Has anyone ever used a pvc tube to help repair a snapped longboard? I was just going to put in two wooden dowels on each side of the stringer and reinforce the stringer. However, pvc pipe, closed ends and hollow within, would allow some small amount of flex… Any ideas?
NJ, The diameter of the PVC would make a big difference in the strength, but where would you attach it? Being a woodworker, I think that reinforcing the stringer is the best place to start. Glue wood to wood using Titebond II or polyurethane glue. Rather than dowels, try a 3/16" strip of wood on each side of the stringer, approx. 12" long, and slightly narrower than the stringer itself. Get it positioned correctly and clamp the strips in place, leaving space between the edge of the new wood and the finished surface of the board. Fill in the space with white, paintable material. Just some ideas. Good luck. Doug
There isn’t a need to put anything in the foam to reinforce a break. Just beef up the glass schedule. That’s where all the force is applied. 
…sorry…
Neither one, dowels or PVC pipe, is going to help at all. They are just in the foam, so they either flex or don’t in the foam with zero contribution to the strength of the repair. They are not tied into the skin of the board in any way, so they can’t add strength. What they will do is pretty much guarantee that you won’t get the alignment of the two pieces right.I have had to cut apart and redo several that well intentioned people have botched using dowels and similar silliness. It adds zero strength, adds weight, extra work and aggravation and nothing else. How are you gonna drill precise holes to fit 'em in? You can’t. I have seen people try, with very oversized holes full of cabosil mix that they set the dowels in…that was extra, extra silly. Don’t do it. It’s a waste of time and effort and materials and always, repeat, always makes for a bad job. Here’s what you should do instead; Carefully remove any flapping old glass and sand the edges so they are feathered to the foam. Be careful, any divots you put in the foam will have to be filled. If half the glass is ripped off the bottom or the deck it may not be worth it. A clean break is not that tough a fix. Set up a jig to hold the pieces together so that the alignment is right. Use a little wax paper if need be to keep the whole thing from being resined together permanently. Butter both busted ends with a thick cabosil mix, like peanut butter. Stick 'em together. When the board broke some of the foam was permanently crushed and the cabosil mix deals with that so you don’t have any voids. If you had to remove a little glass, smear the cabosil mix in where that was. Sand the cabosil flush with the old glass once it has hardened. Again, remember your divots. Sand the glass about 9" to 12" either side of the break. Glass completely around the board with a band 8 to 12 inches wide centered on the break. Sand the edges. Repeat with a wider band, up to 12" wider. This keeps you from having one stiff spot in the board right at the break. 6-8 oz cloth is good for this, not 4 oz, 10 oz on longboards. Sand the edges, hotcoat, sand, gloss and polish. I’ve been using this method for several years and it works well. hope that’s of use doc…
What about putting the whole thing backtogether as aformentioned, but befor the hotcoat, router out slots parrell to the stringer and then set in the wood, pvc what have you. Set the renforcements in gooy peanutbutter cabosil mixture, glass over, sand and be done with it. this way the alinement to good, done and aggravation is minimal.
Well, if you are glassing it with two layers, usually with heavier cloth than it was originally glassed with, you have all the strength you need. Why bother, just to have a couple of pieces of wood or pvc that really don’t do anything beyond adding an illusion of strength? 'Cos I promise you, they don’t. Just the opposite. Remember, you’ve just cut a slot or several out of the glass. So instead of a nice, rigid base you can put your new cloth on, you have a carved up, weakened mess that your new cloth has to bridge. If you add cabosil trenches, you have a rigid section that’s not very strong, so when it’s stressed it either breaks or it doesn’t and in either case pushes the cloth away from the foam . Which, amusingly enough, is a great way to trigger another break. So, you’ve weakened the board in not one but two ways. I know what you’re thinking- make a narrow slot that doesn’t need any cabosil bed, or maybe a little glue. Say, cut with a skilsaw. Well, you’ve still weakened the cloth structure and you still have something in there that won’t bend like the foam does, so it’s just floating there in the foam and if the board is stressed, it’ll blow out the glass ( if it’s got any strength at all) or it’ll break. No advantage. Also - while you can say ‘rout out a couple of slots’, it’s not that easy without a very good jig secured very solidly to the board…somehow. Through bolts might work, damn little else will. 99% of the time the router is gonna jiggle, blow out the glass and hardened cabosil mix some and it’ll look like crap. Again, remember, it’s adding no strength to do this, the added strength is all in the cloth wrap. And you’re adding weight you don’t need to with that trench full of cabosil you’re setting your ( useless) mini-scab/mini-splint stringers in. Which, again, will look lousy, like a hack job…which in fact it is. I’ve seen all this tried. It doesn’t work. Really. It does add aggravation and work and materials and time to make the board weaker. Just glass alone works very well indeed. Look, if you have a repair customer who foolishly insists on adding wood, glue on some narrow, paper thin veneer strips on top of the old glass, the thinnest strips you can rip on a tablesaw, so thin they’ll flap in the wind. It’ll accomplish as much, won’t weaken the repair to any extent and be easier to do. hope that’s of use doc…
I’ll believe you, and never do it again, even though i just committed the crime a week ago. It does make sense about the placed extra strigers pushing through the glass under stress. Plus those extra strigers are a pain in the kiester.
Exactly. This might be a great opportunity to have some fun with a dark brown marker ( imitation Mahogany aka Mahokeany) or maybe an ochre ( Redweird or Port Ersatz Cedar) or mebbe a pale beige ( Falsa) . Lots of possibilities here…
The thought of being impailed by one of these dowels or pieces of pvc if the board breaks again, should be enough reason not to do it. The glass overlaps on the rails will add enough longitudinal strength and flex. If you use 6,8 or 10 oz cloth as Doc suggests you can have anywhere from 24oz to 40oz of cloth on the rails. That is more than enough added strength. David.