On my longboard, there are about 5 or 6 stress cracks on the bottom that run the width of the board perpandicular to the stringer. I don’t really care about the aesthetic appearance of the board and don’t want to undergo a difficult repair job to make them go away unless the strength of the board is in jeopardy. Do these stress cracks harm the board in a significant way, or is it basically just a cosmetic crack of the gloss coat? I searched the archives and there was a lot of info on how to fix them, but not necessarily on whether or not they had to be fixed for structural or aesthetic reasons. Any info would be great thanks
Gloss and possibly hot is compromised. If your lam job is really good, not problem.
I’d at least nailpolish the cracks to seal them, but most likely leave them along so they turn brown around the area showing weeping and water intake.
Concientious peeps might sand down to lam coat and re hot, sand and gloss…
Hola,
My ZIPS longboard has been surfing for 3 years with a whole bunch of maybe 20 stress cracks on the bottom with no problem.
If the glass over the rails is OK, then the board is strong.
Anyway, some brown area around these cracks after all this time, despite the glass is OK, I think.
If I was you, I’d keep surfing until you had a serious ding to repair. Then you can sand the gloss rough and apply some waxed resin as a new hotcoat.
hm alright…i feel like these cracks are probably cosmetic because there are no salt crystals near them after have being dried so hopefully its not takin on water… I feel like sanding down to the weave would leave the potential to do a lot of damage. Is this one of those “dont fix it if it aint broke” type of things?
Whatever, it’s not life and death…
Right, as Neira and others have said, it’s most likely just hotcoat and gloss cracking, not much to worry about.
And unless you see some serious straining in the laminate ( which will appear as white fiberglass weave rather than mostly translucent ) then the risks of doing harm by sanding down to the cloth and reglassing/hotcoating are far higher than those of just leaving it be.
hope that’s of use
doc…
if you want to do a quick and easy seal just to make sure no saltwater gets in there and makes a big problem out of nothing, just rough up the cracks with a little 220# and give it a shot of clear acrylic spray paint. no worries.
I have tons of them on my 8 year old Bonzer 5 and the local shop owner just told me to just forget about them. He said he’s heard guys use mop-n-glow to fill/hide the cracks! Any of you try that before?
I do the fingernail test. If I scratch the board and if I feel something, I seal it. If I don’t, its ok.
Hey MaraboutSlim, I’ve heared that too. There was one floating around here about car polish too . . . or the stuff they use to clear out scratches in car finishes.
i put a little clear nailpolish in the scratches to keep the water out, and ill see how that works out once ive ridden it a few times. I hope these cracks are nothing to worry about since i like this board so much
I get bottom stress cracks to repair ALOT in my shop. Probably two or three a month at least. The waves up here in Northern California are so big and gnarly that major stress cracks would most likely result in a snapped board. All I do is sand out the cracks…usually all the way down to the first layer of glass. Also sand the entire area…real good. Then I lay either 2x4oz or 1 4oz & 1 6oz cloth over the area and extending at least six inches beyond on either side and cut not straight across but more like you would a deck patch. I usually wrap the rails just to the deck. It never seemes to add that much weight to the boards, and I haven’t had one come back yet. Could be I just got lucky again…who knows. It is a heck of a lot easier than puting a broken board back together. If you are surfing in small stuff, it may never turn into a problem
thanks again for all the info, i think im gonna try and ride it for now and if any more appear ill do some repair work
My faithful 9’2" had been showing stress marks for one year after rolling under some 10-12 foot sets. She eventually broke in half two days ago in 4-6 foot surf. It had to happen. I knew it would, just didn’t know when. Real good board, will miss her. RIP.
Balsa,
Sorry for you. I guess 3xstringers didn’t do the job…
How much for this snapped board???
Wold you sent it to me, in Spain??
I can’t stop fixing snapped boards!!!
That’s ONE big stringer and two paper glueups, equalling the strength and break resistance of ONE big stringer period.
Nice board thos…
LeeDD, you’re perfectly right, side glue ups. The center is three 5mm stringers glued together. Glass was 2 x 6 oz top plus a 3/4 6 oz patch and 6 oz bottom.
When your time has come, your time has come…
Neira, do 150 Euros sound fair for you? One of my friends might be able to bring the board down to Galicia. Feel free to PM me if you like.
how much would it cost roughly to get these 6 stress cracks repaired in a ding shop? ive done my fair share of ding repair but dont want to gamble sanding through the lam. i know it would be helpful to see a picture, but like i said the board has 6 stress cracks perp to the stringer on the bottom.
Hard to say exactly without seeing it, but I would venture to say somewhere between $45 and $65. Way cheaper then putting a broken board back together… Thats the price range I would probably do it for. Some places may charge less…some more, although I can’t imagine that it would cost much more. Just call around. You may be happily surprised.
wow that is definately cheaper than i thought it would be i think itd worth my moeny to have that done thanks a lot for the information.
Howzit Rightcoaster, The trick I use for stress cracks is to widen and deepen the crack with the corner edge of a razor blade to make a vee slot down to the lam and then lay in strands of roving with lam resin and sand them down flush with the bottom. The cracks dissappear and there is strength in them now. I use this technique if there’s less than 10 cracks.Aloha,Kokua