Hi there, the online windsurfing forums here in Canada aren't what they used to be lately so I thought I'd join one halfway around the globe! ?? Probably lots more sailors down your way than up here anyways!
Anyways, I've started a restoration project on a nice used board I picked up real cheap last summer. It's a Breezer, made by Gun sailboards a while back. Didn't know Gun even made any boards till I came across this one. It's a carbon fibre sandwich 165L formula style board that's designed to be useable for beginners as well as advanced riders. It's 229cm long and 100cm wide and weighs in at only 20lbs. It needs some work but nothing I can't handle: extensive delam/soft spots on the deck and a poorly repaired cracked nose. The delam's extensive but still at a point where it should be easily repairable by epoxy injection. For the nose I did a bit of exploratory surgery and decided it will need a section of core replaced and some new carbon fibre and divinycell. I would post some pics but apparently new members can't for a while.
I'm planning to install new full deck padding since my wife and two teenage sons will be using the board and we really liked that feature. I've found a bunch of nice options on Amazon in the large size I need but they all come as peel-and-stick which I'm not too keen about. I would feel more confident applying with a good coat of contact cement. I've heard of people applying spray adhesive over the self-adhesive but I wonder if there could be compatibility issues between the two adhesives leading to bond failure. If anyone here's been down this road and would like to share any opinions or suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it. thanks,
No, I typically avoiding ordering from the US due to the prohibitively high exchange rate, not to mention orange Donny's unpredictable tariffs. I did buy an NSI foam nose protector last year for another board that was pretty good. Does the NSI pad you bought come without self-adhesive?
Ebay was my source with I was buying a bunch of pad material a couple of years back. I don't know what the cost for you ordering from the Far East is.
Yes, we in the US have shared your tariff pain in our own way. 
I would not inject epoxy anywhere. It will just be brittle and accelerate the damage.
I just used contact cement with the peel and stick pad, worked great.
If you have a decent paint job after the repairs, the 3M backed self adhesive is great
a lot less troublesome than masking a whole big area, then trying to get an exact line-up with the new pad- only to find it didn't and one side has a glue line and the other has tape u see the pad. self adhesive one you can get all lined up perfect then stick just a few inches at one ond then check, then slowly proceed
I got a 240cm x 60cm roll of diamond grip Eva off Temu for $46. Assumed that the self adhesive would be rubbish, so I used spray on contact adhesive. Happy with the EVA pad and it has stuck well to the board. As Mark says, (a good) self adhesive makes for a much easier job compared to contact adhesive
Select to expand quotecanadiansailor said..
No, I typically avoiding ordering from the US due to the prohibitively high exchange rate, not to mention orange Donny's unpredictable tariffs. I did buy an NSI foam nose protector last year for another board that was pretty good. Does the NSI pad you bought come without self-adhesive?
"Orange Donny". Hahaha, that's gold.
I've since seen some pad with 3m adhesive, I may do a test with a scrap piece before committing. I agree the installation would be easier.
Has anybody tried injecting a board with an epoxy/expanding foam mix? I've seen several examples of delam repairs where they added something to the epoxy which made it into a sort of expanding foam, but with no follow-up to say how the repair turned out long term.
Yes, I've done a deck delam repair using Gorilla glue. Drilled a bunch of holes in the delam area to allow for expansion, injected GG using a syringe. A sheet of plastic over top and a bunch of weights (lead plates) to prevent the deck bulging. Worked very well and board is still all good 5 years later.
"Yes, I've done a deck delam repair using Gorilla glue. Drilled a bunch of holes in the delam area to allow for expansion, injected GG using a syringe. A sheet of plastic over top and a bunch of weights (lead plates) to prevent the deck bulging. Worked very well and board is still all good 5 years later."
You're talking Gorilla Foam seal I assume? How big an area did you repair? I thought about the canned stuff but wasn't sure there would be enough pressure using the supplied injection straw to push the stuff far enough i to the board. I've seen some people online mixing their own and injecting with syringes. I'm not sure exactly what product they were using though.
Saying just Gorilla glue is not great. They make many products that will eat foam. All bar one, is an expanding polyurethane glue. it works but I'm not a fan. It sets by absorbing moisture and I've seen instances of it not fully setting. Then if you get moisture in later it reacts all over again and makes a huge bubble. that's why a 2 part product is always going to be better. However, it's still not the ideal way to do it.
As to your previous question re foaming resin it's an additive. No you cannot just mix resin and foaming PU
All this really depends on how much damage and how big. Well, and value of the board, sometimes the dodgy fixes are worth it
any boat place will be aware of the two pack expanding PU foam. Yanks call it A-B foam or pour foam. Might be the same up your way
Can you find a board that's damaged beyond repair and remove the pads then reuse them. You have to be careful not to tear them when removing.
