Hi Swaylocks, its been a few years. I used to spend a lot of time on here and gleaned enough knowledge to shape a board. Thanks for that. Anyway, I’ve inherited a board that I want to start surfing and am hoping to get some advice. I’ve search a bit but had some specific questions I couldnt find answers to.
So let me give you a few details about our sick patient. 6’11" Channel Islands single fin, not sure what year but its probably the 80’s. I’m no expert. Was damaged while on a plane from England to CA a few years ago and been in storage since. belonged to a buddy of mine who is that kinda of guy who destroys everything he gets his hands on. you know the type I assume. This board has been damaged for years.
I have two questions that I’d love some help answering:
What is the best approach with repairing the tail?
what fin would you use with this board? Part 2, what fin would you avoid? Was looking at the True Ames norm flex 7.5.
That tail damage looks like a good candidate for a foam splice rather than a batch of putty/bondo filler. I would leave as much of the deck the deck glass in place as you can… Take a hack saw blade and try to get a clean edge in that damged area from the bottom. Shape a foam piece to fit from the bottom and glue it in place with a foaming adhesive like Gorilla Glue.
Manipulate the ragged edges, sand all the edges smooth and reglass over the foam repair.
On those snackles, etc… sometimes you can carefully grind the damaged resin away - down to the cloth, dab some styrene to the glass, and add fiberglass and resin to make a lot of the bruising and snackles disappear. It will be a lot of work but if you have the time and inclination, you could have a decent rider on your hands.
I think your choice of fin is in the right direction but you might find that a couple of fins would fit a wider range of conditions. My experience with single fins would lead me to go bigger than 7.5" (more like 9") but that’s just me.
If you need some foam, PM me and I can send you a block.
Start by talking to Huck or one of the other Moderators so we can get photos of the surfboard and not Flicker Photos of your X girlfriend. She looks fine but I’m not willing to reshape her or change her in any way…
The damage is not from transport. It’s a life time of total thrashing…The board is not worth much…I started with boards like yours…I still do basket cases…
A new 7’ US Blank in California is less than $100…keep that in mind…