After another frustrating surf on my small fish due to a lack of surfing time i rang around for a budget mid length board. I ended up getting a 7s super fish xl, a 7’3’'. I would struggle to by a shortboard for what i paid for it, so i couldn’t say no. It has a discolouration under the glass, but not where my feet go, and not near the rail.
Anyway, it has a 4x4oz deck, which might be ok, but i really hate golf ball looking decks, and im thinking of putting a 3/4 length 4oz patch on the deck.
To me it sounds simple, and would cost me next to nothing. I plan to just hit the deck with some 100 grit lightly ( its a sanded coat ), tape off a few inches inside the rails, then lam the patch on, sand the edges down when done, and then filler coat.
My question is, will this help to ensure a dent free deck?? My fish has a double 6oz deck and after about 12 months has no dents at all.
I know this board is made in thailand or somewhere, but any spare time i do get to myself i have a choice of surfing, or shaping . Not much point shaping if you cant surf the thing!. Just want something for the next 18months to 2 years when the kids are older and i get more free time.
Cheers
Sorry , just did some searching on the net, from the sevens site, this board has a 6+4 oz deck. Sounds much better than double 4oz.
Should be alright, i’ll wait and see how it goes, if it does start to dent too much then i might worry about it.
I bought one of those in a 5’10" or so when they first showed up and I traded it back in as quick as I could after I noticed the deck doing exactly what you fear. Maybe they have changed from 4oz to 6oz since then. I’d be interested to hear any advice.
I do have a 6’4" single fin which was also made in Thailand which has an incredibly strong glass job. Deck is still great after a year and I’ve even had it tangled up with a mal with a trip over the falls on a solid 5’ footer with not even a shatter.
When I bought it from the local surf shop off the rack it didn’t have any “made in Thailand” stickers on it and no one mentioned that it was from there. It is glassed with their shop logos and I assumed it was shaped at their local factory.
No worries for me with “made in Thailand” as my wife and two daughters who were all born there didn’t have the sticker either.
put as many glass patches on it as you want.
fact is that if the foam on the deck of the board doesn’t have enough ultimate strength to withstand the denting, then the extra glass will help spread the load, but won’t stop the dents. In other words, you’ll still get dents, but they’ll be wider and shallower.
really comes down to “Did they choose the right blank?” “Does the blank have higher density foam on the deck?” “Did they take off too much of the HD foam by choosing the wrong blank, leaving on the softer, lower density foam behind?”. You won’t know the answer to those questions until you start surfing it, but if it’s yes to any of them, at the dimensions you’ve just posted for the board, then you should probably just pass it off to a 135lb, 6’6" buddy of yours, …bargain boards aren’t always a bargain; surf it, break it, get another.
Cuttlefish, if that happens then i will have to think about doing something, fingers crossed. I checked some reviews on the site, one guy says he was worried about the glass job as it was made in thailand, but reckons its solid and has no worries about it. No sticker on it, except the global industries one.
Greatwhitenorth, fingers crossed the foam is ok.
Will pick it up next week probably. I could’ve got a 6’8’’ for the same price, and im pretty sure i could’ve surfed it fine ( my fish is 6’2’’ ), but the 7’3’’ looked like a perfect replacement for my minimal ( super fun board, put many a smile on my dial in all conditions ), and just looks like a wavehogging small wave machine. I get to surf on tuesdays, when my daughter is in childcare, so, if its totally crap, i either surf, or wait another week. I’d rather surf, purely for my sanity’s sake 
If you haven’t already, grab the rails and see if you can dent the board with your thumbs. While the area under your foot will get considerably more stress, if your thumbs dent it then surely your feet will. Most shop boards fail this perfunctory test, dent to hell in six months, and are thrown away. (sigh)
Put a deck patch on it if you feel the board can take the extra pound or so. You need only reinforce the area you’ll stand, two separate oval patches ought to do it. You want stiff resin so I’d stay off epoxy on this one.