Refiber Glassing the Top of a Stand Up Paddle Board

I bought a used Stand up Paddle Board for cheap. As the saying goes you get what you paid for. After my first trip on the water, I found that the board was delaminating where I would put my feet. After talking with seller, who told me in no uncertain terms that the board was bought as is, I started researching how to fix the issue. I found online videos and forums where people had fixed this kind of problem and decided to try my hand at it. I made this instructable for anyone else who may have this problem and want to try and fix it

I copied this youtube video's process for fiberglassing the board.

Epoxy ResinFast reacting hardener
Fiber Glass Cloth Plastic container for resin Spreader Rubber glovesFace mask respiratorsafety glassesdisk sander sand paper <200 grit2mm crafting foam Precision knifePower drillWaterproof glue (I used Aleene's Multisurface adhesive) !!You need to only use Epoxy resin. Polyurethane resin will react with the interior foam and create a giant pile of goo!!

Step 1: Create Edge in Foam

My board is covered in 2mm foam so my first steps were to outline all the areas that had delaminated. I then removed the foam from those areas. I used the circular sander with a power drill to remove all of the foam. From there I used the precision knife to remove all of the fiberglass and veneer that had come delaminated. You will find that if the veneer or fiberglass is easy to remove there is still more to remove. You need to get all of the areas that have delaminated to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I ended up stopping after I thought I removed it all and let the board dry overnight. When I got back to it in the morning I found more areas that needed to be removed.

Step 2: Lay the First Epoxy

Once I eliminated all of the delamination issues, I allowed the board and foam to completely dry. Then, I laid one layer of epoxy as a base and let that cure over night. At this point, you want lay down the epoxy as evenly as you can. You also want to fill in and even out as many of the divets that may be in on the board as possible.

A couple notes at this point. I did not tape any of the foam to protect it from the epoxy. I did later, because as you can see in some of the images it ran down onto the side and I ended up redoing that foam later. I tried using tape to protect the foam later, it was not very effective. Perhaps if I were to do it again, I would tape plastic on the edges of the work area.

Step 3: Second Epoxy Layer Strengthening the Weakened Areas

Once the first layer of epoxy has cured. You want to sand down the entire work with a low grit sand paper. This allows the next layer of epoxy something to grab onto as it begins to cure. For this second layer of epoxy I laid down a couple strips of fiber glass where some areas of the board were especially weak or lower than the rest. Then let it cure for 8-12 hours again.

I ended up with a couple bubbles in the big crack. So I ended up cutting out that section and making sure it wasn't an issue on the next coat. When laying fiberglass make sure you squeeze out all of the bubbles within the fiberglass, so you won't have the same issue. You will be able to audibly hear them release as you go smooth them out.

Step 4: Third Epoxy Layer, Second Fiber Glass Layer & Final Layer of Fiberglass

This layer used the big sheet of fiberglass. I laid this over the entire area where I had removed the delaminated surface. I wanted this to be large since the much of this area was now missing the veneer. Somehow I missed taking a picture of the fiberglass sheet I had used. But I just used a pair of cheap scissors to cut it to size. Then its just pouring epoxy on top and smoothing it out until he entire area is clear.

Between the third and fourth layer make sure you sand down the board. Any part of the fiber glass that is not flat but soaked up epoxy, has now become needle sharp. You don't want to step on these once the project is complete or catch a finger on one of these.

The fourth layer of epoxy helps create separation between you and the fiber glass.

Step 5: Adding External Foam

As I said, my board had an external foam on the entire top so I needed to replace that as well. I ended up finding that craft foam was the same thickness and was pretty water resistant. I cut squares and created a diamond pattern along the top of the board. While looking at the craft store for glue, I found there are a lot of glues sold but very few can be used for this type of project. When buying glue make sure its a) waterproof, b) can be used on fiberglass, and c) can be used with foam so it won't melt.

I've taken then board out since I finished the project and so far so good. We'll see how it holds up in the coming years. Thanks for reading, hopefully you find this helpful.