I just managed to buy myself a second hand Carved Tantrum custom carbon board. It not in fantastic condition and I've decided to restore it as best I can to as new condition. First I want to appologise that I'm writing this on my iPhone and have pictures on my phone but don't know how to get them off my phone to show you on this forum. So web I figure out how to do that I will post some pics.

I was hoping to completely restore it to factory condition but I'm unable to get replacement stickers so I will have to come up with a custom project.

So right now, I have removed all stickers from the board and will head to the hardware store tomorrow to buy some sort of solvent to remove excess glue left from the stickers. I've bought 600, 800 and 1200 grit wet and dry sand paper and will then sand the board down gently till all the scratches and chips aren't visible anymore. Then it's my intension to have a couple of coats of automotive clear coat applied and then polish go a mirror glaze.

Ok, so here is my questions to you guys and girls,

1. Will this kind of finish be enough or would I need to gel coat the board, particularly since on the bottom edges (rails) the clear coat has warn through to the carbon fibres. The fibres themselves are undamaged.

2. At the moment the bottom of the board is a satin finish and the top is gloss. Should I repeat that finish or should I go for a completely glossy or satin look?

3. I'd really like to incorporate the text 'carved' onto the bottom of the board and inparticular I'd like it to be glossy while the rest of the bottom is satin. Do you think that this will look good on an all carbon board?

I appreciate all your comments!

Hi Duke,
I love the effect of gel coat sanded 'till you can see the carbon coming up in the surface. Then you should use an UV protector finish in case the carbon is visible. Place the stickers before you apply the finish. Also speed finish will work.

On the rails, you can glue an ABS line to close the fibers junctions. Once the new rail is sticked on pass a 200 sand paper then finish the angles with a barber razor blade.

Ciao !
Faber

Yes this will work, Provided the dings don't go too deep in the carbon. Any depressed areas will have to be built up with a glob of paint. I did the same with a carbon hood on a car that was an oxidized mess. I went up to 2000 grit sand paper as my electronic polisher sucked and was doing more harm than good. So I ended up having to hand polish it. Trying to get a MIRROR swirless glaze can drive you INSANE. I stopped when I could read the serial numbers off a dollar bill but there was still more work I could do. There really isn't a point shooting for that on a kiteboard given it's use. Make sure the paint has a UV inhibitor or it may oxidize (turn cloudy white) depending on how the original board was built and what epoxy/gelcoat they used and how much you sanded through. If you're looking for AWESOME results ensure you spray your paint in a Clean area. (your garage is NOT clean, nor is your back yard) Lot's of dust and shit will fall on it otherwise . It's all correctable with sanding but will leave small imperfections that you (and probably only you) will see when polishing. I've heard wetting the floor in the garage helps immensly at keeping the dust on the floor.

It all depends on what your "good enough" standard is. I was working on a $1000 hood on a $60,000 black car with PERFECT paint under 1500 watts of lighting. But you can get good(ish) results if you just sand and shoot with a spray can. Oftentimes just hitting a lightly scratched board with a polisher makes it look "new enough" by removing removes all the white scratches from the clear. I'd start here, once you wet sand it can take a lot to make it look good again.

Or just say F it all and buy a 3M di-noc carbon sticker and be done with the whole process

As for gelcoat I don't believe gelcoat can easily be applied after the building is done, usually it's thick as hell and cured in the mold when the part is being built not something that is easily sprayable or paintable.

As for finish, many in the sailing community indicate a wet sanded finish is faster than a polished finish. To my knowledge it's really just superstition at this point. I`ve researched the topic immensely and never seen ANYONE present any data to support this. Other than the guy who just sanded is boat for 10 hours and said he could ``TOTALLY`` feel the diffence the next day on the water. ``just rub your hand on it, it feels WAY more slippery``

I`m not saying there isn`t potential with regards to CONTROLLED aligned surface texture (3m riblet film, denticals) etc which prevent momentum sapping eddy's from contacting most of the he wing surface. (this has also been proven by NASA) but I don`t think the wet sanding vs polishing has really been approached in a very scientific manner, so just do what you think looks pretty.

Study of random surface finishes from the aircraft industry has tested and quantified that the better the finish the less drag the object will have so without data to support otherwise, anyone telling you differently is just expressing an OPINION that is contradicting actual test results.

BTW yes I am trying desperately to goad someone for a response here to prove me wrong.... as I`m still laying out my race board building plans...

I need a flow bench.......

Ok here are some pics of my board top and bottom





Also the edges where the gel coat/clear coat has worn to the carbon weave. It's the best macro I can get from my iPhone 4, sorry

Well, the board looks in good shape. I love the carbon view.
If I were you, I would place the ABS EDGE, then just polish ( not sanding ) and speed finish.

That's it !

Hi faber, yes I love that look too, but if I were to sand all the way to the carbon fibres would that reduce the structural integrity of the board? Also what is speed finish?





The scratches are quite superficial, none that I can see go all the way to the carbon and the clear coat on the top is in pretty good condition. I don't need a mirror like finish. Being hand made, there are already imperfections that you probably wouldn't get on a machine made board. I just want the board to look nice so that I feel good using it! At the moment it feels like someone else has scratched it all up and I'm not enjoying it as much.

I'm curious about this 'abs edge', but I'm not a hundred percent sure what you mean. Do you have any photos of examples of what you mean? Also, can I polish the bottom of the board? It is a matte finish, not glossy.

You shold not sand 'till the fiber, just polish it or use a very high sand paper, constantly wet.

About ABS sidewalls, check this out @ Making ABS or P-Tex Sidewalls
http://www.skibuilders.com/howto/skicon/sidewalls.shtml
'course yours are much thinner than those.

Speed Finish it's a prepared spray bottle you can use to make a surface glossy.

Here's my old one. Sorry about the bad quality, is the only one I got.

Your Carved board has been built purposely WITHOUT an ABS rail the top and bottom overlap on the rail giving it strength and shape.

DO NOT fit it with an ABS rail it will ruin the board completely, DO NOT cut through the carbon with anything as doing so weakens the structure.

if you wanted to do anything to make it look good again some low viscosity uv stable epoxy painted over the scuffed areas, if the scuffs are deep do several thin layers wait till it is fully cured and then polish it with wet n dry until you have an even finish then a polishing compound to bring back teh shine.

its a great board just don't screw it up by trying to stick ABS to it.

I must admit my board was built that way since the beginning, it's not an add on. The reason was to preserve the edge from dings.