Base patch help/advice needed

[Out_to_lunch]

I need some help or advice on what to do about putting on a base patch. In a couple sentences, here's what I'm dealing with.

I have a rectangular (the last shop cut it into a rectangle) hole about 3/4in * 3 3/4 in in the base of one of my skis right on the edge. I took it into the shop to see what they could do about it. They looked at it and said that the base is too thin to effectively put the base patch on it. They would need to put it in and then sand it down to match the existing base. By doing this, the epoxy wouldn't hold as well causing the patch to come off which would explain why this is the second time a patch has come off this season.

Instead of taking my skis into the shop every time I use them and paying $25 I just got a patch from the guy and instructions on what would be a "good start" on reparing this problem.

So my question is, aside from getting a new pair of skis (might happen anyway, its almost Christmas) What is the best way to get this patch to actually stick for more than half a day?

My thought was to cut the patch a bit smaller than the hole (so that there is a small crack all around the patch and base, put it in, let it set overnight, sand it down even with the rest of the base, then fill the crack in with p-tex to kind of lock it in. Is this going to work?

Any and all advice is welcome as I have no other ideas at all.

Edit: I'll see If I can get a picture or two up too.

[bossass]

Thin bases are a bitch. I tried to salvage a pair of Explosiv's for a coworker last winter and ground right through the base in a few spots.

You're idea sounds pretty good, but the p-tex to fill the gap won't bond with the metal in the edge or core if there is any. No matter what it's bonding to you'd be better off using base weld (p-tex + epoxy, comes in a rope that's wound on a spool). A shop should clip you off a few inches, which will do the trick. I think you can melt it with a lighter, although the tip of an old clothes iron, just hot enough to melt it, would work better.

[El Chupacabra]

Thin bases are a bitch. I tried to salvage a pair of Explosiv's for a coworker last winter and ground right through the base in a few spots.

You're idea sounds pretty good, but the p-tex to fill the gap won't bond with the metal in the edge or core if there is any. No matter what it's bonding to you'd be better off using base weld (p-tex + epoxy, comes in a rope that's wound on a spool). A shop should clip you off a few inches, which will do the trick. I think you can melt it with a lighter, although the tip of an old clothes iron, just hot enough to melt it, would work better.

Haven't tried it myself yet, but wouldn't a big soldering iron also work to melt the metal grip stuff?

[Vinman]

PC-7 epoxy. bonds to metal and core material. Very tough stuff. Do search for PC-7 on here . I know I have posted about it before

edit
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showt...highlight=PC-7

[FLEX]

I had to do a similar repair myself and I used a good two part epoxy. I filled the hole ( close in size to yours) with the epoxy and then sanded it so everything was flush and smooth and it has worked great. Sure , the epoxy doesn't hold any wax but the repair has held up to 30 -40 days of hard skiing.
I'll try to find a pic.

[FLEX]

[Out_to_lunch]

Thanks for the help and Ideas guys.

I made a stop by Lowe's and picked up some marine epoxy with a strength rating of either 1900 or 1600 psi (I dont remember which). It said that it would stick to pretty much everything and took some time to set, so If I screwed up at the start i could fix it.

I put the epoxy on the patch and the the hole and put it in place. I did keep the patch a bit smaller than the hole but made sure that there was epoxy there that the p-tex that i then put in there would have something to stick to. I clapmed this down and let it sit for about 24 hours.

Instead of sanding the patch down with a belt sander i used a dremel and some bit that looked like it would tear almost anything up. I ground down the patch to where it was pretty much even with the rest of the base. Then I just took some sand paper and sanded it by hand to where it was a bit smoother.

Next I dripped p-tex over the whole area being worked on. Then I took a blow torch and a metal scraper, heated up the p-tex to where I could use the scraper and smoothen it out and remove the excess. Then a final coat of wax.

All in all I think it worked very well. It doesnt look very pretty, but looks solid. I just need to get them out to see how it is really going to hold up.