I recently acquired an old F2 Lightning World Cup that was in good condition other than a bodgy foot plug repair.







About 6mm layer of chop strand and polyester had been used to build up the surface. Yes the purchace did involve some risk because we all know about polyester and white foam boards!

I've ground off the chop strand and got back to the basic board. What I have now is an obvious cavity and a loose foot plug. I've ground off the plastic f2 coating and exposed the epoxy fibreglass that the board is made of. This is what I was expecting as I had repaired a deck on a similar F2 Lightning.

Here's a video



What I was thinking was back fill the cavity with 2 part pour in place foam let it set and then sand to surface height.

Dig out a foot plug insert shaped hole. Wrapp the insert in cloth and epoxy before inserting and setting. Then re-building up the deck with some layers of 200gsm cloth and epoxy.

Over doing it / undergoing it? I think the hole may be too big just to backfill with epoxy and micro balloons? Worried about ectothermic with that approach

Ideas appreciated - looking for stable repair but want to go sailing next week

Cheers Jeff
Foot plug insert had a wrap of 3mm high
density foam around the insert pocket. With F2 the insert socket is moulded in during construction and the plug then inserted



Cheers again....
Working to the closest cm

option 1.

cut the area back getting rid of all of the soft bits and overhanging fibreglass
build hole back up with chop strand. 2 or 3 goes.
rout out plug slot and reset the plug with cloth.
finish off with another 2 layers of cloth
sand and finish and paint.

option 2

get a piece of hardcore foam.
rout out the existing damaged area
glue in hardcore foam piece with cloth and resin and finish to suit deck shape.
rout out plug hole
glue in with cloth making sure cloth overlaps foam by an inch or so around plug perimeter
add 2-3 layers of cloth and resin over repaired area

ie. now you have a sealed plug area.

sand and finish and paint.

Here's one I prepared earlier
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Installing-footstrap-inserts/

I had the plug pull out of my mistral one design in exactly the same spot. The insert looked identical too.

It looks like you have already cleaned up some of the layers of mess, which is a good start.

Personally I wouldn' fill it up with 403 or 411 powder and epoxy as it would make a big heavy plug, and you would need to use slow cure hardener to stop it heating up too much.

I would:

1) clean out all the loose foam
2) wrap the insert in numerous layers of tape
3) place the insert where you would like it approximately
4) put a two part foam or similar around the taped up insert
5) when the foam cures pull the insert out
6) sand out the deck for maybe 50mm radius around the hole with a feathered edge
7) put a small volume of 403 powder and epoxy in the hole and place the plug in correct position
8) when this is set add a little more 403/epoxy mix and lay over a few sheets of matting, tapered to the 50mm feathered edge

West system make a white coloured pigment. That would save you painting the board once the repair is done.

I'd prob still go for slow hardener in this case.

Clarence

Thanks for the advice

I'd been through the footstrap thread - lots of good stuff especially how little you can get away with

Given that the original was just s glassed in depression moulded board I think anything I do will be stronger

Thinking more along Clarence 's advice as I already have some pour in place Gp330 foam. So was thinking do the fill and then dig out a hole and insert a well wrapped plug

See what happens this afternoon

Thanks again Jeff

something to think about.

the issue with laying a few sheets of matting over the plug is that if the glass doesn't bond to the top surface of the plug properly your board will leak where the screw hole is.

by setting the plug in with one layer of glass and extending that glass across the new foam area by an inch or so you now have a bigger area for the finish layer to bond to and that will improve your chances of a water tight job.

I also had a read of the other thread.

the extension bar idea I've seen end in a very bad outcome where the screw head punctured the deck skin after repeated use and the board took on water. it completely trashed the board.

Select to expand quote

sausage said..
Here's one I prepared earlier
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Installing-footstrap-inserts/

I tried the isonic footstrap link on that page and it only gives you a hijacked topic- actually I think all the links have been hijacked.. ( religious book?). Does anyone have the page bookmarked?

Select to expand quote

Gestalt said...
something to think about.

the issue with laying a few sheets of matting over the plug is that if the glass doesn't bond to the top surface of the plug properly your board will leak where the screw hole is.

by setting the plug in with one layer of glass and extending that glass across the new foam area by an inch or so you now have a bigger area for the finish layer to bond to and that will improve your chances of a water tight job.

I also had a read of the other thread.

snip

Yes agree I will lay glass into hole and out onto foam so the plug is in its own valley of glass goodness

Made good progress on the repair - on the deck ;-)



A small fix on an old repair done before I bought this board. A hole had been filled will filler? But no tie in to surrounding area. Of course it cracked away and became soft. A little expanding foam and bamboo skewers firmed up the interface. Feathered the deck and put a patch over the area. Tidy up and repainting at another stage (not one of my strong points)





Now to the insert repair. Hole tidied up, edges faired, vent holes - ready for 2 part foam




Pour the n place done with old greeny catalogue being used to control the expansion.



Pour in place trimmed level, hole dug to refit insert. Already feels real firm. I'll add a few locking skewers around the area to make sure it's all locked together.





Insert hole pre-glassed. Insert buttered up with epoxy and flock then inserted and glass over the top. Ready for the peel ply to be added on top.




Cheers Jeff

Green thumb to you jeff