Well I buckled my board after only taking it out about 10 times. Still in perfect condition, except of course for the broken stringer. Its too new to just throw away, i know normally buckled boards aren’t really worth the repair, but i’m on Christmas break from college and might as well give a go at it. I did some searching through the forums, and have a general idea about how I want to approach it but just wanted anybody’s input?
BTW, I attached a couple of photos of the break.
It’s a 6’3 thruster. The buckle is right under my front foot, so i don’t think stripping away the glass around it and laying on some thick pieces is going to cut it. I think the way i’m going to have to go is pulling up the fiberglass on each side of the buckle, routing out a space on each side of the broken stringer and sandwich gluing it. Then laying some fiberglass over. I know this will add a little bit of weight, but the buckle is near the center of gravity of the board so I don’t think it will affect things too majorly. What do you all think? Is there a better method for a board of this size? I’m open to suggestions…
As far as if I was to continue with my idea, would the best way to remove the fiberglass on a new board be to set a router to a shallow depth and just go over it until its down to the foam? Also, the crack extends around the rails a bit, how do remove the glass there? And one last question… Do I need to glue the foam back together, in which case needed to break the board in half completely, or just sandwich glue the stringer?
Thanks for reading through this… I know its pretty long. Just wanted to experienced advice before I continue with this.
Ok ,your board is fixable but will never be 100%. Put it on your stands and using a brick get your rocker back to normal. then if the glass is cracked drizzle a qcell resin mix into the crack let some of it fill the indentation of the crease. when dry sand this back so fairly flat. using about 4in wide strips of glass layup the same as you would a newly glassed board 2layers of 4oz is what I use top and bottom for a ding like this. Hot coat and sand. If you are really keen do some artwork over it spray with clear (protek) and take down to the most disliked surfshop in area and trade in. This is a crease not a buckle
I’ve fixed a broken/buckled board this way with good results…just make sure the rocker is good. It might now be the ideal way to do it, but it will give you many more good sessions.
Leave the existing rail glass on for now. If the break goes all the way through to the deck, put some tape over the deck side crack to keep resin from draining through. On the bottom flats, peel away the glass several inches on either side of the break. You could just cut it with a utility knife and straight edge, but a router is ok, I guess. Cut out channel of foam on either side of the stringer and remove any loose material. Make the channels several inches long above and below the break. Take some fin rope, saturate it, and lay it in the channels. Make sure you have a nice, thick rope and make sure all voids are filled with resin. The idea here is to bond the stringer back together, beef it up with fiberglass rope by bonding the rope to the stringer, and get a nice, flat, wide, structurally strong beam to bond to the new bottom glass you’re going to lay over it. If the foam is broken all the way across, remove any loose material and fill it with resin/cabosil mix. Make sure that you squeegee the fin rope and filler flat with the foam. When cured, Lay a cloth patch in the repair area so it fits perfectly in the bare foam space and runs right up to the edges of the cut glass. Cut another patch that covers the first, and overlaps onto the (sanded) old existing glass. Wet it out, let it cure, and fair out the edges of the overlap.
Now the rails… Gouge out the cracked glass and fill with resin and cabosil. Put some tape over it to give it the rail shape. When cured, sand the area and patch with cloth. Fair the edges of the patch when cured, and hotcoat the whole deal. Sand.
If the deck is cracked, do the same there. If it’s just stress cracked but still has good lamination, just sand it down to the weave and hotcoat it.
Unfortunately, the board will never flex the way it did before it was broken. But it will be strong and water tight.
Howzit pandanus, One thing about buckled boards is most of the time the foam is cracked all the way to the deck but you can’t see it. I use the pointed end of a bamboo skewer and start at a place you can see the crack on the bottom foam and the skewer will follow the cracked foam. I continue to follow the crack as far as it goes and that usually is to the rail where some times the crack splits into spider cracks. Keep digging and goe deep as you can then use the other end of the skewer to dig all the way to the deck. I try to get the crack about 1/8" wide then fill with a mixture of runny resin and Q-sel til it reaches the rails. Don’t put any S.A. in the mix so it will make a better bond. You can sand this since there’s not a lot to sand, then proceed with the glassing. After I started using this process the boards never seemed to break again in the same spot. I know this seems like over kill but it works great since now there’s no crack which is a weak link that allows the board to break again. Aloha,Kokua
Thanks for the input, it’s giving me a lot to think about.
So it seems unanimous that sandwiching with 2 strips of balsa is not the best idea. The crease on the bottom goes up around the rails about halfway. Beyond that, the deck is in perfect condition, the glass is flawless.
Kokua, your method seems to work without doing anything to the stringer? Just leaving it broken?
To me a buckled board is a broken board. Great advice so far. One guy told me to glass out 4 inches past the break ,one guy said 18 inches of cloth total when fixing broken boards…I recommend a diamond or butterfly pattern with your cloth to help with flex and/or future breaks…Some say add strength to the broken stringer ,some say the rails provide the strength. I’ve done many things but I belive that your strenght is in a strong rail. Do a good overlap.
I’ve done a few like this and thanks to advice from Sways they have been fine and never broken again. One snapped in two and I set the rocker, used polyurathane wood glue to put the halves back together. Then used a router to cut a slot on either side of the stringer and glued (epoxy) plywood on either side. Reshaped and glassed. No worries.
Another (very like yours) I did the clean-up as suggested above and filled the foam with Q-cell and epoxy, faired it and did 2 layers of 200gm glass and a carbon patch on top. OK it is stiffer than the original, but my surfing is not so good that I notice the difference. Sometimes being a mediocre surfer has it’s advantages, just getting a wave does it for me!!
It’s all about spreading load, oh yes, I prefer epoxy, much stronger.
Happy Christmas. Dark and windy here but off we go to the beach…
Howzit truth, I never sandwhich the stringer because the area in front and in back of the sandwhich will be stronger than the stringer and then those become a weak link. Do the diamond glass pattern which is the best way to eliminate a weak link. S.A. is surfacing agent.Aloha,Kokua
