....

Press lightly and use new paper.

Partially sanded

I screwed up a bit and sanded a halo through the white paint. That brown area just outside the repair is a low area on the blade and I will need to spray multiple layers of paint to sand and repaint and sand to fix my screw up.

There go a few more hours and maybe another week before the blade is right again.

Another trailing edge chip repair

This board has a gray primer as somebody once refinished it...it is probably Interlux 2000 epoxy with VC Performance Epoxy over it. Anyway, the gray area is a low spot and will be a pain in the butt to fair.

Faired repair

Another faired repair

Squirted paint on trailing edge chip

This is not the blade with the broken tip. In fact, the tip is chipped and could use a repair...but I was doing a bunch of major work for buddies ..This blade showed up with a missing chunk above the tip.. it was fixed for free... .no whining was allowed.