# Using epoxy in base repair



## procrystalation (Feb 20, 2013)

So it's been said that it's a good idea to seal a core shot with some marine epoxy before p-texing. I realize that this probably means a little dab of the stuff, but the epoxy was pretty thick so it was difficult to lay it on thin (I was using a toothpick and everything). I decided to not worry about it... so now that it's all been said and done and cured, my core shots all look like this:



















Now my question is - what now? 

I haven't really left much room for p-tex.  Should I sand it down? Leave it? Ptex it anyway?

Also, the nose/tail of my board are pretty banged up, looks like this:










Should I paint some epoxy on there to seal that too? 

Thanks!


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## ridinbend (Aug 2, 2012)

The p tex will not stick to the epoxy. Sand the base repair flush or get a stone grind. Any DIY splitboard has multiple epoxy spots on the base. It will have little effect on the board. If you don't want to epoxy those exposed areas, wood varnish like spar urethane will also seal those spots without leaving a hard resin to sand.


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## bseracka (Nov 14, 2011)

The first pic looks like it probably should have been base welded. For future reference when sealing the core with epoxy, you only want to apply it very thinly to the exposed part of the core, then ptex over to fill in the rest of the damage. You don't need, or want to fill in the entire damaged area with epoxy.


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## procrystalation (Feb 20, 2013)

ridinbend said:


> The p tex will not stick to the epoxy. Sand the base repair flush or get a stone grind. Any DIY splitboard has multiple epoxy spots on the base. It will have little effect on the board. If you don't want to epoxy those exposed areas, wood varnish like spar urethane will also seal those spots without leaving a hard resin to sand.


Yep I'm definitely gonna sand it flush and then wax... no money for a stone grind haha. My question is, what's the effect of the epoxy then? So I gather that it seals off the wood core. So why don't people just fill their core shots with epoxy rather than ptex? Just wondering what the difference will be when I ride.


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## bseracka (Nov 14, 2011)

the epoxy is to protect/seal the core from moisture. Marine epoxy is best as it has some flexibility to it. Epoxy doesn't allow for wax penetration. Ptex has added flexibility, is a similar material to the base and allows wax penetration.


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## ETM (Aug 11, 2009)

Epoxy is slow. If you find it too annoying chip it out with a chisel and fill with ptex.


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## procrystalation (Feb 20, 2013)

I did use marine epoxy. And yeah, next time I do it I'll make sure to lay it on thin.

Okay, I might do the chisel thing on some of the bigger ones but a lot of the gouges are tiny so I'll just leave it and it shouldn't make too much a difference except for speed, eh? The base is pretty dead already, it's scratched to death so speed is already out of the question anyway.

While we're talking, how deep does a gouge usually have to be before you'll take the effort to ptex it?


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

procrystalation said:


> While we're talking, how deep does a gouge usually have to be before you'll take the effort to ptex it?


For me that would depend on how new the board is,the size of the gouge, angle of the gouge, but most likely it would need to be a core shot for me to really care. Or if I got a big gouge going side to side I might be more inclined to fix it, if it was going tip to tail direction I'd be a little less concerned. I would also just do a base grind if the board were 2 or 3 years old to get out the non core shot ones.


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## procrystalation (Feb 20, 2013)

freshy said:


> For me that would depend on how new the board is,the size of the gouge, angle of the gouge, but most likely it would need to be a core shot for me to really care. Or if I got a big gouge going side to side I might be more inclined to fix it, if it was going tip to tail direction I'd be a little less concerned. I would also just do a base grind if the board were 2 or 3 years old to get out the non core shot ones.


Sounds reasonable haha. And to add, how deep does the gouge HAVE to be for the ptex to hold?


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## ridinbend (Aug 2, 2012)

procrystalation said:


> Sounds reasonable haha. And to add, how deep does the gouge HAVE to be for the ptex to hold?


Pretty much anything that wax won't fill can be filled with ptex. I've never actually filled a ding with epoxy, I always just use ptex. For a solid hole/core exposure I would use epoxy then. I did hit rock hard enough to break through the top sheet once, and that was a gaper of a hole but I paid to have a shop fix it. They filled it with epoxy. Tons of YouTube videos of proper ways to do base repair with epoxy.


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