Nuuhiwa Lightweight repair options - opinions?

Hi guys, I have a 9’6" Bing David Nuuhiwa Lightweight that needs some TLC, & I’m wondering the best method to approach the repair. The deck is clean, but the bottom is riddled with small holes (almost looks like someone used it for BB gun target practice or something). All the holes were previosuly fixed (half-assed patch job, though). Hence, some of them are cracking & opening up again. The way I see it, there are two options: 1. Fix the existing dings that need to be repaired, then give the whole bottom either a single or double gloss coat for protection. 2. Tear the whole thing off from in front of the skeg all the way to the nose & reglass it completely. The other issue to deal with is matching the resin tint on the rails/bottom of the board - an ocean blue color. What would everyone recommend? Any other advice/suggestions? TIA, John

The way I see it, there > are two options:>>> 1. Fix the existing dings that need to be repaired, then give the whole > bottom either a single or double gloss coat for protection.>>> 2. Tear the whole thing off from in front of the skeg all the way to the > nose & reglass it completely.>>> The other issue to deal with is matching the resin tint on the > rails/bottom of the board - an ocean blue color. +++++++++++ do anything but option #2 ++++++++++++++gene

How many holes are all over the deck? Easiest thing to do is fix them one by one. Re-glossing the board will just make it heavy. May I reccomend a new board if yours is beat?

How many holes are all over the deck? Easiest thing to do is fix them one > by one. Re-glossing the board will just make it heavy. May I reccomend a > new board if yours is beat? There are about 30 to 40 repaired holes of various sizes on the board’s bottom. The deck is in great shape, actually. Almost no sun damage & maybe two dings on the whole top. Another suggestion from a friend of mine was to wetsand down the base smooth & glass on a layer of 4oz silane to protect the repaired dings. The only problem then - how to match the resin tint? As for a new board - this is too valuable to me collector & ride-wise to give up so easily. Thanks, John

There are about 30 to 40 repaired holes of various sizes on the board’s > bottom. The deck is in great shape, actually. Almost no sun damage & > maybe two dings on the whole top. Another suggestion from a friend of mine > was to wetsand down the base smooth & glass on a layer of 4oz silane > to protect the repaired dings. The only problem then - how to match the > resin tint?>>> As for a new board - this is too valuable to me collector & ride-wise > to give up so easily.>>> Thanks,>>> John Why do you have 30-40 holes on the bottom of your board!?! Thats a lot. Well I would repair each and every ding on the bottom. Sand the whole entire bottom good. Then do a thin gloss coat over the whole bottom. Not a lot of gloss because it will make it real heavy. Try that. It will look great when done.

Why do you have 30-40 holes on the bottom of your board!?! Thats a lot. > Well I would repair each and every ding on the bottom. Sand the whole > entire bottom good. Then do a thin gloss coat over the whole bottom. Not a > lot of gloss because it will make it real heavy. Try that. It will look > great when done. Are the hole BB size or dime size? How big are they? Rich

What ever you do try not add weight.We have seen so many redone boards that no longer ride well due to cover ups.i have a 9’8" lightweight that is ugly but still light I ride it with pride.Patch it and ride it.Where do you live? the guys at the Haut shop in Santa Cruz(westside) are masters ofmaintaining the integrity of vintage boards-mike and Chris are great guys.good luck and no gloss

John, from my point of view, the first thing to do is re-repair the old fixed holes. I always had the worst surprises hidden on other-guys-made repairs. So prepare to do it all over again. Put a lot of cabosil into some lam resin, make it very thick and then add some catalyst, not too much but not too little. If the catalyst is enough it will create a lot of small air bubbles that will be imprisoned by the ultra fast kicking process, making this resin kinda foamy but really strong. For the color problem try to obtain the same color of resin by adding very small quantities of a pigment of the same color in a small cup of resin: if the resin on the bottom has turned a little yellow, you can use more catalyst which tends to turn it yellow or, as I’ve found recently, use other brands of resin, (watercraft building resins have the same characteristics of surf resins but without clearing agents and UV inhibitors, I used combinations of them to repair older boards and believe me the result is almost invisible). If you feel it neeeds re-glossing, apply a spray gloss coat of epoxy-acrilic finish. It’s about 60% lighter and thinner than brush apllied one. No board should be thrown away Have a good time! Danny

hey john, where do you live? if your in the southern california area then i can look at it and advise you how to handle it. i’ve done similar repairs on many of these, same model, some in the same condition as yours. no worries - i won’t try to buy it. post if you live nearby and want my input. gene

Are the hole BB size or dime size? How big are they?>>> Rich They range in size from dime diameter to about 2-3 inches across. They were filled in with straight resin, so some are starting to crack already. Many others are holding up fine, though. It’s kind of a hard to gauge whether to re-fix all of them @ once or just those that have opened up again.

What ever you do try not add weight.We have seen so many redone boards > that no longer ride well due to cover ups.i have a 9’8" lightweight > that is ugly but still light I ride it with pride.Patch it and ride > it.Where do you live? the guys at the Haut shop in Santa Cruz(westside) > are masters ofmaintaining the integrity of vintage boards-mike and Chris > are great guys.good luck and no gloss Steiny, I live on the east coast - Cape Cod. There is a shaper/glasser nearby in Eastham who actually does pretty decent work. I’m probably going to take the board to him for a second opinion on how to approach this repair process later today.

hey john, where do you live? if your in the southern california area then > i can look at it and advise you how to handle it. i’ve done similar > repairs on many of these, same model, some in the same condition as yours. > no worries - i won’t try to buy it. post if you live nearby and want my > input. gene Gene, I live on the east coast (Cape Cod). Therefore, it’s really hard to find someone who does quality work locally this time of year. I wish I lived in CA…there are so many great shapers/glassers whom I’d love to contact about this (including yourself). There is a shaper in Eastham here - he put a deck patch on my 9’0 Marbella & did a pretty good job. I’m going to see about getting his input this afternoon on the repair issue. Can you think of anyone qualified in the NE (MA. RI, NH area) who could do this right? Thanks, John

john, i see you live east. good luck w/ the project. sounds like a good rider. i’d fix the dings individually with glass layers(no volan)and let the scars show(no cover up job). i believe that glossing the whole bottom would be the best option after sanding the old gloss off to keep the weight the same.

John, Personally if a hole is of any size I always put a foam plug in it and reshape it. There are many ways to skin a cat but I personally wouldn’t gloss over the whole board unless you like the idea of increasing it’s weight. Here’s a brief overview of one approach to the job: You can cut all those old resing patches out with a dremel tool or a roto zip using it like a free hand router. Just don’t go any deeper that you have to. If you make the holes rectangular it’s easy to fashion a foam plug with a hacksaw blade and . You can put them in with a little laminating resin if you like. When things harden upsaw off the portion that’s too high and some 180 white sand paper will put the foam at exactly the right heigth for fiber glass cloth patches. With some spare pieces of foam, some pigment and a little experimentation you can get close to the same color before you start your resin work on the holes. If the foam plugs are a shade low you can get a layer of 4oz. on clear and then do the tint with another layer of 4oz. Thin some gloss with a touch of styrene to finish it off and the sand and rub it out. The job is gonna take some time the will be little lines around the foam plugs but you wont change the weight of the board noticably and the you can rub the holes out with wet dry and even polish when you’re done. Cloth patches like this hold up pretty well and maintain the structural intergrity of the opening as well as possible, I have a couple of boards that have had big sections gauged out of the rail but other surfers fins. Grrrrr! and just cut a big vee out of the side of the board and reshaped and reglassed this way and it works for me. Good luck on putting you classic right. Good Surfin’, Rich

john, i see you live east. good luck w/ the project. sounds like a good > rider. i’d fix the dings individually with glass layers(no volan)and let > the scars show(no cover up job). i believe that glossing the whole bottom > would be the best option after sanding the old gloss off to keep the > weight the same. Gene, Thanks for your input. I think what we’re going to do is sand off the whole gloss coat on the bottom, repair all the dings & then re-gloss it with a blue opaque pigment that most closely matches the old resin tint. We’ll probably tape it off at both the pinline around the deck & the skeg so everything else is covered by the new gloss, including the rails. Thanks again for yours & everyone else’s feedback. I really appreciate the response. Sincerely, John

john, first i go after each individual ding with a die grinder and prep it to except glass(or cabosil then glass if needed, no q-cell or micros on tints). then glass each one. i’d mix trans blue in the resin for the patches. THEN sand the whole bottom as if sanding a new board after roughing out the repairs with a hard back. if you haven’t sanded before then have a pro sand it, this is where you can ruin your board. i would never opaque or attempt to tint a lightwieght in the gloss. i feel that cover ups ruin the board(my opinion) and a tint won’t flow evenly, especially blue. do your best match on the individual dings. the board has some history, you can’t change that. i’d gloss it clear. i did one like this recently using solar activated laminating resin on the 50+ little dings. it really sped things up. solor will work with blue tint better then other colors and won’t work with opaques.