Ski Racing - February 27, 2012

BACKSHOP

Here, I’ve over-filled the gouge to account for the shrinkage in cooling.

The base is smooth and level, and the gouge is gone. You’ll see a difference in color in the fill zone. Keep an eye on your repair after a day or two of skiing to be sure it will hold. If not, you’ll need a plastic base weld at your favorite race shop.

Step 5: Fill in

Before you light the P-tex repair strip, take a moment and clean up your area, paying special attention to anything that could catch on fire or be damaged from a flame or drippings of hot P-tex. Obvious things are paper towels and base cleaner, but also have a plan for where you are going to set down the hot, burning repair stick. Once you set it down and blow it out, the hot end will still be molten and will drip.

Then, light the repair strip. Hold it carefully so that the flame heats up the end as quickly as possible. It will immediately start to drip — I like to have a section of the ski near the repair area that is well covered in tape, and I’ll let it drip onto the tape. Your goal is to flow the material into the repair, not drip it. It takes a few moments for the P-tex to get hot enough to flow (like a water faucet that is just barely running, but not dripping). Once it starts to flow, move it over the repair, filling in slowly so that the P-tex sits above the base.

Step 6: Cool

Let your repair cool and harden completely. I like to give it a good 15 minutes. That’s the perfect amount of time to take care of the other ski, or another pair.

Step 7: Level

Now you will level your repair, using your sharp scraper and possibly even your razor blade. My favorite way of doing this actually involves a simple machined true bar that is sold by Wintersteiger — its edge is machined razor-sharp, but it has enough mass to pull it through a P-tex repair.

Step 8: Evaluate

How does it look? Depending on how big the gouge was, you might need to go back to step 5 and repeat one or even two more times. Even a perfectly done repair in a high-wear zone (next to the edge, underfoot) most likely won’t hold up over time.