Turfing the rails question

[Patrick Star]

I would like to turf the rails on my SquareNose. Anyway, is there a lot of maintenance that goes along with it? I have read about filling in the holes and sanding down the turf towards the bottom and whatnot, but will I be having to re-glue after every ride?

 

[Tanman]

idk i did that to my Sn, i filled in the little ridge where the stock caps go and all the wholes and then painted my whole ski. and ya i rip some edges up everynow and then but if you cut your edges nice and flush and glue like a mad man you should be good. mine are fine and i can't imagine good tricks without the grip

 

[kraqus]

A good turf job will last more than one season. Got to do it right though.
Anyone has pics of a SN with the rail turfed? How did you get the turf to curve on that lip?
It is way different than a RN where is one shot straight down......

Benny

 

[Crab]

heat, cut the edges at a 45 degree and they won't lift.

 

[Shifty]

That looks good on that Blaster.

 

[OCD Solutions]

Here is my old SN, I didn't fill in any lips...

 

[58vwragtop]

I turfed my sn. if you want to see some pics you can go to my album here on the X. It pretty easy, I'm on my 2nd season with the turf and it is holding up great. I left the rail caps on when I turfed, some people take them off and turf directly to the ski. I didnt even use any heat, just use 2 coats of the contact cement and let it dry up (haze) totally before putting together. Also some small clamps with paint sticks between them work pretty good

 

[Big Kahuna]

sand the edges at 45 degrees. Where the turf meets the hull, tape off over the turf right up to the edge, and then tape the hull leaving a small gap. Take black RTV silicone and run a small bead forcing the silicone into any gaps. Then spray WD40 on your finger and pull it down the length wiping up any excess. Remove tape immediately, go slow. This will help keep the water from getting under the turf. You can allso run a small bead of superglue at the edge where you bevel it to help keep water from getting up under it.

 

[kraqus]

I turfed my sn. if you want to see some pics you can go to my album here on the X. It pretty easy, I'm on my 2nd season with the turf and it is holding up great. I left the rail caps on when I turfed, some people take them off and turf directly to the ski. I didnt even use any heat, just use 2 coats of the contact cement and let it dry up (haze) totally before putting together. Also some small clamps with paint sticks between them work pretty good

That was an awesome job.




Benny

 

[SJBrit]

sand the edges at 45 degrees. Where the turf meets the hull, tape off over the turf right up to the edge, and then tape the hull leaving a small gap. Take black RTV silicone and run a small bead forcing the silicone into any gaps. Then spray WD40 on your finger and pull it down the length wiping up any excess. Remove tape immediately, go slow. This will help keep the water from getting under the turf. You can allso run a small bead of superglue at the edge where you bevel it to help keep water from getting up under it.

Good tip on the WD40 BK - saves a lot of finger clean-up afterwords!!

 

[Big Kahuna]

Damn Benny, that is a great looking square.

 

[chriselmore_1]

Or you can just lick your finger

 

[Big Kahuna]

yeah, but it would taste bad when you had to reapply!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kraqus]

Damn Benny, that is a great looking square.

I wish!
Not mine....it is 58vwragtop
I just went into his profile and got the pictures to show.
What happen to the Link to Member's Albums?
That was a really cool link....

Benny

 

[TJLSuperJet]

Here is our squares right after the turf was put on, I didnt put enough of an angle on the bottom so my turf lasted about one season. the other had more of a bevel on the bottom and hasnt had any problems in 2 seasons now. we kept the screws visible so later if we had to take the rails off, we could do so easily. prep is the key with all turf. make sure surfaces are clean, a little roughed up for adhesion, and we always wipe down surfaces with either acetone or alcohol. (rubbing 91%.... crown royal probably wont work.) Use a heat gun to make the bend... lots of heat! careful not to burn, and two layers of glue works better than one. IMO. A hot razor knife with slide through turf like butter. Good luck, its worth it. :smoker:

 

[kraqus]

OK....I am doing mine this week.....
It looks so much better IMO...

Benny

 

[toomessedup]

heres mine with turfed rails and nose

i havent had any problems, just make sure you do two coats of contact cement on both the ski and the turf

 

[zbomb88]

I bought the side rail turf from Blowsion. The back section that angles up is already cut and it fits great. I didn't fill in any holes and I just sanded/cleaned off the old turf. I made sure the ski was clean and applied glue to both the turf and the ski and haven't had any problems with it coming off yet.

 

[toomessedup]

we didnt fill any of the holes when we did mine, but we did take a grinder to the bottom edge of the rails to make them a little more square

 

[JustinB]

Here is mine. I didnt fill any holes, and I cut the bottom edge with a razor blade.