I pitch-poled my buddies stingray into the sand last night and when I came up the ama was ripped in half about a quarter of the way down off the nose. I've seen hobie cat hulls damaged like this and simply glassed back together, but I'm not sure if the same techniques would apply here given the materials. Anybody know how to fix this thing? or, where I can find a used ama for cheap, I live in north carolina. Thanks much.
brian.
Submitted by bigstormsurf on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 6:33am
My friend did the same thing to a borrowed boat the day before Maui to Molokai the night before the race so we taped it up with painters sticks and masking tape. then glassed over it. looks ugly but its insanely strong now...
#1 Tue, 02/03/2009 - 8:19am
make sure you use epoxy resin... you can also use bondo after you resing it to make it real smooth before you paint it again.. easy fix..
#2 Tue, 02/03/2009 - 8:24am
Eastern Outrigger fixes broken boats and amas.
#3 Tue, 02/03/2009 - 10:38am
nb, necessity is the mother of invention. Cool looking ama now.
#4 Tue, 02/03/2009 - 11:16am
The thing is bombproof now too. well at least part of it is.
bigstormsurf, unless you have glassing experience I would send the ama to a professional if is more than a small ding which it sounds like it is (unless its the night before the race like it was for my friend). If there isn't anyone you know that does boat repairs than even a surfshop can point you in the way of someone with glassing experience.
#5 Tue, 02/03/2009 - 8:13pm
Hey bigstormsurf,
i'm the reason the ama pictured above is covered in painters sticks and glass. So to answer the question, yes, it is very possible to fix a snapped ama, and it only cost 25 bucks, i would recommend gettin it professionaly done, but if you really want to get some epoxy, glass, and painters sticks, you could make your ama work again
#6 Tue, 02/03/2009 - 10:21pm
LOL ...Next time position the alma any way you can to just get a ply or two of glass on it to hold ( tack ) in position ... THEN glass over it for strength.
#7 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 3:40am
Didn't exactly have time for that. The race started within 12 hours of Will breaking it...
#8 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 10:47am
How did you achieve the cool looking aqua sparkling effect? Looks very classy contrasting with the grey duct tape and orientation of the timber decorative rail.
rambo
#9 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 11:07am
I'm pretty sure those are trade secrets Rambo
#10 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 5:29pm
Thanks much everyone, I'm just going to try to glass it up, we don't care what it looks like, function is everything. So, epoxy resin is a must?
#11 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 5:46pm
f.y.i. when glassing a paddle shaft sometime I would wrap it all in electric tape to squeeze the execs resin out.
#12 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 7:56pm
A roll of plastic film (the on used to wrap food) is a wonder to squeeze the excess resin out. It doesn't adhere to the cured resin.
#13 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 8:19pm
Yeah but take it off when the 'poxy has just jelled. Actually a piece of silk cloth under it will work even better. Just don't use the wifey's good nightie.
R
#14 Wed, 02/04/2009 - 8:36pm
West Marine has a two component system resin and hardener, see link below.
That is very handy when you only need a limited amount of resin/hardener, you just squeeze it out, mix 50:50, clean to work with.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10...
#15 Thu, 02/05/2009 - 10:03am