I have a 10’ noserider glassed with 6oz and glossed. After my last surf in LBI, NJ with it in mid-February I noticed at least 50 stress cracks going rail to rail on the bottom. Most of the cracks are about 1/4" apart. Water temps were around 37F and air temps in mid 50sF. It was waist to chest high and I had to ditch the board twice after getting caught inside.
Has anyone had this type of problem before?
Does anyone not ride a longboard in the winter because of this?
John, I surf in your neck of the woods, and since no one else has replied yet, I’ll give you some feedback.
I’m suspect cold temperatures will effectively weaken fiberglass, like cold weakens many other materials, but I am not sure how significant the effect is. More knowlegable people on swaylocks can probably give you some better perspective.
Longboards (or any board for that matter) should never be ditched. Because of the length involved, the lip of a wave landing squarely in the middle of the abandoned board generates an unbelievable amount of leverage, which is translated into enough force to break boards easily. This can happen even in “small” surf, and was likely the cause of your problem at hand.
I have seen such cracking on other people’s longboards, but none of my own, possibly because I 1) never ditch a longboard and 2) I usually ride a neo-retro fish in small surf, and usually reserve the LB cruising for the summer months. I rarely ever take a longboard out in anything over chest high anymore (but used to for novelty) since I feel capable and gather greater reward riding shorter boards even in smaller surf.
There is not terribly much that you can do to repair this. The only way I have ever been able to successfully seal shallow cracks over large areas is by using a acrylic spray to seal a large area. I must warn you, however, that if you do not have experience doing this, it can get messy/ugly. And it never looks good on a glossy finish; it will make the patch cloudy and dull in appearance.
I would suspect that is the gloss coat cracking and is only cosmetic. The guys I work close to are into a heavy gloss, so they can sand and polish more effectively. Lots of longboards crack in the gloss. I’d bet you could sand it out and re-gloss if you want.
I’ve been surfing all winter with a 9’4 in bigger surf than that and have not had the cracking problems you speak of. I’m thinking it could be a result, as stated below, from heavy glossing, however, you’d notice this type of cracking in hotter days as well, as the board would in turn expand as opposed to contracting, thus creating the same stress on the gloss coat.
Mind if I ask what kind of board it is? If the glassing wasn’t tight and there was some air in the weave, you create the void that would subsequently crack like you mentioned.
Also, if caught inside, either paddle in and walk to the jettye or turtle roll man, haha. Ditchign board will catch you a fin in the head.
I’ve seen stress cracks in longboards happen in 70 degree water so it’s not just due to it being cold. Its also been said here that gloss coats are more liable to cracking if they are brittle from over-thinning. I think the ditching is the probable culprit; that seems to often result in broken boards too. Late drops/hard landings can also cause rail-to-rail cracks. Most of the time they dont’ leak water but keep an eye on them, some do…
Thanks to everyone for the useful info. I made the posted the same thread on alt.surfing and was basically called a kook with people suggesting that I duck dive the board. My reasons for ditching was zero crowd, I was about to have the wave break on my head and was feeling pretty work from too small a suit and being too out of shape. But enough of my B.S. excuses.
I’ve never saw much difference between having a wave break directly on top a turtled board(think kinda hallow waves) and ditching the board so you can push the board further in front of the wave away from direct impact. Now I’m talking about a 10’ while wearing 10’ lease.
Back to design. I shaped the board about two years ago from a 10’1"Y. Basically I skinned it to really float my fat a**(6’1", 215lb currently, 10lb o.w.). It was glassed by Mike at Hydroglas in San Clemente. I’m pretty inexperienced when it comes to glassing but this board seemed to be fine. My 6’8" modern “fish” had no problems but then again I didn’t ditch it. I think the 10’ will be summer/fall small wave board for now on. Actually, I want to shape 9’ish board over 3" thick so it fits in the wagon better floats me. I thinking of using the 9’3" but with more rocker.
I’m wondering what suggestions anyone might have for glassing winter longboards or shortboards in NJ assuming they won’t be ditched?
Turtling a longboard is a thousand times safer for you and your board. those stress cracks come from ditching your board. what happens when you turtle is that you are limiting the movemment of the longboard by holding on top of you. When you ditch the board you are basically letting the wave do whatever the hell it wants with it and it will bounce around and twist and bend to the point of stressing the top coats of resin. that is where the stress cracks come from. Also ditching your board is a very good way to crack a longboard in half. You would be surprised that even a smaller sized wave packs enough punch to crack a longboard in half like a twig. all it takes is the right angle and SNAP!
Getting through a powerful wave on a longboard can be daunting. you can , turtle and hold on for dear life, or you can slice and duck. The latter is the best way to get trhough. But it takes a lot of practice.
Anyhoo, temperature does not weigh in to this discussion. It’s irrelevant. You are dealing with chemical reactions that harden the resin and whether it’s 20 degrees or 90 has no affect one way or another.
As far as glassing goes, there really is no standard. A heavy glass job can creak and crack as much as a lighter glass job. The skill of the glasser will determine the durability of the glass job.
I myself normally use either 6oz S Glass or variations of 6,7 or 10 oz Volan glass.
Those cracks are just part of surfing. The best way to get rid of them is to become better at paddling out, not getting caught inside, etc.
Thanks for all the info. I think I’ll just keep the log for summer waves. It has too much concave in the nose to deal with the strong winter offshore breezes. The 19" nose doesn’t help either. I’m thinking a 7’0" to 7’6" big guy tri/hybrid with a flat bottom will be a better call for winter surf in NJ.