The “Hybrid” Glueless Skin Reglue Experiment

While digging through my garage this week, sorting through boxes and filing cabinets full of the detritus of many years of ski touring, I came across an old pair of Atomic-branded Contour hybrid “glueless” skins. I’m not sure that was the exact model name, but these were the type that didn’t use traditional glue. Instead, they relied on a special tacky backing designed to make them easier to handle and longer lasting than conventional glue skins.

After maybe six or seven years of use, the “hybrid” glue was seriously lacking in stick. The recommended fix for this type of skin is to clean the adhesive layer with a Contour-branded cleaning solution, essentially just a wax remover as far as I can surmise. I’ve done that countless times, but at this point, large patches of the “glue” had peeled off, and the renewed stickiness after a cleaning only lasted a day or two between cleanings.

Faced with this sad state of affairs, I decided to try something drastic: scrape off the old hybrid glue and replace it with traditional ski skin glue.

Tools and Setup

For this little experiment, I used:

• A heat gun
  
• A 3” scraper
  
• A few wood clamps
  
• Gold Label skin glue
  
• Goo Gone (for cleanup)

I clamped the skins to my workbench with the wood clamps so I could apply steady pressure with the scraper while keeping everything stable.

The Scrape

The hybrid glue required a lot of heat to soften. I watched for the moment when it started to bubble and liquify under the heat gun, then used short, jabbing strokes with the scraper to create a little “bow wave” of glue. From there, it was a steady process of working down each skin.

I was fairly thorough in removing the old glue but didn’t obsess over perfection. Even so, by the end I had a sizable pile of purple goop scraped off.

Reglue and Finish

Once the skins cooled, I applied a thin, even layer of Gold Label glue with the scraper and left them to dry in a well-ventilated space.

Total time: about 30 minutes from start to finish.

After wiping down the bench, tools, and my hands with Goo Gone, everything looked (and felt) as good as new.

Results and Notes

The new glue seems to have bonded well, and the skins now behave just like any traditionally glued pair.

Keep in mind that not all hybrid glues are created equal. If you try this yourself, test a small, inconspicuous section first to make sure your version of hybrid glue can be removed without damaging the backing.

I’ve also heard of people tossing hybrid skins into a washing machine on a gentle cycle with mild detergent to revive the glue—apparently with some success—but I haven’t tried that myself.

So there you go: a successful reglue experiment for an aging set of hybrid skins. Pretty similar to Jason’s method in this article, but tailored for a different style of skin.

Have you tried reviving hybrid glue? How did it go? Good, bad, or ugly? Drop a comment below or let me know if you have any questions on the process.