Styrene Monomer

Has anyone used Styrene before? this is about the white cracks you get in the glass of your surfboard when you ding it lightly. They appear usually on the rails from hitting it into something. The cracks aren’t to the foam they’re just spider cracks the glass. I heard if you use styrene monomer you can get it them to disappear. Can anyone shed some light on my situation?

Howzit Supreme,Yes sometimes if you apply styrene to the cracks before doing a resin coat or glassing over the cracks they will dissappear but that doesn't mean they are gone. The main thing to remember is that styrene is a nasty chemical that can cause cancer so don't get it on you and wear a respirator when using it. I handle styrene 2 ways, one is I punch a hole in the lid and squirt it out. The other way which is applicable for your fix is to take the lid off and stick a brush in the can to apply. Aloha,Kokua

Thanks brother…So I should paint on a little and then what…Wait till it drys? and then glass over it??

I’ve used it a lot for resin thinning for repairs, the styrene needs accelarator in it to allow it to react with the catalyst, so too much thinning causes going off problems and also surfacing agent probs, too much also seems weak and dry, you can saturate those cracks with extra thin stuff but its not really fixing them that good, so build up some not as thin gloss over your saturations, might work to hide the crazings, might not.

Howzit Supreme, Actually don’t let it totally dry or the cracks will reappear. I will add that this is not the best way since it is just a cosmetic fix. You could sand down through the cracks and rehotcoat. One way I deal with them is to use the corner edge of a single side razor blade and turn the cracks into grooves which I lam thin strips of glass rope into then sand them. This will fill the cracks and also give you some strength.Aloha,Kokua