What are North kiteboards base made of? (P-Tex repair?)

[flybykite]

I've got a 2011 North X-Ride I have abused in some very shallow waters with barnicles and broken shells on the base. Many big gouges in the plastic material. After extensive research on the net I still cannot confirm what the base material is and if clear P-Tex candles will work to fill the gouges. Has anyone had first hand experience repairing this?
It rides just fine but looks like crap. I wouldnt mind restoring it to a resellable condition if possible.
Thanks for your experience here.

[DirkGently]

Give it a shot, it's going to take all your saavy with the candles to make it stick though. Never going to look THAT great...

[letsgoflyakite]

It doesn't look crap. It looks ' hardcore' My excuse for a scratched board anyway..

[edt]

isn't it just expoy, with some sort of laminate inside the board?

http://www.northsports.com/northkites/n ... ducta.html

I think ptex will just fall out, I don't see how it would stick. Let us know how it goes.

[JMF]

UHMWPE (Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene) also known as P-TEX is used mainly in the snowboarding industry. There were a few guys using P-TEX bases but due to it being slightly opaque they started using PET film which is basically clear and shows off graphics better. P-TEX can handle more abuse than PET film mind you. Not sure what North uses.

viewtopic.php?t=2375033&p=742362

[dyyylan]

have you thought about using surfboard repair stuff, like suncure? one of the corners of my twintip delaminated about a half inch when i dropped it on the ground a little too hard, and i just cut the top layer off and put suncure all over it. if you do it right its a smooth clear finish and mine has held up for months now and I don't see it ever failing. Tube of suncure is $5-8 and it cures in 3-10 minutes in the sunlight. super easy

[C Johnson]

As far as I can tell North is not using PTex on any of their current boards. They should. Maybe they will in the future.

Sun Cure sounds like a good route. Another brand of suncuring/UV cure epoxy is called Solarez which has chopped fiberglass in it to add strength.

[flybykite]

I cannot see anything bonding to this boards surface for long. I think it may be PET.
Perhaps I will just live with the scars. I may try to take an Iron to it and see what effect it has on the finer scratches. In any case, No more riding on barnicles and rocks

[C Johnson]

At least you're not hitting rocky mountain oysters!


I have ripped up many boards from oysters. Its just a fact of life living and riding in hood canal. Unless you are cutting into the core it shouldn't cause much structural damage. I've used snowboard wax a few times now to fill base scratches to make the bottom smooth again. The wax will at least seal any core shots from water