Nose Ding Repair

General Discussion
1

Hi all,

My first post here and first real attempt at fixing a board. I did a search for nose fractures/ding repair and couldn’t find anything other than complete nose removals or just rail dings and cross board fractures.

Here’s the scenario:

I’m in the UK and I was out yesterday with my gf getting ready to go in the water. It was cold and wind was up to force 6 with force 8 gusts. Just as we were getting ready to hit the beach, a gust whipped my board in the air. I managed to catch the leash, fortunately! It stopped my board going over the sea wall and flying onto the exposed rock reef 20 feet below! The board was whipped around in the air for about 10 seconds and bash the nose on both sides before i could get it under control - it’s a 7’3" mini-mal/funboard and only 6 months old :frowning:

So, after putting the board back in my car and sharing my gf’s board in the water for an hour, we went home and I assessed the damage. About 3-4 inches along either side of the nose there are compression fractures, little dings and the actual nose itself is ‘munched’ about 1/16" deep along the left hand side of the stringer (stringer looks intact).

I’ve sanded down with rough paper to get smooth edges and remove all the cracked bits of glass and it doesn’t look too bad. I’m thinking about filling the nose with a resin/chopped mat mix and getting a ding repair kit (or 2) to fix the whole area. luckily the rail is white and none of the paint work is damaged so it should be possible to repair it with little/no visible scars. So i just wanted to check I’m doing the right thing and there’s no better way to go ahead.

I can’t get any pictures on at the moment as I’m at work (can do later today) but I need to go buy the repair kits at lunch so just want to make sure this doesn’t need a bigger job :slight_smile:

As a side, I’m also in the process of repairing a snapped/delammed shortboard, I’ll try and take photos and get them up as well and go through the process I’ve used. This has gone pretty well so far and all i have left to do is the glassing/glossing :slight_smile:

Thanks!

Board@Work

2

Hi Mate,

sounds like a pretty decent ding ya got. Should a stayed in bed :slight_smile:

seriously, im no expert by any means (see my thread below on glassing my first board.), but i have done a few dings before i got into board making. Chopped glass and resin to fill in the dings/munched up areas is fine but if you can get a hold of qcell/microballoons/cabosil and add resin + catalyst - you can fill all the holes and then you can put a glass patch over the top of your ding/s. Thats what i used to do anyway. People with much more experience and expertise may chime in with different/better advice.

good luck dude

ps - Gale force winds? - man you are keen.

Take care

AJ

3

Cheers for the advice AJ. I popped down to the local surf shop to get the gear an they were all out, so i settled for some solarcure resin as a temporary measure. Got home and had another look at the problem area and it’s not quite as bad as i first thought. Sunny day today with no winds so was able to better examine the board. The solarcure seemed to fill the holes nicely and i’ll sand it down and glass/gloss over the top.

I’ve never used fibreglass before so have to read through your thread for hints!

Re: the winds, i live on the channel islands and we face the full brunt of all the atlantic winds/swell, so if there’s a good swell going it’s likely that a strong wind comes with it. :slight_smile:

4

Hi BW,

Doing a search for crease or buckle will yeiled more info.

Where are you based, I’m in Bristol an fixing up something the same, if you wanted to drop by and take a look you’d be welcome.

Heres how to fix it.

Plan to add a patch 6" past the crease with a 30-45 degree angle towords the middle of the board with the piont meeting at the stringger. If your patch is 90 degrees to the stringger it can create a stress line and cause future buckles or snapps.

Remove all the wax atleast 4" past the egde of the repair, use a wax comb, then a hair dryer and a cloth, and a final wipe with alcohol.

tape of the area and sand it with 60 or 80 grit, use a knife or razor blade remove all the crushed and delaminated glass as far back as it goes. Don’t be tempted to save any, as compramised glass is useless.

Rough sand the exposed foam, and run the tip of a nail or kerbab stick under the edge of the remaining glass to form a small trench (like in an FSC fin instal)

Arrange the board so the damaged area is level to the floor and tape around the exposed foam,

Mix up resin and Cabo (aka Q-cell, fumed silica, microballons) use 3 times (by vol not wieght) of cabo to resin, add it gradually to make a penut butter consistancy. fill the foam beyond the level of the existing glass, so the cabo mix is proud and can be sanded back latter. Once its gelled pull the tape and walk away.

The next day come back and sand it level with a 80 and a sanding block. tape the area off and cut the glass patches, use one 6oz stopping mid point on the rail and an 1" from the edege of the second 4oz patch, this should lap 1-2" round the rail on the other side. I would also lay tape as if I were doing a cut lap but this is optional. You can use a small piece of tape to hold the glass in place.

Mix up lam resin and wet out the cloth with a brush or a small squeegie. Use just enough resin to wet out the cloth and stick it down, pull the extra resin out so the cloth is nice and tight and doesn’t float. When its gelled, cut and pull the tape, use a flat stick to mash the edge.

The next day hand sand the edges to “feather” them so the meet the original glass. Sand any bumps or sting down but leave the area in the middle of the repair. tape 1/2" past the repair on all sides and do a fill coat, when gelled pull tape.

the day after that rub out the tape line and sand the area up through the grits to 220 for a sanded finish, for gloss add another layer of tinned resin and rub out to 1000, compound, wax the polish.

It sounds like a lot but its actualy not a big deal, just take your time with each stage and don’t get impatient with it.

5

Hi board works, just read your last post, so I guess popping over to Bristol is out of the question.

My girl friends family if from Jersey, surfed there a few times. you from there by any chance.

6

Hi woody,

ref the buckled board, i’ve already done the majority of that :slight_smile:

I actually did it slightly different as I had some spare flexible hardwood lying around from some work we were doing on the house. I had to strip the glass back about 6 inches on both halves of the snap as the glass had partially delammed and i wanted to reinforce the stringer. I filled what gaps i had with some polyurethane foam (also lying around). I fixed the two strips of wood either side of the stringer with a waterproof wood resin (can’t remember it’s name), coated the gaps with PU and and wrapped with clingfilm. The clingfilm helped keep the PU flat on the surface and forced it to expand into the centre of the board - i guess similar to if i had vac-bagged it.

So now i’m left with a fixed board that is very string but still flexible and light. I’ve got a batch of cloth and resin to glass the deck and bottom which will have to wait until it stops raining (or i’ll have to clear out the shed/greenhouse!). I’ve tested the flex with my knee in the centre of the stringer and was surprised at the result. The ultimate question is whether the wood will stay fixed (it should there’s alot of bonding power in there) and whether or not the reinforcement has made the centre of the board to strong which would result in the top third of the board snapping off.

Thanks for the post, it’s at least confirmed i’ve done the majority of it correctly :slight_smile: wish i had taken some pictures before i started so i could have done a proper progress report.

edit: and not from Jersey, I come from Guernsey - the more westerly one :slight_smile: Not as good surf places but we have a few nice breaks :slight_smile:

7
8

Sounds Like you’ve done a decent job. should hold up fine

9 
  Howzit BoardatWork, A little advise on ding repair, after opening the ding area always flush with water to get rid of any salt residue and dry out the ding.The salt left in the ding can make the area delam later if the area gets to hot since the salt residue will melt ergo delam, something to remember in the future.Aloha,Kokua
10

Thanks for the advice Kokua. Wasn’t really an issue here as the board hadn’t been in the water after dinging the nose.

:slight_smile:

Board@Work