Broken Board

B

billmcinnis

Member
I broke off the bottom four inches of my board, right about where the metal rods end. I bought a new one but I’d like to fix the broken one. If anyone has repaired one, I’d appreciate any info on how they went about it and how it worked out.

Bill McInnis
 
We have broken several. In each case we saved the broken tip and used threaded rod to put it back on with epoxy. Obviously there was a little finishing work after that.
 
I have repaired 5 broken tip plastic boards like yours. Here is one way to do it. Borrow an undamaged board. Cover the tip with smooth plastic wrap taped tightly to the bottom 6" of the "good" board. Coat the tip with unthickened epoxy resin (WEST or MAS) and cover with a piece of fiberglass cloth. Add more resin and let cure. When cured, untape the plastic wrap and remove carefully so the plastic wrap stays attached to the new mold. You now have a half mold of the tip.

Drill pilot holes up in the damaged part and epoxy in 3 or 4 stainless steel screws at odd angles. Let cure and gently cut off the screw heads with a hacksaw or Dremel tool. These screws now serve as "rebar" for the repair.

Clamp your half mold to the damaged tip with new ss rebar and overfil the half mold with epoxy resin thicked to about peanut butter consistency. Let cure and remove the mold and discard the mold. You now have one side finished. Sand the rough side match the "good" side. Sand both sides to shape and smooth fijish - go to 120 grit. A palm sander works well. Sand the entire board, mask the rubber stops and spray paint with flat white enamel. Wet sand when dry with wet&dry sandpaper down to 320 grit.

Time for the repair is about 2 hrs. Materials are minimal - the can of spray paint is the biggest expense. This repair with the ss screws should be as strong, maybe stronger, than new. The problem with the board design is that the steel rods stop about 2" - 3" from the tip leaving the tip vulnerable to
breakage.

Good luck with the repair.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Bill... I would be curious to hear how this goes for you because we have three boards that need to be repaired (all from one regatta last fall). The tiny lakes in Northern NJ are sometimes not kind to centerboards!

Alan... why do you need to discard the mold? I would think it could be made once and reused for each repair. Also, when you say half mold, is it literally half the profile of the blade? Could a full mold be made, or would it be too difficult to remove?
 
You might away with using the mold more than once if you wax it up with paste wax or coat it with a commercial parting agent to keep the thickened epoxy from sticking to the bare mold. The last time I tried, the epoxy bonded to the mold and I had to sand the mold off. Any suggestions on multiple use of the mold would be appreciated but if you leave the plastic wrap stuck to the mold, it separates cleanly.

Alan Glos
 
The board is done and looks like new.

I like the method, although as always there is a definite learning curve.

If I did it again I think I'd try polyester boatyard resin rather than epoxy for both the mold and the filler. I used MAS epoxy with a medium speed hardener and West 404 high density filler. This took about 5 days before it cured enough so I could properly sand it. I'm not sure, but, I think even the fast cure takes a couple of days.

When I made the mold I put a layer of cloth on my new board then added a couple of strips of mat to stiffen it a bit. The next time I'd cover the whole top of the mold (over the cloth) with about 3 layers of mat and stick on a couple of 3/4" x 3/4" strips of wood length-wise to stiffen it.

Derek - Regarding your question on multiple uses, if you made the mold rigid, as above, I don't see why you couldn't get multiple uses out of it. Also, I think you will always have a fair amount of sanding and fairing to do. The main advantages of the mold are that it gives you a way of supporting the filler as it cures and it defines the basic shape which makes the sanding relatively easy.

Alan - It was a good tip and, as I said, the board's as good as new.

Bill McInnis
 
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