Blaster Surf Reinforcement

[escore]

My hood is cracked all to hell so I plan to reinforce it next week before heading south. I know Dustin Mustangs had a great thread on this that I am going to try to find but can any one else give some input? Any where you feel the haul is week and needs some attention, pics anything would be great. I plan to drill holes at the end of all my cracks. Cut them to a V a bit and then glass them all back together. I will probably just add material to the underside of the hood for reinforcement I guess.

 

[BlasterDisaster]

the entire rear of my hull has stress cracks in the gell coat.... thats where i'd start..... removing the gell coat and reenforcing everything

 

[escore]

Ya Mine does too. And the lip around the back has some serious cracks. The hood is really bad too. I'm kinda thinking its not even worth the work. Especially since I don't have time to cut apart the rear and do it. I don't know what the hell to do but I am pretty sure its going to get trashed if I go down the way it is.

 

[zimmy]

Can you post pics of the damage? I would focus on the hood first.

 

[escore]

here are some pictures. There are a lot of cracks. I don't know if it is worth fixing or not really. I am also concerned with blowing the lip off the rear and the spider cracks on the back of the hull.

 

[Retarded Timing]

I've seen much worse hold up much longer in pretty big sets. I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[Crab]

2nd that on the hull, but the the frp on the Hood might need fixing.

 

[zimmy]

You should go ahead with the hood reinforcement, that is only going to get worse. The transom doesn't look too bad despite the spider cracks.

You should start with flipping the hull over and glassing the rear lip, you will need to do this whether or not you cut into the back to reinforce the transom from the inside. You might be able to lay glass from the outside if you want to save having to cut into the hull, but I have seen this type of reinforcement come off, not sure if it was a bad bond or the hull just took too much abuse in the rear.

Cutting into the back is a lot of work, but it will make the hull solid as a rock.

 

[BlasterDisaster]

man the back of my hull is way worse than that and i could be wrong but i think those are just in the gell coat, not in the fiberglass....

on the flip side of that, those hood cracks look like they're growing and in the fiberglass....


but hey, if you decide to scrap that hull and start from scratch you can just drop it off in my garage... i need a hull to rocker and chop!

 

[Clayton1809]

Let's go ahead and start chopping that thing before daytona

 

[escore]

I am taking it to a friends in Florida way before Daytona. I basically have this week to do everything I am going to do to it before I go. My plan was to repair the hood but then I started wondering if the repair was worth it will all that cracking. Seems like the consensus is that it is so I guess I will start it Tuesday. I will drill each end of the cracks and then cut them a bit so they hold material well. Then just pack them up. I also plan to put two layers on it for reinforcement. Hopefully that goes well and I can then add some material to the rear lip. I appreciate all the input and any more I get. I wish I would of just bought Dusting Mustangs old ski at Daytona last year took the hood off and resold it right now. I hate doing glass work.

 

[BlasterDisaster]

Let's go ahead and start chopping that thing before daytona

i'm scared... i think escore should do his first so i can learn from him

jump on it man!

 

[Dirty Jersey!]

how do you go about renforcing the hood?? is it a project or a quick fix

 

[escore]

Check out this thread. http://www.x-h2o.com/threads/77407-My-Freshwater-Surf-Blaster-Build&highlight= I am going to more less do what he did for reinforcement. I have all those cracks to deal with so for them I will drill holes at the ends to prevent them from spreading. Then cut them into a V shape to hold some material. Once they are filled back in sand them smooth and then do the reinforcement. I have no Idea where to get the vac bag stuff or how that works so that is an issue. I am also hoping I can get the right mat to use some where local or I am screwed big time.

Zimmy would you just fill the lip in to be flush or how would you handle that?

 

[BlasterDisaster]

that thread is awesome... thanks for the link. bookmarked!

 

[zimmy]

Escore, you should fill the lip, you will have a hard time getting the glass to fold around the lip without it lifting. There is a thread under the composites section discussing vacuum bagging, check it out.

 

[KTM434]

I have 2 hulls in FL if you wanna use yours toward a trade. I have a stock B1 hull and a rockered/chopped B1 hull. I don't have them advertised but I've considered doing my same rocker/chop mods but taking it to a more extreme level and redesigning the bottom deck on another B1 hull. Your damage would probably get chopped off anyway

 

[escore]

KTM, I am already to far along to stop now. I also don't want to cut mine up just reinforce it. I ride mostly flat water so rockering and shortening isn't practical for me. I appreciate the offer though. Where are you in FL? I will be in West Palm a lot this winter. I thought you where in New Hampshire or something, didn't I swap you ride plates last year?

I did not get your reply in time Zimmy so I ordered some type of fiber tape. I forget what it is made of but its 3 inches wide and sown at the edges. They guy told me to apply the resin and let it sit for 40 minutes or so and then set the tape in dry, then coat the tape with resin. I plan to do about 4 layers of this on the rear lip. I guess the last layer I put some type of wax in the last coat. For the hood I got 1708 biax material to use as mat with the epoxy resin. I will use this to reinforce the hood as Dustin Mustangs did in his thread. I don't think Vacuum bagging will be an option due to time but the guy said that it will conform to my curves easily so hopefully it goes well. I also got Aero-o-sil to mix with the epoxy resin, it is supposed to make the resin a mayonnaise consistency that I will spread into all my cracks like bondo. Everything came from US composites in West Palm, they seemed very familiar with what I am doing and claimed all these products to be top notch.

Right now I have use a dremel type tool to notch out all the cracks and cut stitch like cross members in them to help the bond. I also drilled holes in the end of every crack. Tomorrow I sand everything and hopefully Thursday start applying everything. I need to find something to make it easy to sand everything down. Heres a few pics, I stuck two up of the Super Jet I will take delivery of in a few weeks, just because I am pumped about it.

 

[KTM434]

Yeah I did live in NH and swap rideplates with you. I moved to FL for better weather and to ride more... I chopped and rockered my B1 hull and rode like 4 times. Had a crank seal leak and blew my motor so the skis have just been sitting there. I just sold my truck to fix all my toys and pay bills so now my B1 will have a stroker motor and my big bore is going in my new Superfreak. A chopped/rockered B1 is more fun and nimble no matter where you ride IMO unless you run a bouey course and race but if you like freestyle and freeride type stuff then a modded hull is where it's atno matter what! I'm in Palm Coast FL like 45 minutes north of Daytona Beach. The grooves in your hood cracks look good, should work pretty well. Biax will flex and take form to different shapes pretty well but that one pic with the deep groove may be tricky. You'll have to use smaller strips at first then maybe mix in some cabosil in your resin to fill that groove and lay a bigger sheet of biax over that as well just to grab the hood and bond itself further away from the damage

 

[zimmy]

Looks like you are on the right path with the fiberglassing, keep us posted on how it develops!