Repair to Creased / Folded Board / Snapped?

General Discussion
1

1st post. Hopefully in the correct forum. Have searched and spent the past few hours reading past posts on snapped boards but wanted to discuss this project before I proceed.

I have shaped and glassed 7 boards in the past so understand the basics.

Ok… The board in question. “Performance” Longboard wth damage to center of board. I am no longer shaping boards but still pick up old dogs to repair. This board looked to good to pass for £20, as I have some glass cloth left, cat, wax, etc. Just need to get some resin.

The board is not snapped as such although there seems to be some alteration to the boards rocker after a quick inspection. The underside of the board shows its damage. There is some damage to the stringer and a section of glass cloth has come away from the board.

The top of the deck looks much better! The stringer isn’t snapped but there is some “crumpling” of the glass close to each rail.

Not sure about the rocker yet but it looks like it has bent downwards (eg… imaine you put the board on your knee with the deck side up (bottom on your knee). Then try and snap it over you knee.

I am hoping the fact that the board isn’t completly snapped makes this easier?? My plan is to ;

1.) Remove approx 1ft of glass cloth from the bottom on the half that the glass hasn’t peeled back from. Also to add a curve to the side that is already removed with stanley blade. Then to sand back onto the glass to the cloth so I can overlap the new cloth without a “step”.

2.) Using an approriate jig setup pull the board back to its original rocker (assuming it has bent away from this).There is no gap as such to poor resin into so I would put on a patch of glass to cover the foam butting upto the edges I have cut on the bottom of the board (using laminating resin). When cured I would then add a 2nd layer of cloth this time to overlap onto the good glass that has been sanded back.

  1. With these two layers of glass I would then remove from the jig if it was needed and apply a hotcoat over the repair.

  2. Finally I would deal with the 2 areas that “crumpled” near the edges of the board as I would a normal ding.

To be honest if it was a break I would be more confident, but not sure what i am dealing with here re. the rocker and lost strength. What I hate about snapped boards which have been repaired is looking down onto the snap line (however it is covered (fabric, paints etc!.. you just can’t draw your eye away from it!!). If i tackle this one correctly I hope you won’t see the damage on the deck.

There are other ideas I am considering to increase the strength such as using a router taking out half the depth of the exsisting stringer approx 3" both sides of the damage line and then gluing in a section of hardwood on top of it and then glassing as above??

Any encouragement or advice re. how to tackle this one appreciated.

Thanks!

2

hallo friend,

I’ll tell you how I would deal with a partially snapped board-

cut the unwanted glass with a razor ( hold it diagonally to make a transition and not a step).

clamp the board back to it’s original rocker. ( I guess u’ll have to eyeball this one)

if there’s a crack in the foam , fill it with thin slurry ( MicroBaloon+resin) and let it cure. don’t forget

to tape the bottom side so the slurry won’t dripp …

sand the cured slurry to original shape and glass the board. ( if needed reapply more slurry to complete the shape, this time make it really thick!)

I would glass the entire area at once including the rails ( cut the cloth to a diamond shape to avoid a weak break point later on)

if it was a shortboard, even if it was fully snapped, I wouldn’t touch the stringer at all and rely only on the glass to hold the board.

since it’s a longboard, U should consider routing and coupling the stringer.

I think you can also find lots of info on the “board lady’s site” and a few other “ding repair” sites.

good luck,

Lee

3

Paint sticks work great sistered alongside the orig stringer, stagger them to minimise the bending hard spot, rout out the foam next to stringer with a sandpaper stick all the way to the other side, sticks can be micro ballooned in on both sides of board if you want. Reinforce the broken rail glass mucho, seems the first damage on a buckled board is at the rails.

4

this is a good reference for repairing snapped boards

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=284260

5

Sorry, but no amount of stringer reinforcement is going to make this any stronger. Thin performance longboards break or crease slowly 90% of the time rather than one catastrophic incident. They start failing at the rails because of minimal glassing when punching thru waves or duck diving, and then finally bend or break. No amount of stringer strength will prevent this from happening since it starts at the rails (unless it’s a perimeter stringer).

I’ve repaired many creased/broken performance longboards, and never had one break again. I never do anything to the stringer. Here’s what I do: Grind out the broken glass in the crease using a dremel or other small grinder; cut just thru the glass and not deeply into the foam. If the original rocker is gone, it’s broken and you’ll have to repair it as such. Creases can be tricky: If the foam is split deeply, you can’t just glass over it because the split will act like a hinge and break again. If the foam isn’t split and the crease is only on the surface, you still should have rocker, and you can glass over it. If it’s really broken, cut the glass and stringer away on both sides until it separates. Look up Bill Barnfield’s broken board thread in the achives, that’s pretty much how I stick them back together initially. On EPS I use Gorilla glue, on poly I use lam resin and filler to the consistency of toothpaste. Once it’s back in one piece, put a couple of wood rails across your stands to support it while you sand and glass. I you just had a surface crease, start here. Prep sand your glassing area; I go at least 2x the width of the board, more if it’s really thin. Mix a filler and fill the break area to the level of the original glass, sand. If you want, hide the break with paint, fabric inlay, 4 oz. colored lam, etc. I first laminate 1 layer of 6 oz cloth about 12-18" wide over the break using a cut lap on both sides. Each side will lap, so you’ll have 2 layers on the rail. Grind the laps, and feather the edges of the glass after doing each side. Laminate another single layer of 6 oz the same way out to full length, cut a triangle shape on the end of the cloth; repeat on the other side. Hotcoat, sand, gloss, etc. What you wind up with is 2 layers on the rails reinforcing the original glass, and 4 at the break area. This gives almost a perimeter stringer strength to the board. It sounds heavy, but it’s really not. You’re glassing on top of glass without any foam absorption, so you can lam very tight using minimal resin. Be careful in feathering in the cloth edges, sand out from the new glass just sightly onto the old.

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Pav, The one thing I rarely hear mentioned here when discussing repairs is the sanding prior to lamination and fill work. Feathering and fairing are very important

to keep it all from being high but the scarfing and staggering is where the strength comes from. A simple diamond cut lamination is not the key in my most humble

opinion. Multiple layers of staggered glass layed into a gentle, consistent bevel(for lack of a better word) will reduce sheer and eliminate new stress points.

Also helps with the sanding, tape lines etc. One of my early mentors use to also tell me to make the repair wide and use lots of 4oz. Something about creating a composite.

Yes, 3 layers of 4 is stronger than 2 of 6 etc.,etc. Repairs used to be the gateway. Aloha

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Thanks Screwfoot, Scot, Pete,GTFD and Lee.#

Sure helps discussing ideas.

I have had a job understanding some of the terms, but having spent the past few evenings browsing various archive posts I think I understand.

1.) Remove loose glass from base of board. Easiest method is to sand using orbital sander to thin the glass and then cut at a low angle with a razor blade to provide a sloping edge.

2.) Fill any voids in the foam with Qcell + laminating resin.

3.) Sand out the buckles on deck close to rails so flat and fill voids with Qcell. (I cannot see a reason to remove the cloth from the deck as it is solid except for the 2 buckles)

4.) Lay cloth on base to cover and overlap crease. 1st layer overlaps onto good glass. 2nd layer overlaps further. Cloth is wrapped around onto rails and top of board by approx 2".

5.) Sand deck to provide a “key” and lay cloth on deck. Overlap rails and wrap around onto rails (I will not wrap around onto the base to avoid any “steps” on the base the board.

The thing that I havn’t been able to understand fully is how you avoid any step between the repair and the original board. I guesse this is what is refered to as feathering. Feathering being a combination of the taper on the original glass. The layers of glass cloth overlaping each AND Sanding the laminated cloth and blending in the hotcoat to the original.

Remaining questions ;

Am I best to glass the bottom first or the top first? or does it matter.

Am I correct in not wrapping around onto the bottom of the board? I am worried about having a step if i do.

When using the Q Cell in the buckled areas I am bringing it level with the surrounding glass so a large cloth patch can be applied over it. BUT when using the Q Cell for the bottom where the glass cloth has been ripped off I am simply filling the voids in the foam and not attempting to bring it level with the surrounding glass.

I think having not glass boards for a while I have forgottom how thin the glass cloth is when wet down.

Not sure of weight of glass I have but am considering 2 layers on bottom and 1 layer on top as the original glass is intact.

Thanks!

8

Your surfboard IS snapped. Read PeteC’s post three or four times…Pete knows his stuff…

…“Look up Bill Barnfield’s broken board thread in the achives, that’s pretty much how I stick them back together initially”… ( quote from Pete)

I’ve messed around with several boards like yours. Strip the wax…break it into two parts…glue it back together…follow Bill B’s methods…Have a friend help you get the two pieces back together. Rocker is everything.

I use colored pencils to fake in the stringer before glassing. brown /yellow/white /red.

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Quote:

Pav, The one thing I rarely hear mentioned here when discussing repairs is the sanding prior to lamination and fill work. Feathering and fairing are very important

to keep it all from being high but the scarfing and staggering is where the strength comes from. A simple diamond cut lamination is not the key in my most humble

opinion. Multiple layers of staggered glass layed into a gentle, consistent bevel(for lack of a better word) will reduce sheer and eliminate new stress points.

Also helps with the sanding, tape lines etc. One of my early mentors use to also tell me to make the repair wide and use lots of 4oz. Something about creating a composite.

Yes, 3 layers of 4 is stronger than 2 of 6 etc.,etc. Repairs used to be the gateway. Aloha

Yes, yes yes.

I put a very slight angle on the last layer say 5 degrees this does help with the fairing/blending in of the new glass - but I’ve seen no eveidance that it makes it any stronger or less likerly to snap again.

I have never had a snapped or crease board go again. I don’t renforce the stringer or use splints to hold piece together (good quality tape works better), all I do is tidy up the splinters to get a good fit.

To reset rocker I use good quality cargo straps and a hardboard (masonest) and wooden chocks to make a crude rocker table.

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Ok I’ll jump in too. Those that know Joe Roper know he’s fixed a few dings and broken board. Without getting into my relationship with Roper, let’s say I’ve had a chance to watch a few repairs. And I’ve done my share of repairs.

  1. No amount of resin or glue putting a broken or buckled board back together will make it stronger. The glue or resin is just there to align and hold the board together and straight.

  2. Adding sistered stringers is useless and time consuming. They only help if they runs the entire length of the board, it will not make it stronger, only stiffer.

  3. you are only adding microballons to fill the voids, the filled voids make it easier to glass

  4. All you need to do is reglass the broken board, glass it just like you would any other boar 6,6 top, 6 bottom. Bottom first, then the top

  5. Guaranteed the board will not break in that same place. I have proof of this.

Don’t put rocket science to this project. Just glass it.

11

I started repairs today and now accept it IS broken! LOL… I just could not believe that the deck looked so good with no sign of the break. There was NO way of pulling it back to the rocker and I had to properly snap the board so I could reset. (I know you told me!)

I agree with everyone who has said in this and previous posts setting the rocker is the hardest part! , especially on a longboard that you have to lay on a table due to its length. Had several dry runs before I finally went for it. Hopefully I’ve got it close.

My fustration was breaking the deck that looked so tidy as i was hoping to avoid the snapped board look!

It may not be the place, or it may have been done before but it would be interesting to see a gallery of snapped board graphics. Bumble bee stripes?! , Zebra? …

Cheers all. When I finish it I’ll post a photo to conclude the thread.

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Roper=Charger. Kick ass production repair master.