Installing Handle Mounts for a Stand Up Paddle Surfboard at Wet Feet Hawaii – Part 3 – Video

[singlepic=1891,125,188] Wet Feet's resident handyman takes us through the process of installing handle mounts on a stand up paddle surfboard. It's worth it once you have those handles installed on your board. It will be much easier to carry, plus, it can be used as a grip to grab on to while in the water.(click thumbnail to launch video)[gallery=27]Clarke: This is a two-part epoxy.Evan: Five minute kind?Clarke: Five minute epoxy, yep.Evan: Did you mix it already?Clarke: Irsquo;m mixing it now. Two equal sized portions, and again wersquo;re using some highly technical instruments here. The chopsticks is required and as well as some cardboard. This is where it can get a little bit messy. Irsquo;m just going to dip the edges. What this does is provide a seal?Evan: Oh, yoursquo;re only putting the edges on?Clarke: Only the edges. Because the adhesive that is provided with the pad is quite adequate and what this does is seal the edges to prevent any sort ofhellip;Evan: You took off the sticker thing on the bottom already?Clarke: Yep, I took off the sticker thing.Evan: It doesnrsquo;t stick to your glove though, huh?Clarke: It does a little bit. But herersquo;s the trick, right there. And then in, boom. Now that bugger is not coming out, once you set it on there itrsquo;s not moving. Now, number 2. Peel off the back if you can get a grip on it. Hold it on the middle like that.Evan: So the epoxy holds it to the board or it just keeps so that no water goes underneath or something?Clarke: Yep, all of that. It serves both purposes.Evan: And thatrsquo;s all the epoxy put on?Clarke: Thatrsquo;s it. That is it right there. Just to seal the edge.Clark: Itrsquo;s kind of hard to see but you can se all the epoxy is along the middle of the pad here.Clarke: If you have any question, if you have enough epoxy there ndash; this here looks a little bit shy. Since it is five-minute epoxy, you have to work quickly. Irsquo;m going to do a second batch for that side. Irsquo;m not going to try and rush it because things might not come out very well if you do that. So what Irsquo;m going to do is press this right along the side like that. Irsquo;ll clean this up here with a towel.Evan: With acetone or no?Clarke: No. Right now the epoxy is still activating, itrsquo;s still wet so all you need to do is wide off any excess. Done.Clarke: Now, wersquo;re going to do the second set of handles. You can eyeball equal parts of the epoxy. Give it a good thorough mixing to activate the hardener of the resin. Ok, just like we did on the other side. Peel off the adhesive backing.Clarke: This is applying a clear paddle grip to the center of your paddle. And this is nice because it doesnrsquo;t add a whole lot of thickness to the diameter of the paddle shaft. First thing you want to do is measure around, because the differences in diameter vary somewhat. And wersquo;re looking at 3 and frac34; inches. Ok, 3 and frac34;. There.Evan: How do you make sure that thing goes on straight?Clarke: That is you pretty much have to eyeball.Evan: How low are you doing it or high?Clarke: Irsquo;m doing it ndash; I pretty much try and center it. And this is 18 inches long. Itrsquo;s long enough that you have some play because depending what sort of paddling yoursquo;re doing, yoursquo;re going to have your grip a little bit lower or a little bit higher. So this gives you options as to where yoursquo;re going to have your hand.Evan: So just eyeballing it.Clarke: Yep, just eyeballing it. Starting in the middle, wrapping around. Just like that. You can use something hard to help push out any air pockets in there.Evan: Are you just going to overlap it?Clarke: Irsquo;m going to overlap it. Irsquo;m just going to take a razor blade and cut off the excess, right along the seam.Evan: Some bu...