Looking to get some knlowledge from the brainpower at sways.
I have a 7'8" speed egg board (I bought used) that received a healthy crack on the bottom in some big surf. Broke my leash - surprised the board didnt break.
Board has a crack on the bottom (just ahead of midpoint) from one rail edge and stops midpoint at stringer. Looks like it stopped at the rail where there is an old ding repair. My guess is the ding repair maybe increased the glassing at that edge and prevented a break -- just a guess. No signs of stress or cracks extending from where the crack ends at the stringer to the opposite rail.
I have fixed broken and buckled boards with a full wrap (top and bottom) extending past the buckle / snap in the past. But this is only half a crack and deck looks good.
My question - with this crack limited to one half of the bottom should I just repair the crack area like a ding. Or am I just asking for trouble in the future and should do a full wrap like a buckle fix?
Cracking from the old rail repair -- well that makes sense. I guess I was thinking that the extra glass in the repair made it stronger but it as you indicated its more likely a weak spot after the original rail lam layers were damaged from the previous owners ding.... thanks I didnt think it all the way through.
Sounds like no need to lam across the entire bottom -- Ill just repair the cracked area and wrap that repair onto the deck (as in a lap).
Not sure about it, but usually boards start bending/twisting -under pressure- where there is less resistance. The stringer does offer some resistance and, unless you have an unusual amount of glass around the rails, that’s where it will bend/twist first. Then the crack will progress across the bottom. Perimeter stringers sure help there.
I agree with balsa too. the old ding repair was insufficient/leaked/weakened and the stress concentrated there, it started ripping the glass. The crack was stopped at the stringer, just like if you drop a glass bottle/jar and it breaks a bit, but all the cracks end when they hit the labels because these parts (label/stringer flex a bit and absorb the energy stopping the crack from continuing). Make sure you fix the whole thing well, but really focus on strengthening up the bottom half of the rail. I buckled a board like this - from an old poorly fixed rail ding - while just duck diving it. Pushed the board under, lip broke over me and pushed me down more, I pushed the board down too and felt it crack right under my hand. In my case it cracked all the way across the bottom (not the deck though), your leash breaking probably saved your board from being damaged worse. I only fixed the bottom and rail and I’ve surfed the board a bunch since and while it’s heavier and less responsive it still works fine. I got anal about fixing rail dings well after that too…seeing how a teeny crack can comprimise a whole board.