^^ I'm hearing all that and think its a great idea - better than popsticks and smearing goop around and so on.
But agree with Hoops you can't call it a repair for everything. An insignificant looking crack on a certain place on a windsurf board means 99% of the way to a total snap. Next session its cactus.
So keep water out of dings that are non structural YES and I love the smoothly blended edges etc it would have. But can't just say it can be sanded and painted like a real repair, nor suggest it for all repairs.

If you're happy with the geometry then cut and simple glass wrap.
Don't go spending too much on fancy materials and complicated processes.
Also don't go using any handyman products and taking short cuts, that's the best way to stuff it up !

I received the product, tried it out but unfortunately it didn't work for me. As when I put it in the sun this caused the board to heat up and the air inside the board to expand. The air was either from the core or maybe from the wood sandwich core that the board was made from. This expanding air caused the plastic covered patch to bubble up as it hardened separating the glass from the board.
I think the product would be suitable for boards like surfboards that have non porous cores.

Now I got curious so looked at the website, says no sanding required (bags out other methods as needing sanding). Well, it wont work over the tiniest bit of wax residue of course, and everything needs a scuff to adhere properly if its really smooth or new.
The FAQ makes it sound like real repairs need a mountain of equipment and are completely unrealistic for normal folks. It then bags out the normal UV cure resins used when travelling, with a rant about how hard it is to do a decent repair - and a simple bit of plastic over it and/or a bit of masking first fixes all that. Anyone who ends up with a cankle lump and a dribble across the whole board and an "unsandable" thing didn't really use their brain much....
So fail already... before we heard of Riders experience.


If a pro repair guy has an issue with using it due to the bubbling, and the website feels the need to (1) bag out traditional repair methods and (2) talk up the product with stories of cankles and enormous dribbles and (3) includes sandpaper but you talk about how hard all the other methods are as they need sandpaper - sorry Clinton a great idea but I'm not sold. (regardless of my vested interest.)


A "bandaid for your board" is notionally great - bit if you want to do that a bit of duct tape will work for a LONG time to keep water out. If you want a smooth repair, plastic over solarez works great:



Considering bigger ones need a fill and sand, then the patch applied, you've actually introduced an extra step!! Like the above, it could be just fill...no patch.

Simple solution may be for a bigger plastic patch, with a gooood sticky edge so you can apply it really tight and press down on the edges, to keep the patch bloody tight and avoid the bubbling with air exit from the core. And an instruction about removing wax. But now you're introducing complexity for a product that seems to be aimed at people who can't follow the above yoochoob video

Hi Rider,
Thanks for the pic. As you already know, the air expanding in your board is forcing its way out the hole while the patch is curing. Having a dark coloured board means the board will heat up quicker in the sun.
To work around this issue ideally take the vent screw out of the board and repair when the temperature of the board is stable or falling.
One way is to take the vent screw right out, put the board in the sun to warm up a bit so that it is not cold from being under a house etc.. Stick the patch on in the shade then expose the patch area to the sun.
So partially shade the board. This is easy to do near the shade of a car or tree, and with a towel or a boardbag.
You shouldn't have an issue then. Can you give it another go doing the above? Let me know. Cheers.
As you mentioned a UV light negates this work around also.
As for product testing, I've repaired heaps of EPS boards of all colours but haven't had that problem, however I'm often in the shade and partial shade of trees and I just move the board so the patch is in direct sun for 5 mins to cure. Just in my garage I have a couple of white evos, a blue evo and a dark red Naish flying pig all with simplepatches on. I've also repaired some black eps foil boards without issue. I will put up some pics when I get a chance.

Hi Mark_Aus,
Thanks for checking out my website. It is easy to cherry pick information from a webpage and bend it to suit your agenda, so to clarify a couple of your points for everyone that hasn't been to my webpage - "No sanding required" I guess it does kind of say this if you scroll down the bottom where it says "no sanding smooth".
What I'm trying to say here is that the finish on the patch is pretty smooth that you don't need to sand it once applied. This is the biggest problem with all other repair methods available, sanding smooth is painful by hand.
To get to this part of the website you need to scroll past a couple of how to videos that clearly show that you need to do 30 seconds of sanding to clean any wax, grit, sunscreen etc from your board and it gives a good keyed in bond for any repair method.
We even go as far as including a small section of sandpaper on the packaging of every patch to make this 30 second job even easier for you, this is described in the how to videos. Sand and clean area along with a little pic of doing this is on the instructions of every packet so it is pretty clear.
RE: bagging other DIY repair methods - Yes I'm probably guilty of this, I apologise if you have some vested interest in these products. They haven't really changed in 30 years and what is available is pretty bad.. It doesn't seem like any company has put any effort into this field since UV curing resin with chopped up bits of glass was invented 30 years ago.
You mention Duct tape - if you're happy sailing with a piece of tape stopping water getting into your foam, you don't need to worry about any board repairs because putting tape on is easy and cheap. Just make sure there isn't the smallest wrinkle or the tape doesn't lift while sailing otherwise your board will suck up some water. Also tape gives zero compression strength to the repair so make sure it is nowhere structural or a repair that could worsen.
Did I bag out UV resin with glass fibres? I should've because its horrible to work with being runny, super hard to sand by hand with the glass fibres in it, and goes yellow pretty quick. If you're happy with these products try the Simplepatch Epoxy Speedfill, it is fundamentally the same except it is easy to work with, sands in seconds not hours and stays white not yellow.
If your going to the trouble of filling holes why not reinforce with a fibreglass patch because it is as easy as putting on a sticker.

As for hand laying glass, mixing epoxy and fillers for small repairs, on a one off basis you do need a lot of equipment and consumables in comparison. Just mixing Epoxy requires measuring equipment, mixing equipment that all needs to be cleaned or thrown out, all to measure out a couple of mL of resin needed for the actual repair. Send us a pic of your workbench Mark.

In comparison, I can hit the bottom of my board with a claw hammer in the carpark at the beach and have it repaired to a pretty good finish, that is waterproof in 20 minutes and be back sailing. All with a simplepatch and a little tube of speedfill that fits in my pocket and costs less than $30. If you can do this I'm interested in seeing it. Happy to do this for you guys and post a pic or video.
I doubt there would be any point in sending you some product to try Mark_Aus and form an educated opinion, because you probably already know everything, but the offer is there. PM me. Obviously if you have a vested interest in other repair products it would be ethical to declare this before doing some sort of review.


Cheers Clinton

Hi Mark,
In your video its a pretty good result I'll give you that, but this is rarely the case for most people repairing anywhere other than on a perfect flat area.
Give the speedfill a go, I can send you some, it is way easier to apply on any part of the board, if you get a lump, it sands flat in seconds. You can use your plastic and do all that it is just way easier to use. $12.99 a tube that will do 2 -3 small holes.
And if you want to reinforce the whole repair - stick a patch on it's so simple and gives a much more durable repair.

I can now post vids so here's a vid of a surfboard repair, I'll try do a couple of windsurf specific ones next week.


www.simplepatch.com.au
Check them out. Yes I want to sell product and yes our biggest market is surfboards, but from one windsurfer to other windsurfers the Epoxy Speedfill and Epoxy patches will make your board repairs way easier. Give them a go.

Couple of people have mentioned a 45 degree cut , I just wanted to check what that means , sorry .

Does it mean a cut in the fibre to help it shape round the tail ?