Mitsven hull - longboard deck delam repair

[Huck]

Picked this longboard up awhile back with a big deck bubble/delam. I actually didn’t realize how bad it was at first, but after I bought it I discovered it was a big part of the deck. Fortunately I got it for pretty cheap, and now I guess I know why, lol.

Anyway, I cut off the area of the delam, pulled the glass up, basted everything with resin, and clamped it back down. All well and good, except it wasn’t. It was really a job for a vacuum bag, but I just used clamps and wood strips, and it left some pretty big areas still de-lammed.

So I cut it open again, this time I just peeled the glass up without completely removing it, added more resin, and clamped it again. This time it looks like I got it all, the deck is back laying down tight again.

[Huck]

The board is 9’ 8" with a 1" balsa stringer, and has a very cool looking rocker and foil, and an unusual tail/rail, kind of a round belly or convex in the tail with a very pinched rail. The last pic down below is looking at the tail, with the bottom facing up.

My plan is to sand the entire board thoroughly. Fill in all the dimples on the bottom. Add a layer of 4 oz glass on the back 1/3, top and bottom. On the bottom because there are some buckle cracks, and on the deck where I have done the repair work. I plan to cover the repair area with a fabric inlay first, then glass. The deck repair area needs some body and fender work, i.e. filling in some deep dents with thickened resin first to even out the surface, then the fabric, then a layer of 4 oz.

I may fill some of the worst dents on the deck, not sure yet, also might add a wood tail block and nose block, maybe just straight balsa to match the stringer.

As always, everything done with epoxy resin (Resin Research quick kick)

[Huck]

The deck delam is definitely all gone (fixed), I just re-used the original delaminated glass I cut off, and everything is tight. In these pics I have sanded the whole board and cut scraps of 6 oz cloth to patch over the low spots (dimples & dents from regular use).

On the deck side its not really necessary but I think it looks better and as long as I’m working on the board its kinda nice to be able to smooth the deck back out a bit.

[Railwaysurfer]

That’s looking really good! I’ve heard really good things about the Mitsven Hulls, I’m looking forward to hearing how it goes.

[Huck]

Thnx! I really didn’t consider the board a hull per se, because it has a big concave under the nose. But it does have a lot of what I would consider hull characteristics, i.e. low rocker, thin nose & tail, pinched rails giving it that knifey look, and all that belly in the tail. Also single fin only, no option for side bites.

Its been awhile since I was researching hulls, so I don’t recall if nose concave is a disqualifier or not. Plus, I always thought hulls had belly through the middle, and I’m not sure if this does. Will have to check that. However, the pinched rails kinda create a belly-like (convex) condition even if the bottom is flat, because the rails start pretty far inside the perimeter, the bottom isn’t flat all the way out to the edge.

At any rate, I noted a lot of this stuff, without specifically tying it to a hull, so I feel kinda dense for that. But now with you mentioning it, I can definitely see it. This board had a decent amount of dimpled deck up at the nose, I can tell someone spent some time up there.

I once shaped a board with some hull-ish features & I really loved that board. Had a totally different feel from any of my other boards. Had it out at malibu one day about 4’ shoulder high, and that board really came alive. Another time at the point in Ventura I had it out in decent waves, about the same size day but a little punchier than malibu, & I got some super fun rides . Even trimmed way up on the nose, which surprised me. A guy actually paddled up to me & said he saw my waves & was wondering if he could try the board, but unfortunately I was leaving & had to be somewhere. After my hip surgery I started riding longer boards, & finally sold it.

That board was 7’ 4” IIRC, belly up front (no concave), pinched rails for that knifey
look, but I gave it a hard down rail out the very back. That one was kind of a magic board for me, Shaped when I was very new & very ignorant, just really a beginner’s luck kinda thing. I think it was maybe my 2nd foam shaped board. I never tried to shape another one just like it, but I probably should, before I get too old to surf.

I remember when I sold it I mentioned on craigslist that it had some hull like design characteristics, & a few people came unglued. How dare I call it a hull, how many years have I been shaping, and who did I study under, and what is my pedigree or qualifications to call my board a hull, etc etc I finally reworded the description just to get them to back off. It sold pretty quick anyway, I really loved that board. Will find some pics.

[Railwaysurfer]

Oh nice, some great shots there! I don’t get how the H word upsets some people. I hadn’t spotted the concave in the nose, you’re right it probably disqualifies it as a hull in the purest sense? My favourite rider has pinched rails and is convex everywhere. It’s the same, once it gets to around chest high it hits a totally different zone. It has very low rocker however so you have to be very careful with front foot weighting … unless you have a strong interest in the ocean floor!!! I’m looking forward to your ride report. You’ve got some interesting projects on the go. Have you had the Hansen back out?

[Huck]

Sadly, no, I haven’t been in the water since that day. My wife is struggling with some issues I’ve been trying to help her work through, and its impacted my water time. Always something. And I have my own issues too, at my age. A few things have to come together for me to paddle out. Can’t just grab a board & go, like the younger days. But grateful I haven’t had to give it up yet, like a few of my friends.

I guess thats why I’m digging out some of these old projects & getting them going again, keeps me sane, or close enough. I’m also (reluctantly) putting some of these boards on craigslist, I have way more than I can use, plus I need the space. And at least a dozen more unfinished project boards waiting in the wings.

If you look at the pics in the first post you can probably spot the nose concave, now that you know. But its not super obvious, and I didn’t mention it. So maybe not a full blooded hull, but if he’s shaping hulls, this board was clearly influenced by them.

[Huck]

OK, this morning I went out and checked a few things. The nose concave is about 1/4” deep, and takes up the first third of the board (ends at 38” back).

From 38” to the tail, it is full belly hull style, can’t believe I missed this! I must be getting old. So at 38” exactly, the bottom transitions from concave to belly (convex), and is perfectly straight just at that exact point. So at that point its easy to see where the pinched rails begin, and its just about 3” in from the edge.

At the halfway point, the belly is a full half inch! And convex continues out through the tail, doesn’t flatten back out at any point after that.

So this thing is a full on hull, good call! Changing the thread title accordingly. Will have to research about nose concave in a hull, but I’m guessing the concave up front with the belly in the rest of the board makes for a good noserider, and hence all the heel dents in the nose of the deck. I’m not a noserider kind of surfer, but def figure I will be trimming from the front.

[Huck]

…and a few more pics. You can see the dimples filled with fiberglass and feathered out, they will pretty much disappear with resin. You can also see the deck where I cut a big piece out for the delam repair, and then made more cuts to peel parts up again for more delam repair.

You can see the buckle cracks, there are 3 on the bottom, 2 in the back and one in the front. I have ordered some super glue on amazon, hoping it will get down in the cracks and make them disappear. Have also considered getting some of that windshield crack glue. Something super thin that will get down into the crack and fill it so its not so obvious.

The back 2 cracks will get some 4 oz. glass over, and maybe the nose too, undecided on that. Or maybe I’ll just wrap the rails front to back with 4 oz glass, to reinforce the board. I know those cracks weaken the board. This thing has a one inch balsa stringer, so its pretty strong, but obviously wasn’t strong enough to prevent the cracks from happening. I hate to add more weight, but 4 oz glass, used judiciously, shouldn’t add very much. I’m hoping all told, with the fabric and fiberglass, to maybe add one pound at the most. The board is 19 lbs. at present, and one lb. more on a board that’s almost ten foot shouldn’t be a big deal.

[Huck]

Another photo showing the deck dents filled in & feathered, a few need a little more to bring them up to flush. Not sure if I will or not, but already greatly improved from before.

[Railwaysurfer]

Hey Huck, I’m sorry to hear that. In sickness and in health, I take that part of our vows seriously too! I too have more boards than I can ride. I plan on culling the herd as well. I can’t resist a board rescue so I’ll continue to stop boards going to landfill but there is no point in them not being ridden by someone!!!
That Mitsven looks like a great board, I hope you get some enjoyment from it.

[Huck]

Thnx yeah I’m sure I will get some fun out of it. Best case scenario, if I really love it, is I might use it as a model for a 10-6 balsa board I hope to finish someday. I’ve been looking for some inspiration and some rail /bottom ideas to use on it. Maybe I’ll reproduce my old magic shape on a bigger scale.

A few years back I got several fixer upper boards to kinda hone my repair skills. They have sat in my garage for a few years, and now that my circumstances have changed, some might not be worth my time. But I’m working my way through the ones that seem viable.

Its always been my goal to make repairs that are strong, permanent, not too heavy, and look good, or look respectable anyway. I don’t like the current trend to try to hide repairs with paint, unless the board itself is painted, and I don’t go to extremes to try to make my repairs invisible. But if the board is colored, I will try to match the color with resin tints or pigment.

I tend to fill in the dents and dings while I’m doing the other repairs. Sometimes I will add a wood nose or tail block. And I almost always add my signature leash loop in the very back.

Here I rough sanded the nose scoop so you can see it better. The buckle crack in the nose is within this area, so fabric or fiberglass limited to the nose concave will cover it, so that’s gonna be my plan there.

I realize this type of project isn’t super interesting to everyone, but questions about filling dents & dimples come up from time to time, so I wanted to document how I do it in a thread I can refer back to. It’s tedious work and most people wouldn’t bother, but I like to kinda give these old boards a reset, without trying to make them new again with gobs of opaque resin, like the big bucks guys do.

Also deck delam questions come up, and buckle cracks too - hopefully when I’m done the buckle cracks will look good enough to refer to. We’ll see.

[Huck]

I’m doing round two on filling in the dents. After I filled them with resin and fiberglass, and sanded flush, there are still some low spots, and some others that got missed the first time around. Usually takes a few rounds to get everything satisfactory. Its the kind of project that doesn’t really add up when time = money, but it pays off in the long run when you’re keeping an older board looking and working good. For my personal boards, I kinda keep up on these dents and dimples whenever I’ve got the board in for ding repairs so they don’t get so overwhelming like on a board that’s several years old and just comes into my shop.

I painted over the logo so it didn’t bleed through the fabric and look ugly. I did the fabric inlay, and I always seem to fight with a couple little bubbles that appear. This time I put resin down first, then the fabric, then squeegeed resin on top. Worked great - but I still had a couple little bubbles as usual, lol.

I used my superglue on the stress cracks, and no dice, it didn’t work. Even tho I took a razor blade and kinda scored along the crack to let it down in there. Nope. So plan B, will try to cover everything with inlay fabric.

[Huck]

Few more pics

[Railwaysurfer]

It’s looking good!

[Huck]

Thnx. All the deck dents & dimples are filled in and sanded flush, it took 3 layers of glass in some cases. You could use a thickener with resin if you were going with an opaque resin color on top, but if you want to stay with the clear resin over foam, I think this is the only way. Multiple layers of glass and resin and sanding in between.

The bottom is next. Lots more little dents, but most all are smaller than the big foot dents on top. Then the stress cracks, 3 big ones, where it looks like the board nearly buckled. I think glassing over them will be strong enough, but I want to cover them with fabric first, since I couldn’t make them disappear and I don’t like the way they look.

I don’t have much of the same fabric left, so not sure if I can make it stretch to finish up the bottom or not, but I do have plenty of other fabric if I need it, just a different print. I actually have a plastic bin full of old worn-out aloha shirts that I get at yard sales or thrift stores to use just for this purpose. This one was a silk Tommy Bahama shirt.

Also need to start thinking about which fin for this board, do you know if there is a recommended fin for hulls?

[Railwaysurfer]

Haha yeah I have a rag bag full of offcuts, old shirts, my wifes old dresses, kids pyjamas etc that might look cool for deck patches or fins etc!!!
As far as fins go for hulls, the Greenough 4a seems to be a popular starting point. Generally from what I have read you want something more upright and “pivoty” than “drivey”. I’ve used ones based on that profile and liked them … but with my ability a square plank would probably work as well!!!

[Huck]

Ok got it, pretty sure I’ve got a couple of those.

I’m on round 2 of filling in the divots on the bottom. I’ve added 3/4 lb. with the work I did so far, so I’m thinking I will skip the fabric on the bottom. Just a couple pieces of 4 oz. over the stress cracks.

As a side note, I added a thin coat of epoxy on this 10 year old 8 footer after doing some patching.

[Huck]

All the little patches have to be sanded flush, a few will need round 3 to fill them up.

[Railwaysurfer]

Good work, I always find this the hardest part … when you’re so close to having it finished. Patience often gets tested for me and I rush the last bit!!!