I hit a submerged reef the other day at an unfamiliar location an took a decent chunk out of my fairly new select fin. I was just going to sand it back a bit but then thought it is worth the effort to fix a bit better. I did a bit of a search and not much came up. should i use something like selley's knead-it or is there something better. Also what grit sandpaper to finish up with would be best? Thanx
when i took several chunks out of my new fin i used an epoxy filler (q-cells) to fill in the missing chunks.
It takes a few goes to get the layer built enough then you can sand it back with wet & dry & get it fairly good.
Yeah I agree. I just fixed a board and used the leftover epoxy and Q-cell mix to do a few nicks in my fin. Even did scratches on the sides that were little more than paint deep and then rubbed it all back down to 600grade wet and it is smooooth now.
For leading edge nicks I'd just use masking tape to stop it running and fill it up so it runs into the holes really well (gravity). I doubt you could force Knead-It or similar into the little nicks enough to get it to bond well??? Certainly every time I've seen a fin repaired that way and then used a few times, it looks like it is going to fall out any minute.
I've tried knead-it and yes it does fall out very quickly.
Epoxy and Q-cell might be the go.
Otherwise a mix of epoxy and chopped fibreglass (get out the scissors and some mat, a couple of chops of the mat above the mixed epoxy) might do the trick if you can't find any Q-cell. I doubt you'd notice a difference in weight.
