During the recent snowfall i decided to take the fins out my old plastic bottomed swelly and use it as a 2 person sledge. Initially it worked pretty well, but then after a few snaps and crackles i realised there were cracks in the plastic bottom and in some places entire flaps of plastic had been torn away, leaving the foam underneath exposed. I can glue the edges of the flaps and cracks down to the foam, but i was wondering what i could use to cover over the exposed bits where the plastic has actually gone. These areas are about the size of my hand - so would i be better off cutting replacements from a plastic sheet and glueing them down, or is there some sort of acrylic resin i could plaster over the foam? Any ideas greatly appreciated, it’s not used much but still handy to have as a teaching board.
If it were me, I would try reparing with fiberflass and epoxy resin (test a small area first). I had some damage to my truck wind-fairing, which is plastic. I repaired it with fiberglass and resin, sanded and painted it, and you can't even tell.
If you have a “Surface” brand board, it is not a “soft top”. It is soft all the way. That’s why you damaged it by playing in the snow. Those things are a bitch to fix, and hardly worth the time or money it takes. Can’t use fiberglass and resin on those. Won’t even stick. Just buy a new one, or get a surfboard and a sled. Toboggan, maybe?
With the exception of Mr. Huck, you gotta love the constructive posts.
Depending on the foam core, if epoxy won’t bond to the plastic, another option might be to strip the original plastic skin from the entire core and and replace it with a fiberglass skin.
I agree with stoneburner on this one. There were guys in vancouver Island that were stripping broken or dinged rental soft tops and using them as blanks. Why waste good foam, time to get shaping!
Try 5200, Shoe-Goo, or Plumber’s Goop. Ran a surf camp for kids for a few summers and fixed numerous, hideous dings on a variety of soft top boards using these fine products.
I have repaired soft boards in the past. Put a whole new bottom skin on a Morey Doyle that I own. Depending on the foam, you can replace the skin using plain old contact cement. The tough part was findind material. I located a place in NJ that makes custom bodyboards. They only had material in 4’ lengths so I had to do a two piece deal. It worked.
But, some cheaper softboards use an EPS core and you DO NOT want to use contact cement on those. You also want to avoid PL 400 or the like. I found out the hard way. Glue melted the foam. Badly.
Here are pics of the rehab I did on my BZ Doyle. I guess it wasn’t actually a “Morey”, but the 2nd version after BZ took over production for Doyle. It has an FU box and can use a variety of fins. As I recall, the original Morey version had a fixed fin of an odd shape.
There is some stuff used to contain bamboo roots made from HDPE. The only color I've seen is black. If you are able to peel off the old skin and use it as a pattern, it might be possible to contact cement it to the board.
Try a Google search for "Bamboo root barrier" and ask a supplier for a sample piece. Test the cement for foam and root barrier for compatability before investing a lot of time and material.
The MoreyDoyle had a screw on fin. It slipped over an external nub/strip at the tail and screwed on with something that looked like 2 toothless brass t-nuts.
I have a Surface that I bought for my kids to goof odd with and I have made a number of repairs aling the way. Do not use contact cement on these as it WILL MELT THE CORE!!! I know cause I've done it. 5200 works though. I have not tried goop but it has the same toxic smell as contact cement so I would be careful with it. Best to test on a small area before applying to large areas. Next time buy a sled.
Hahaha thanks a lot guys for the help, both constructive and derogatory! I think replacing the whole skin is probably the best bet, either that or just glue some plastic sheeting over the exposed bits. That’s a great job you did on your board SammyA. I’d have preferred a sled, but we were snowed in and after spending the morning on bodyboards thought we’d try summat different - i wouldn’t recommend it (although 360s were pretty good fun!)
