Chine repairs

[heymacaulay]

An accident on the beach knocked a couple of chips of paint out of the chine of my sabre and exposed some ply end grain. What should I do to repair these and seal the ply?

I’m thinking of sanding back the chips locally & sealing the exposed ply with a thinned epoxy. Should I then paint the repaired area? How would I make sure the new paint is compatible with the old? (I don’t know what the existing bottom paint is- is there some way of testing/checking?)

I’d be grateful for any advice.

[dulciechristense]

Jack

If you have exposed bare timber, it seems to me you must have knocked off some of the glass reinforcing tape in the accident.

Can I suggest that you should grind down the chine over the whole of the damaged area to (just) expose bare timber such that you can restore the taped seam with some glass tape and epoxy resin.

Take care to feather out the repair bed at each end so the new glass overlaps the old and original strength is substantially maintained.

Round off the sharp edge of the chine so the glass will lay over the joint of the bottom and side without tending to lift at the peak of the bend; this will help in avoiding any little air pockets along the chine.

Sand the set epoxy to take off any high spots, and restore the sharp edge of the chine with (preferably) epoxy filler.

Then spend the next three weeks trying to match the paint!

I hope this helps.

[heymacaulay]

Thanks Mike; sounds like good advice.

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