pulled a kook move and nosed into a sandbar on my bellyride back to the beach. Obviously flexed the nose back too far and cracked the hotcoat/gloss.
Is there some way to fill these cracks to seal out water and for aesthetic reasons? Or will I have to sand back to weave and re-coat if I want them to disappear?
Thanks as always!
if you’re just lookin’ for a quick seal, rough it up with some sandpaper and give it a shot of clear acryllic spray.
Just ride it until it breaks and then make another one… 
Well, that will be the last resort if I can’t come up with anything else…
But I’d really like to fill them if I can, make them invisible again…
Shwus,yikes!..lucky you didn’t snap it… maybe sand it down to the cloth or foam and reglass that area. or just cut the whole bottom lam out down to the foam and start over… it would be great repair lesson… or just do the acrylic thing and ride it to it’s death…
I fix these all the time. Sand it down with 80 until most of the cracks are gone. Laminate a piece of 4 oz. over it (with a lot of overlap), hotcoat, sand, gloss. Repeat the hotcoating if the surface is too low. If you want the cracks completely gone, sand down almost to the weave and brush a light coat of straight styrene directly on them immediately before laminating. Check the opposite side of the board for any glass damage; look for cracks running parallel to the stringer.
Shwuz, Do what Pete C says. I’ve done the same repair on at least three boards and that’s the way it works the best. Doug
…this always happend when the glassers use gloss resin in the longboards…
…really good resin for show mirror finish, but always occur that…
…i think its better to use HC resin …
PeteC,
How does the board look after your method? For example, say you are restoring a board that is primarily a wall hanger and ridden very infrequently. What looks better, a repair by your method, or just leaving the stress cracks alone? Thanks for sharing your tips!
Nick
Hi Nick, For a personal wall hanger, it depends on which side is against the wall. Seriously, this method will get out the cracks if you do the sanding/styrene right, but the cloth is there for a working board, not a wall hanger. Most of the repairs I do are for people with expensive boards and lots of money. Their expectations are for repairs to be invisible and they don’t care what it costs. My philosophy is that if you’re asking high prices, you need to provide the same quality whether they ride the board or hang it on a wall. So I fix all stress cracks the same way.
Thanks Pete,
I will give your method a try. The cracks on my 20 year old baby have kept me from riding it for fear of leaking and discoloration. I would like to ride it a few more times before it retires to the wall.
Nick