dead board?

General Discussion
1

[img_assist|nid=1067807|title=broken board|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=536|height=640]

trying to figure out if my board can be repaired. the top part only of the glass is cracked and i can't tell if the foam is cracked and or if it is reparable. and if i glass a layer of carbon over the entire board, all sides, will that make it stronger then it ever was before?

thanks!

[img_assist|nid=1067807|title=broken board|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=84|height=100]

2

i had a similar thing happen to a longboard.  i was out on a pretty big day, got caught inside and turtled my board, holding onto the rails  closer to the nose.  the wave grabbed me and my board, and flipped me over on top of it.  when i paddled back out, i noticed that the bottom of the board had a crack all the way across, just like in your pic.  as i’m sitting out on my board, i figured i’d just repair the crack and that would be it.  a wave came, i paddled for it and dropped in, and as i’m flying down the line, i hear a loud ripping noise as the board stops dead, like someone threw on the brakes.  the water caught the loose bit of glass, and stripped the glass off the bottom of the board.  i took it home and stripped all of the glass off to recycle the blank, and noticed that the stringer was cracked, even though the foam was intact.  in your situation, my guess is that the stringer is likely cracked as well, because if the board flexes enough to pop the glass like that, the stringer may well have given way.  in the pic, it looks like there is something that may be drilled into the stringer right by the cracked glass.  if so, i’ll be anything that the stringer is cracked.  i would router out on either side of the stringer crack, and glue and clamp pieces of wood on both sides of the stringer to repair it, and then fill in around it and glass over the crack (or the whole board if you prefer.)

3

If you're going to keep it up, then yeah, I would.

BTW, shoudn't read "dead board", it should say "murdered board" LOL!!

4

IMO if the foam were cracked too it would hinge open - if it were mine, I would just sand it down to the weave, and re-glass over the crack with some 6 oz. e-glass, a 6" wide strip from rail to rail.

How did that happen?

5

i was using it as a kiteboard and jumping on it, so it wasn’t really designed for it. you think re-glassing an entire board will make it strong for doing such things on it?

 

thanks!

6

For a kiteboard, put full length carbon rods - you can get pultruded carbon rods - called Graphlite. These are used by airplane home builders, expecially sail plane (glider) builders.
The magnificent thing about these pultruded carbon rods: the compression strength is ~70% of the tensile strength

 

peace out

7

 using things for a purpose theyre not designed for is a male speciality… who hasnt used a scewdriver to open a can or a bucket of bricks to delicately hold a repair together.

 Its the bit of ‘McGyver’ in all of us.

8

hey ben.

im pretty much a lame ass surfer, but at least a half ass kiter, sometimes I hold my own among the kite kooks…

Anyway, the typical minimum layup for a kite surfboard is going to be like 12-18 oz on deck and 10-16 on the bottom for longevity purposes.

So until you get there, you have a real delicate board for kiting.

And once you do get there, you have a heavy board without the flex you want. And if you land hard on it, still it cracks.

Or you buy a firewire or tufflite and try not to crush it.

In many cases they seem to hold up for a few years if treated like a lady. In fact I have a similar build going on 7 years old -but I never jumped it more than say 4 feet high.

So yeah, throw a splint on the stringer and a 6-8oz belly-band round the crack and have at it…

 

 

9

The stringer’s cracked.  Dead board.  Yes it’s fixable, but will never be the same.  I’d put it to rest and build another.  Or, fix it and give it to a grom. Mike

10

IMHO a broken stringer is not that bad.

 

The stringer is more flexible than the glass, it doesn’t contribute to the boards stiffness by horizontal forces in the stringer. The stringer acts as a seperator like in an I-beam. It contributes to the board’s strength by adding buckling resistance to the glass, this means that a broken stringer is not that bad.

 

I repaired my broken board, and don’t notice a big difference apart from the extra weigth.

 

but that’s just my thought, no proved science.

11

 

for this board or for any board - if i want to put another layer of glass over the entire board to strengthen it had a few questions - 

- whats the best way of sealing off the fin boxes? if i use tape won't it crack on the edges when i pull the tape off? how do they do it when they originally glass a board with removable fins?

 - is the best way to prep the surface to roughly sand texture into it?

 - do i glass the deck of the board first wrapping the glass around the rails and onto the base, then glass the base wrapping the glass around the rails to the deck, or doesn't really matter? as i've never done a whole board before. 

thanks!

 

12

I have glassed over a finished board.  I cleaned it up good, sanded everything with 100 grit, taped the fin boxes with blue masking tape, and glassed.  Just cut the glass at the tape line when the resin gels, and pull the tape up.  I wouldn't worry about lapping the rails again, unless you really want to.  You could just let it drape and sand it off at the rail apex.