Repair attempt

Okay, spring fever is starting to hit !!

Took the mast-base off the ice sailboard and discovered i am missing the plate that goes between the mastbase and the board. Windman on the SB forum says the plate is to ensure one doesn't scuff the board and NOT to use old CDs or DVDs as a replacement :-)

Took the windsurf board down from the wall and fixed one side with Marine-Tex. It looks a little better, butt I wish the board had been a little more sturdy. Got too good a board as my first shortboard I guess... The first pic is the side without repair - scuffed by mast extension due to crashes or drops. The second one is with the Marine-Tex - no sanding and still wet...You can clique on the pics to get a clearer idea. Hope other boards are doing better than this...

Once dry, I think I will just wet sand it lightly and then put some ReDek on it. This will stop exposure to UV and also give it some grip for the bear feet rides :-) Sorry, my feet are EE wide - so, they are NOT bare, they are bear feet :-) And then obviously do the other side having learned from mistakes on the first attempt :-)

Followup:  Originally I had planned to do the Marine-Tek fix later when it was a little warmer since it suggests 72 degrees Fahrenheit to cure - that's about 24 degrees Celsius or quite warm. Now I put the board inside the house whenever I can, butt this is in the living room since I donut have a very large house. My house is also NOT at this temp. This means it is still sticky after one week. So, what i just did today was pop the basement windows and slide the board through the window. Then after putting the board on my 7 year old son's play table, cranked the temp up to 72 degrees :-)  Also read that Marine-Tex is sensitive to UV. Perhaps I will get some marine paint before the ReDek. This is apparently quite expensive. Perhaps i will speak with my buddy Ed, who is now building a boat - his second one. The first was a canoe. Pretty cool actually !! Hey, i believe this is it !! YUP - Ed confirmed it ...

Just checked the Québecwind forum - people are still going paraskiing on ice {skis with kites} @ Vaudreuils, some are going windskating on the South Shore {skateboard with big rubber wheels and mast base} and some are talking about windsurfing. BEST of ALL worlds ??? Here is a pic taken by Natalie's Steven at Vaudreuils:

Back to the "lost scuff plate" that goes between the mast-base and the windsurf board. This was from my spare mast-base and it got "lost" playing with my winter sailboards. Got some suggestions on StarBoard and Australian w/s forums: cut from old car mats or plastic containers and i discovered the lid from a coffee can is exactly the same size. After going over all I had done with the winter sailboards I found the plate on a shelf in the garage - phew :-)

Here's a last look at my babies with their mast bases removed - before they get put away for the REAL windsurf season :-)