Repairs for severely damaged EPS/epoxy stand-up paddle board

Question

I’ve never been on a SUP before. Many people have them in my area. I’ve seen people on them at the beach and in the river, always dreamed of having one but they've been too expensive for a new one. So I couldn’t resist buying this at my local thrift shop. They had it marked $250 then after a month to $100 then I talked them down to $25 seeing as it had sat unsold for 2.5 months.

After researching various sites and youtube I started work on overhauling this board today. I have finished step 3 in this pic

I’d like to outline the steps I plan to take to get this board out on the water with the hopes that more experienced folks will chime in and make remarks on any errant steps or process I have outlined below:

1. Use a utility knife to remove loose mat and cut out mat where there are dings, bashed sections and the soft bubbly areas on the top and bottom.
2. Remove a small amount of eps foam along the inside edge of where the mat was trimmed for dings and bashed sections. (This is to allow the epoxy to grab along the inside of the repair)
3. Sand the entire board with 50-80grit to remove all neoprene traction grip pad and most of the existing finish.
4. Mix a small amount of epoxy (cup to start with) and add the fumed silica (cabosil) until I get a peanut butter consistency.
5. Use large popsicle stick and epoxy scrapers to reform the nose with this small mix
6. Repeat step 4-5 for the other bashed sections and fill in the dings and around the handle.
7. After dry sand and repeat steps 4-5-6 to build up these sections nose, bashed edges & rails.
8. Sand with 120 grit and clean the surface with denatured alcohol.
9. Using #6 fiberglass mat cut a triangle/circular section to cover the top of the nose, draping the fabric to cover about an inch under the board.
10. Mix about ½ cup of epoxy and wet the top of the nose and drape the mat over and thoroughly wet the surface of the mat using a chip brush.
11. Repeat steps 9-10 on the underside of the nose.
12. Repeat steps 9-10 for each of the bashed sections, the bubbled areas, & dings.
13. After dry sand with 200 grit till smooth.
14. Mix 2 cups epoxy and wet the top of the board smoothing out with a chip brush.
15. Repeat step 14 for the bottom side of the board.
16. Use the painters touch white primer and prime the board, top and bottom.
17. Add my artwork which will consist of printed out paper clip art signage and airbrushed lines.
18. Spray 3 coats gloss clear (painters touch ultra cover gloss clear)

After step 9-10 should I add more layers of #6 cloth to build up the nose? If so, how many layers? Since I have heavily sanded the whole board does it make sense to add the #6 mat across the whole board, Top & Bottom? Ok to add paper printouts of clipart and text signage before the gloss spray?

Answer 1

Broadly speaking, your steps seem perfectly reasonable. Completing them will leave you with a board with protection and strength.

Your question at the bottom is entirely up to you - if you are likely to bash the nose into rocks or while transporting, then adding more layers will add protection, but personally I wouldn't worry too much. They are pretty robust.

And as for artwork, you can add it as final layer, or under final layer of fibreglass if you want to really protect it. Again, totally up to you.