Ding repair questions

Long story short. 8 foot wave…board and I over falls…both hit bottom hard…board casualty! Once I came up and checked the board over, I noticed several (20+) cracks that run from rail to rail on the bottom of my longboard…they start from about 10" from the nose and run back to about 2.5-3 feet…every half inch or so(parallel to the stringer). If I run my fingernails over the bottom, I can feel the fractures and I can also see the cloth near the cracks. Now I had two ideas of what to do here. I could just sand the area down till I touch cloth and then do a sanding and gloss coat over, in hopes that the resin will resaturate the cloth. I guess this is okay if the cloth hasn’t been comprimised. The second thought was to remove the whole section of cloth altogether till I reach foam, feather out the fiberglass edges and then relaminate and gloss the area. I guess my only concern here is getting a good bond between the old cloth and new. Any thoughts on what I should try here. I’m not overly concerned on how it ends up looking as long as it will stay together and still surf decently. Any ideas or help you guys can offer is greatly appreciated. Many waves. Dee

I got the same problem too. I made a 46"L 1/2"thick skimboard with high density foam and in my first try, I jump on the board, it skiped away and no crack found. Later I tried to use it as a boogie~~~… What a big mistake thought I wanted to try the weight tolerance of it, eventually cracks found. What next should I do? Sand it or just cover another epoxy resin on top of it? Thanks Regards, Crabie

The second thought was to remove the whole section of cloth altogether > till I reach foam, feather out the fiberglass edges and then relaminate > and gloss the area. I guess my only concern here is getting a good bond > between the old cloth and new. Your second thought here is the best idea. Since the board is buckled, the proper way to fix this would be: remove the glass with a router, I use a Dremel with the router attachment, and reglass and/or fill in prior to reglassing with microballons/resin mixture. Getting a good bond will not be a problem if you feather the old glass by sanding 1-2in beyond the routed portion prior to re-glassing. -John

Thanks John. That’s pretty much what I thought was the better way to go. Now if I’m going to remove all that cloth/resin in the nose area…do you think I should go ahead and put a concave in there while it’s open? Just a thought. Later Dee

Thanks John.>>> That’s pretty much what I thought was the better way to go.>>> Now if I’m going to remove all that cloth/resin in the nose area…do you > think I should go ahead and put a concave in there while it’s open? Well, I would keep it consistant with the shape that is already there, but I would only do so after you fill in with a microballon and resin mix and then re-glass. -John

John, I just bought a dremmel and for the same reason, fixing cracks. It works better than I had hoped, I used the cutting tool and just went right along the crack to the cloth. I opened up the channel that I created to about 1/8" and filled in with resin. No more crack, it came out great. I can see if you had mulitple cracks in the same place that this would be to much work and maybe not a good idea because of strenght. Question: what is a microballon? Phil.

Question: what is a microballon? Phil. Yes, the dremel has been a great tool for me. I just repaired a huge delam on my deck using the dremel. Microballons are basically beads of foam dust that you use to fill in holes or depressions in the foam after removing the old glass. Just do a 60% microballon to 40% resin mixture, the consistancy of peanut butter…cuts down on weight and is easy to re-shape. -John

How about trimming a clean edge with the dremel, peeling off damaged glass and glassing in a fabric print inlay with pinstripes and gloss? A glasser friend did just that with an old “Da Cat” and won a prize at a Santa Cruz event featuring old boards.

It’s funny you should mention this John…I was thinking about this myself. Last night I removed the damaged cloth…basically the first three feet of the bottom, about 1 1/2 inches in from the rail. I was contemplating putting in a hibiscus floral patterned fabric that I’ve had kicking around for a few years. Bought the fabric a few years back for a board I had in mind, but ended up going with other designs instead…might be nice to make use of the fabric! The board is all white except for one logo on the deck, so it should look fine. Seeya Dee

It’s funny you should mention this John…I was thinking about this > myself.>>> Last night I removed the damaged cloth…basically the first three feet of > the bottom, about 1 1/2 inches in from the rail. I was contemplating > putting in a hibiscus floral patterned fabric that I’ve had kicking around > for a few years. Bought the fabric a few years back for a board I had in > mind, but ended up going with other designs instead…might be nice to > make use of the fabric!>>> The board is all white except for one logo on the deck, so it should look > fine.>>> Seeya>>> Dee I have a similar project going only it’s a short board where I’m having to let some foam into the deck because someone started on the project and really made a mess. There are some place that have some pits in the foam and I’d like to fill them with as light-material as possible. I hope someone can suggest something as the board is a little 6’1 swallow tail thruster that’s on 2 7/16ths inches thick and I’d like to keep it as light as possible. The bottom is still in real good shape. Better Surfing, Rich

I have a similar project going only it’s a short board where I’m having to > let some foam into the deck because someone started on the project and > really made a mess. There are some place that have some pits in the foam > and I’d like to fill them with as light-material as possible. I hope > someone can suggest something as the board is a little 6’1 swallow tail > thruster that’s on 2 7/16ths inches thick and I’d like to keep it as light > as possible. The bottom is still in real good shape.>>> Better Surfing, Rich Rich, A relatively “dry” mixture of microspheres/Q-cell, a bit of clean foam dust and a small amount of polyester resin works fine. Dale

Rich,>>> A relatively “dry” mixture of microspheres/Q-cell, a bit of > clean foam dust and a small amount of polyester resin works fine.>>> Dale Thanx Dale.