The photo shows the problem in need of a repair. Trying to decide whether to: (a) clean it up, put expoxy under the delaminating base material and then clamping, or (b) cut away the delaminated base material, replace with p-tex and file/scrape back to make good. Advice appreciated. (They are well used and much liked skis. I think the damage on the ski tail is cumulative from plonking them down onto steel stairs etc.)
@Slowman you are 100% correct. Don't slam your skis down on concrete or steel steps to remove the snow. This is why we changed the tail piece several years ago. Make sure it's fully dry and there is no moisture in the core. Maybe get the hair dryer into it. Use marine epoxy. You want the good stuff because of the size of the repair and the position. It will stay nice and flexible. Give the topsheet on the tail a light sand, maybe 5-10mm around the rear edge and forward 5-10mm from where the topsheet is. Mask the tail of the ski leaving the sanded section of the topsheet exposed, steel edge etc. Clean the underside of the base. Get the epoxy right into it, make sure you fill whatever free space there is with epoxy, then clamp it. Don't worry about any epoxy that comes out, you're trying to create a seal around the tail section, under the base and between the core, topsheet and rear edge section. If this was a customers ski, I would make it a bit finer for a nicer finish but for my own, I would make sure that sucker was fully sealed. The edge isn't needed for anything, nor the base in that position on the ski, so if it's covered in epoxy that's fine. Were looking for a sealed unit. Manage the overflow so you have a nice low profile coverage. You don't want a block of epoxy on the tail or a solid edge which could grab and tear your repair.
a) Get quite a few like that in the ski hire (but without metal edge). Due to beginners thinking they're cool by slamming the skis into the snow to stand them up - not realising there are rocks at LM just a few cm below the snow surface. Adding to what DPS said, wrap gladwrap around where you put the epoxy so it doesn't stick to your clamp.
This is similar to the issue in the "Ski Repairable?" in Equipment. This is what I posted there, and is applicable to your situation too. I have mentioned the Tognar site, which has a lot of information as well as the products, even lthough it tends to be aimed more at the race brigade than the average punter. You can try p-tex, but it often won't stick to the edges by itself, or will pull out the first time you ski. Tognar have a product called "Metalgrip Ski Base Repair String" which you use for filling next to edges or for core shots before finishing with p-tex. I have used it for over 20 years, and have never had a repair fail with it. I also use their p-tex base repair ribbon which is a lot harder than candles and is just about as hard as the original base material. You just use a temperature controlled soldering iron to melt them into the repair area, and then scrape off the excess once they have cooled.
