Health & Safety Warning.

Uncured Epoxy resin is harmful and can sensitise the skin.  This can result in various skin problems, from itching to dry cracked skin and worse.  Once you become sensitised, it never goes away. 

There is an easy way to protect yourself, wear disposable gloves and avoid getting resin or hardener on the skin and don't use Acetone to remove resin from the skin.  

If you are grinding or rubbing down repairs, avoid breathing the dust, wear a dust mask. 

Avoid the fumes from the resin and hardener

Only epoxy resin should be used to repair Double Dutch slalom boats.

Polyester resin, such as the Isopon and  Fastglas kits from Halfords are not suitable for repairing our boats. There is a good chance that if the hull flexes, the repair wont and will debond itself from the hull.

West Systems have a good range of resins suitable for repairs.  Most Ships Chandlers stock the West System range.

The secret of a good repair is in the preparation.  Get all the tools and materials required gathered together prior to mixing the resin. 

Abrade the damaged area down to the fibres, extend beyond the damaged area by about 2 cms.  Mask of the repair so that excess resin is easily removed.  If the surface is dented or punctured, try to get it back into shape or fill in the damaged area, do not leave voids below the repair. 

Cut the material to size, the first layer should cover the damage, subsequent layers should overlap each other by about 1 cm.  Try to mix only enough resin to carry out the repair. 

Paint resin onto the area and lay down the first layer, wetting it out thoroughly.  Place the next layer on top and press it into the bottom layer, it should absorb excess resin from the bottom layer, wet out any dry areas and repeat with all subsequent layers.

Finally cover the repair with Peelply or heavy plastic and squeegee out excess resin and press it all down to consolidate the repair.

When fitting footrests, I recommend that you decide on the position and drill the first hole in the hull.  Then get a long 5mm bolt, screw it through the first hole in the footrest from the wrong side.  Push the bolt through the hole in the hull and then you can accurately mark and drill the second hole. This avoids lots of holes chain drilled along the boat.  Don't be tempted to use the same footrest to do both sides, there can be slight variations in the distance between holes, as I have discovered to my embarrassment. (Why do you always discover these things in front of customers)

When finishing repairs, to get a good finish, use either Peelply if you have some, or heavy duty polythene.  Squeegee excess resin from the repair and wipe it off. Cling film can also be used but it is more difficult to get a smooth finish with it.  If you apply heat to polythene or Clingfilm they can crinkle and ruin the smooth finish you were trying to achieve.  

When fitting your seat in a slalom boat, Double Dutch recommend that you place two small pieces of wetted out material (glass, Kevlar or carbon) under the seat at the lowest points, before you bolt it in place.  Then place a piece of material along the front flange of the seat and the hull. Make sure that you have keyed the surfaces where the wetted out material is attaching to.

If I have to remove a seat, I carefully use a hot air gun to warm up the seat securing strip and peel it off the hull, by carefully warming the centre of the 2 halves of the seat, you can pull the seat off the hull.  You have to be careful not to over heat the hull.  Be especially careful if you have an F construction sandwich hull as it can delaminate if you overheat it.

If your carbon hull has a small dent or hole, but you don't want to put on a large external patch, you can mix up resin with some finely chopped Carbon fibre to make a paste which can be used to seal the damage.  ( Not suitable if the area has lost its rigidity)

By washing your brushes in Acetone after use and making sure you have got all the resin residue out, you can reuse them.  I find it best to keep them soaking in the Acetone in a sealed container until the next time.