Hidden treasure under all that pigment or ???...

General Discussion
1

Would love to get some help identifying, possibly restoring (and riding) this one (pics attached). It would be my first restore, other than your basic ding repairs.

Picked up this board today. Looks to be a stock 60’s Hobie 9’4", 1" balsa stringer. Says NO. 2 on it and the dimensions 9’4" X 22". Thinking the NO. 2 might be a reference that it was a rental (or that it now looks like someone went NO.2 and…ok, I’ll stop now).

Heavy.

Initially, I wasn’t sure if this was a popout (can’t see the stringer on the bottom because of all the opaque “seafoam green” pigment) although I don’t think Hobie licensed any boards to be constructed as popouts. I have a Velzy popout that I learned to surf on, and I know Dextra and Velzy had popouts, among others.

However, the Hobie logo on the lower half of the board, and the thick D fin make me think this is an early 60’s board.

The other logos-the Val Surf and the big diamond Hobie-appear to be glassed on when the pigment was added. There’s also a layer of yellow pigment UNDER the green seafoam color. Not sure if that is original, looks to be added as well, as it masks the original logo in places.

OK, so I took a shot at sanding the bottom with some coarse grit. Wanted to see if there was a stringer. Scrape, scrape, scrape…hmmm, is that foam?

Nope, it’s a 1" balsa stringer. Voila!!!

So, I’d like to sand away at the pigment and see what else I might find. I’m approaching this like an archeological dig.

Just wondering how I should go about sanding off the opaque color? Based on the weight and thickness, I’m guessing there’s a good amount of added glass on this board. Can I add anything to accelerate the sanding/stripping process (something, perhaps a solvent that would help dissolve it, or “kick” it?) Do I use an orbital or disc sander? I’d like to take some of the weight out, but I know I’ll still have a heavy board.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I can tell this is gonna’ be contagious.

Now I understand the “Swayaholics” reference.



2

Zed,

Use a disc sander. I would use 50 or 60 grit to take the pigment off. Be sure to keep the sander MOVING. You don’t want to burn the cloth or foam. Use a lower speed for more control. 1200 rpm works well, even 1750 is OK. Sand only 'til the color comes off, then move on. Work the color/clear boundary. Good luck.

3

Hey Zed,

The Sea Foam green was added, but the cream color was original. Just like Bill said, be careful not to over heat the foam / glass. Be very careful around the laminates.

Another potential hot spot is around pressure dings. If you try to level them out too much, you get a halo effect. remember the old resin has a certain patina associated with it, If you try to flatten it out too much, you lose some of that cool amber color.

Thats a very cool board to be your first attempt at a resto, don’t screw it up. I restored a Hobie almost exactly like your set up, except the board i did for this guy was painted red, but under the red were pink panels…totall cool. I tried to talked the guy into leaving it pink, but we settled on a red / black color scheme. The board was found by the guys dad in one of the local lakes back in the early 70’s, some kids were throwing rocks at it…he ran them off, and he took the board home. From 1973-2002 it was his work bench in his garage. 2002 I was comissioned to restore it, now it hangs in his Office/Den.

Pay attention to the Fin, Laminates, and the stringer. Those are your money makers. Screw those up and they looked fake. All the rest can be fixed. Oh yeah one more thing. What ever you do don’t expose the wood on the stringer. Old wood with new resin, looks like a dark spot when it’s repaired.

-Jay

4

Bill/Resinhead~

Thanks for the quick replies.

Even though I want to ride this, and of course would like it to be aesthetically pleasing, would you suggest I try and “preserve” that cream color? There’s quite a few places where the creme has already scraped away from the stringer, so I will need to paint and/or pigment in places.

Not to mention I’d eventually like to remove those added “Val Surf” and the contemporary Hobie diamond logo up on the deck. That is, if this logo was indeed added.

How can I tell if this (the larger logo) is original, or not? It appears to be on top of the creme color, which leads me to think it was indeed an “aftermarket” fix.

Definitely will keep the original logo down below, though.

The foam under the creme color is obviously in great shape, since it had all that pigment to shield it from the sun. I was thinking I’d sand everything down to clean, keeping in mind to “move” the sander and not to sand into the stringer. There’s already a spot on the tail where it looks like someone did just that and it was made darker due to the resin absorption.

Having fun with this. Nervous, of course, about screwing up too.

5

My .02 - start grinding.

Be prepared for substantial repaired damage and/or pock marked foam. Lots of early boards received opaque pigment to cover foam defects.

As mentioned, preserving the original label would be a good idea. New pigment and buffed out gloss can look very nice. Professional pigmented restorations have brought good prices at the vintage auctions.

6

It will be almost impossible to match the cream pigment. So I would suggest you sand all the pigment off as planned. Then you can see what needs to be done in regard to ding repairs etc. If the foam is in good condition you may only need to do a partial pigment job. Hard to tell from the photos, but from my experience the worst dings always seem to be on the rails and on the nose and tail. So to hide the repairs you could do a pigment job on the rails and leave the top and bottom clear. Of course this all depends the condition of the foam. It would be good to see some photos of the restoration as it progresses. Good luck. platty.

http://www.davidplattsurfboardrestorations.com.au

7

yes zed keep us posted please mate. i really enjoy following restorations. the board is beautiful.

8

OMG John,

That just reminded me of that pink Hobie I restored… The glasser knowing that a smooth pink gloss was going to be added, the lamination was was way less than perfect. Millions of tiny air bubbles and pinholes that were filled with Pink gloss resin. I spent the better part of 3 hrs with a dremel tool and a ultra small glass / dentist drill bit… drilling out all the little pink pinhole dots on the board.

That Val Surf decal isn’t under the glass? Man I thought it was, that would have been cool. I think I’d glass over it to save it. If it’s not made out of plastic it is a very old waterslide decal and Definately worth keeping. Val Surf was a huge surf company back in the 60-70’s they always had those huge ads in the back of Surfer and Skate Boarding mag.

Reeeezinhead