Simple question: is their a good way to keep the trailing edge of the daggers from getting chewed up by the dagger board trunk? Seeing this on a C2. Not sure if its endemic to this boat or a usage issue or what.
Thinking of adding some small pads to the bottom/aft end of the trunk (sides).
Not really, no. The C2 and the Viper have gybing boards, so they slop around in the trunk a lot. Double check that the trailing edge of the trunk is smooth, sometimes there's excess glue that oozes out there and it doesn't get taken out perfectly. A small file remedies this. Unless the board had chewed into the hull a bit, then you need to fill and file the slot made by the board. I had a new viper maul a set of. boards because I never checked it before I put it on the water because of excess glue at the bottom.
The carbon trailing edge looks sweet, but its a mother to make look perfect again. One set of my boards are a solid color now, I need to make my other set, and the rudders match.
Easiest way to wreck the trailing edges of your dagger boards is to drag the spinnaker sheet across them while going down wind. You can do it and not even notice until its too late. I think you'll find thats how most of the damage happens
Cases can be a problem like Karl says tho.
At least the carbon TE's are rock hard to begin with. On my boat the gelcoat is chipping on the back of the rudder blades and daggers simply by looking at them wrong <img src="<>/frown.gif" alt="frown" title="frown" height="15" width="15" />
I wouldn't stress over chips above the waterline, as they aren't affecting performance. Definitely check the trunks and make sure the sheets aren't rubbing.
Anyone have any good tips on repairing chips?
I would probably use black gelcoat on those black trailing edges...
I tape a piece of polyethylene plastic or a hotel room key card to one side of the board. I then clamp a straightedge (piece of aluminum, wood, stiff cardboard, hotel key card, etc.) to support the plastic. I then mix up epoxy or gelcoat and wet the exposed fibers in the chip really well. Then comes a mixture of milled glass fibers (or carbon) and epoxy or gelcoat and fill the chip being careful to avoid air bubbles (helps to apply a vacuum to your mixing pot to pop all the air bubbles first if you have the technology). Let it mound up slightly. Let it cure. Sand the one side, tidy up the other - done.
does all that epoxy on your hotel card cause trouble when you're trying to get back in your room?
Or do you effect the repair IN your hotel room? That epoxy smell is often preferable to the smell (pot, mildew and feet) that was there originally <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />
Or do you effect the repair IN your hotel room? That epoxy smell is often preferable to the smell (pot, mildew and feet) that was there originally <img src="<>/smile.gif" alt="smile" title="smile" height="15" width="15" />
hah...no. I collect them for this reason. They are perfect for resin squeegees and other resin related projects. when I run low after not traveling for a while for work, I usually start asking our service guys to collect them for me.
Appreciate the feedback guys. I just went over the boards and used a method similar to Jake's. Looks pretty good (we'll know more about durability after this weekend) it took enough time that I'd prefer to avoid the process in the future.
- and I'll never throw away another hotel key again!