Greetings from Europe/ Croatia guys! I am a relative beginner in windsurfing (have been sailing before in dinghies) and have acquired an old board (fanatic viper 90, 2004 i think) and a freeride type of sail.

the board is really not in great shape, the nose is broken and it has a few dings on it but it floats and I can ride it. Would like to repair it as much as possible. Can I do the repairs with the standard epoxy resin and glass mat with epoxy filler? I have read somewhere that this board is made from a different material than some other boards so it cannot be repaired (maybe I misread something...).

all i could find online was that the boat is made from "thermo-composite technology"

would like to have some suggestions from you experts :)

cheers!

Some old boards have a seam on the rails where the upper and lower halves are bonded together. These boards have a plastic skin for more durability. You can use west systems g flex epoxy to bond to plastic. If it is just an epoxy board, just use regular epoxy resin glass , filler and paint. Take the vent plug out and do the repairs at night with a falling temperature.

yeah, exactly that. it has a seam. ok will try with that. thanks a lot!

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xtr3m3 said..
Greetings from Europe/ Croatia guys! I am a relative beginner in windsurfing (have been sailing before in dinghies) and have acquired an old board (fanatic viper 90, 2004 i think) and a freeride type of sail.

the board is really not in great shape, the nose is broken and it has a few dings on it but it floats and I can ride it. Would like to repair it as much as possible. Can I do the repairs with the standard epoxy resin and glass mat with epoxy filler? I have read somewhere that this board is made from a different material than some other boards so it cannot be repaired (maybe I misread something...).

all i could find online was that the boat is made from "thermo-composite technology"

would like to have some suggestions from you experts :)

cheers!

standard epoxy resin and glass mat with epoxy filler should work for repairs. Just make sure not to ignore any dings, and avoid using polyester filler as it can damage the board's core. Since it's made with thermo-composite technology, it's a bit different, but epoxy should still do the trick.

No, epoxy will not bond well to that skin even if roughed up.
If its worth doing, use the proper stuff. Gflex by West Systems is designed for it.

but G flex is an epoxy resin isn't it? why wouldnt the standard west system epoxy not bond well with the skin of the viper?

G flex is a softer stickier version that sticks to plastic, and it works well.

The thin 0,8mm plastic use to protect against puncture is ASA. It's a thermoplastic near ABS, un like PP and PE, epoxy resin stick to it but like with most "gluable" thermoplastic not a good strong bond. To improve this:
1) you need to improve mechanical bond by scuffing plastic layer, you can also use " fire prep" by slightly "burn" surface with a torch, tricky but effective.
2) you need to match elasticity of glue with elasticity of material, thermoplastic have a higher elasticity than standard laminating epoxy resin, so you need ? flexible one, like Gflex.

For repair those fiberglass epoxy with thermoplastique over, i use to pull out some eps under staying skin and fill it with epoxy microsphere microfiber mix while repairing so it stick repair to fiberglass.