hey whats up, i have a really good board that i left in a boardbag in my garage for a few months while i was abroad, now that i’ve come back and pulled it out a small section of the deck has a squishy feel. i know this is because the fiberglass has raised off of the foam (or i could be wrong), but what i really want to know is can this be fixed and how…i really dont want to lose that board.
thanks!
Congratulations, you have what just about every shop mass-produced board gets. Cause: overshaping resulting in weak foam, coupled with an inadequate glass schedule. You’re crushing the deck under your weight. The foam closest to the glass job has been destroyed, and the damage is going deeper every time you use the board. The foam has little memory when it’s intact, and no memory when it’s crushed, so it will not spring back. The glass however has some memory, so it comes back to the shape it set in when the board was glassed. Result is what I call the “trampoline deck” and you’ve called “ballooning”. Same thing either way.
It’s gonna get worse, and it’s hideous to patch, cuz it’s gonna get worse. Eventually the glass will have been bent too sharply over the stringer and it’ll crack, and water will get in. This is the kiss of death, most of the time.
You could cut into the balloon and fill with one or another material, but the balloon is gonna expand where you don’t fill it, and the cut may leak.
BUT YOU CAME TO THE RIGHT PLACE! The knowledge on this board can (if you got the guts and the elbow grease) make your own boards that are stronger and far outlast the shop potato chips. They will of course be a little heavier, and as a result slightly less responsive, but home-made boards are about 1/3 to 1/5 the price of shop stuff. The choice is yours. Alll by itself, an archive search will tell you everything you need to know. Best you can do is get together with someone who has made at least three boards. Together, the sky’s the limit. I generally figure after tutoring for three boards, you should have been shown everything you need to learn, to make ANY kind of board.
Check the archives under delam repairs for specific procedures. A lot depends on how high the glass has ballooned from the foam. If it is too high, you’ll need to cut out the entire section, fill, and reglass. After you repair it, sell it. The problem is only going to reoccur or happen somewhere’s else.
man this sucks then…the shape was really perfect for me. and its a natural art shaped by pete dooley. a pretty decent board…well ill just try to replicate it myself then thats all… thanks guys
Wilhelm,
If you really like the board, fix it and don’t get rid of it. I’ve had some pretty large delam areas and had 'em for years after. Can you live with the blemish too? Every board in my quiver has at least one ding, chipped tail, etc.
While you were away, was the bag you stored it in a travel type bag? Some those act like ovens during warm weather, which might have contributed to the problem. I always leave mine unzipped when a board is in them for any period.
Good luck whatever you decide.
Herb Bean
i had a board with what might be the same problem…the deck started to look like it was delaminate and expand the glass owtwards like is was getting filled with air …well these were large spots like 6 inch by 2 foot…i riped off everything that was not attached…but made shure not to over do it…just be carefull about whats still good and whats not ,around the edges its kindof hard to tell…it looked horrible and at first ,i wished i left it alone…this board was 6+4 deck …+hotcoat…so to try to fill the gap i used 8 oz to fit perfectly in the bare area…then covered the whole area to about 3 inches out…with 4oz and hotcoated over that…i can feel and see where it was fixed…but i never thought it would last…and its probally been 6 months of use and its still fine
I’ve fixed similar delams on favorite boards the following way, but keep in mind, like others have said, it is also a symptom and will likely happen somewhere else. There are surely better ways two, and hopefully someone else will chime in. Find two or three decent sized plastic syringes. Fiberglass Hawaii has some. One is for practice so you can find the right consistency of the following paste. Mix resin and catalyst with white Microballoons until you get a thick mix that still can come out the end of the syringe. Next drill two holes, one at each pole of the delam, with about an 1/8-inch drill bit. Next inject the paste in one hole until it fills the delam and comes out the other hole. After curing, dome a little ding repair resin with fibers over each puka to seal. Enjoy the use you squeeze out of it, it won’t last forever.