Chipped ski tip

[SSCambridge]

Hey Ballers,

 

I'm going on vacation in January and pulled my ski out, to give it a quick look over, and noticed I have a chip in the tip. Looking for a little help on how to do the repair, and what type of glue/ adhesive or epoxy to use. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've attached some pics. Thanks in advance.

 

PS great site, I've been a lurking for a few years........ getting great tips on how to improve my skiing.

[A_B]

JB Weld is black and works wonders. It is a 2-part epoxy. I always have some. Also carry clear nail polish to seal up stuff to keep water out..

You can also send the ski to the manufacturer and they are pretty good about patching things up.

[Kelvin]

I have used both JB Weld and Marine Tex. Marine Tex is easier to sand down to a smooth finish that is hardly noticeable.

[GOODESkier]

My 2 cents, would be to see what the manufacturer would charge. Might be less than you think, might hold up better than you can do, heck, they might even take care of you better than you think......

[A_B]

Kelvin, I like marine tex too, but the last time I bought some, at least my hardware store, it was white and much larger quantity and cost. The smaller quantity of JB and black/grey color are great for a lot of small Knicks and cracks on a lot of skis. Marine Tex is great stuff though.

 

[Jody_Seal]

I like Yellow and besides you don't ski up on the tip anyway!

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

[BraceMaker]

I usually would grind a bit of the area out to get a clean edge, and then use marine tex or similar.

 

I like that plastidip idea though, for a sealant, no structure to it.

[MattP]

I would stay away from "grinding" the amount of carbon on the ski is a lot less than you think and you dont want to damage it even further, some light sanding to scuff up the surface then apply your desired reapir material. From the pictures that ski look like an HO? Call them their customer service is very good, I'm sure they can help you out.

[SkiJay]

@SSCambridge Before making it look all nice with JB Weld, I start with some hobby grade thin CA (cyanoacetate). Superglue is CA, but the "thin" grade CA you can get at all hobby shops wicks like crazy, so if there are any micro cracks in the resin around the carbon or glass fibers, the CA wicks in there and makes it extremely strong again. THEN use the JB Weld, Marine Tex or the like to build up and profile things where material is dented or missing.

[BraceMaker]

@MattP - I would agree with you in terms of most areas of a ski - but usually with actual damage to carbon if you don't get the cracks out, they will like to separate over time.

 

Grinding an area and feathering your repair gets adhesion and sealing of the edges. See - surfboard repair.

 

Obviously you wouldn't want to grind the areas of a ski that are structural - but if your ski cracks or delaminates there I would be sending it back to the MFG.

[Cam]

I am with you @BraceMaker, same thing happened to my A1 this summer and it fixed fine with Araldite.

Normally you would drill a hole at the end of the crack to stop it spreading but as it isn't really structural at the tip I didn't bother and it has held up well.

[lakeaustinskier]

Try the manufacturer and see what happens. I had a similar thing happen with my S2. I don't know what happened but I had about 1 inch of seperation on the edge right in front of my front boot. Bad place. I had originally purchased the ski through H2Osmosis and they were able to send the ski back to HO for inspection. HO is currently sending me a new 2013 S2 blem. Great service from H2O and HO!

[Horton]

@lakeaustinskier what you describe is a major deal and I am not shocked that HO is taking care of it.

 

A chip in the tip sucks but might not be a big deal. If you are a serious slalom skier and really stress the ski I would not ride a ski with a cracked anything. You have to figure out if the damage is structural or cosmetic. If it is structural you simply can not fix it - you can try but I would not trust it.

 

[lakeaustinskier]

@horton yes - considering where the crack was there was no way I was going to continue to use the ski. I'm a 32/35 off skier and I'm really glad HO gave fantastic service.

[eleeski]

Can the tip really carry any load? A ski must be robust enough to hold up to some tip damage (which will be quite common - handle dings, boathouse rash etc). A chipped tip is cosmetic. My ski tip has a BIG chunk missing from it - for two years!

 

Most cores are water resistant. Coreless, honeycomb or balsa need to be sealed. JB Weld works very well to seal things up. If you warm the epoxy with a heat gun it will thin out and wick in to all the little cracks. It might take a couple of applications to fully seal things. Cyanoacrylite sounds interesting - especially since moisture is part of the curing. I haven't used CA - but I might now! A cracked tip should be repairable and structurally sound.

 

Superfil is great for filling large buildups. Easy to work with, bonds well, light weight, sands well and is reasonably durable. Despite the slow cure, it is way better than Bondo. Not structural though. Available from Aircraft Spruce.

 

Cracks underfoot are scary. I have sucessfully repaired a few on my skis but my skis are different. Factory skis are best sent back to the manufacturer. It will make the product better even if you don't score a new ski.

 

Eric

[BraceMaker]

A common error that is seen in repairing is that many adhesives are not compabile with the cores, and the heat of them curing in a confined environment can damage the core creating a cavity.

 

This is the arguements you will sometimes hear in regards to products like CA and loctite. Just to be aware of.